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Spirited Away Actor: Miyu Irino Director: Hayao Miyazaki Number of Items: 2 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Animated, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 132 minutes Studio: Walt Disney Home Video Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15 Buy from Amazon |
 "Simply magical"I cannot express how much I enjoyed this movie. It can be enjoyed by simply watching it or by analyzing the subtle background mythology and culture. "Swept away by 'Spirited Away'..."'Spirited Away' will sweep you off you feet and send you on a thrilling adventure into Miyazaki's lushly animated world full of wonderful creatures and lovably bizarre characters in a movie that will captivate you for almost two hours. It certainly did me. 'Spirited Away' is such a rare treat in today's world with little new been done with conventional cartoons in the world of cinema. Instead, all the major studios are opting for CGI-driven movies that may please visually, but tend to lack in everything else. 'Spirited Away' is lavishly beautiful too the eye, yet is also a strongly structured tale that has the heart missing out of most modern-day animation making this movie really stand out from the crowd and a definite must-see. The story focuses around a little girl named Chihiro who becomes deserted from her parents, only to return and find that they have been turned into pigs. Here she befriends the magically talented and graceful Haku, who safely guides her through, what the place she has found herself in, becomes after nightfall - a spa hotel for thousands of Japan's gods and spirits. Haku tells her that she must find work in there if she is to stay and find a way to break the spell on her parents before they become dinner for some of the hotel's demanding guests. I could find little wrong with 'Spirited Away', which is a lot coming from someone who is always trying to find something wrong with everything. I was utterly captivated in this movie from start to finish. It has everything. Fantasy, the supernatural, comedy, drama... You name it, this movie has it. I've never found that I could recommend an animated movie as highly as I can with this luxurious tale. The character design is fabulous meaning you're guaranteed to meet many kinds of gods, spirits, and creatures that you won't come across anywhere else. Some of the characters literally made me say "wow!" as they really are outstanding 'Spirited Away' is absolutely spellbinding throughout and worthy of all the praise it has, and will receive in the present and near future. See it now! "My Favorite Movie"I love Japanese animation! I think it is so interesting how the characters' eyes are so big, and their emotions are so obvious without them speaking of it. My favorite Japanese animtation books/movies are stories where the main character(s) use(s) magic to save the day! This movie was not only jam packed with magic, and made with beautiful animation, but the characters were so memorable, and the story really pulled you in! I waited months after getting this movie to actually watch it, because despite all the rewards it received, I thought it looked kind of boring. But when I watched it, all two hours and five minutes of it, I was still waiting for more! The story was always exciting and kept me in anticipation. It was full of action, magic, romance, friendship, and even a tiny little bit of comedy. If you have loved Hayao Miyazaki's past movies, love Japanese animation, or just want a good movie to watch, I would highly recommend this movie to you! "A Spirited Example of the Genre"Anime has grown into a popular genre for many people, both young and old, across the world. In some western universities, a striving undergraduate can now take it as a major, even taking the subject further as a research project in the attainment of a Masters degree. One of the more popular anime film features is `Spirited Away'. In fact, in my opinion, it is a good introduction to the genre, as it is a work of pure art, made with compassion and detail, a beautiful film in every respect. At first glance, the story echoes other well known stories, such as `Alice Through the Looking Glass' and `The Wizard of Oz.' Although similar on the surface, in terms of a little girl finding herself in a fantastic land, searching for a way out, `Spirited Away' has it own unique signature. The cast of strange characters are legion, the strangest being `No Face', a black hooded, masked demon-like phantom who, in more ways than one, is the central character, who reveals that greed is within all of us, contrasting the lead, Chihiro, the brave and compassionate little girl, who must pass a series of tests in order to free her parents from the clutches of a terrible spell, brought on, by the way, through their own greed. The story begins with Chihiro and her parents driving through the countryside. They stumble upon a peculiar structure and walk through a tunnel into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro, of course, is reluctant to enter the place, but her parent's curiosity wins out. In the park they come across shelves upon shelves of delicious food. Mother and father cannot help themselves and begin gorging the food until they're transformed into massive pigs. This is our first clue as to one of the film's central themes: greed. Thus begins Chihiro's journey into a fantastic land of creatures, spirits and evil witches. What I found astounding about this film was the care and attention to detail in every scene. All too often we take for granted just how much work in involved in creating an animated film. There are indeed some astonishing scenes in this film that would of taken days, weeks or even months to create. When viewing this film with this in mind, my appreciation for anime and animation in general, moved straight to the top. Anime is certainly a burgeoning art form in many ways. `Spirited Away' is a film for all ages; a wonderful example of anime and perhaps a good introduction to the study of the genre itself - absolutely five stars. "Enchantment of the Girl."The wondrous world of Yubaba. Conceived attention and comfort for tiresome godlike creatures. Congregate nameless innocent servants. Sum the wizardry of One, and rule this with sight of greed. The perfect Business! Spirits to attend and pleasures to indulge in this Spa. An unlikely place for a pre-adolescent girl. Who knows when an evil spirit will feel like sucking your own soul just for the hunger of a foodless evening? And so, when Chihiro trades her name for accommodation and work at Yubaba's Spa, she is initiated in the ways of serving the lesser ones. By any means don't let yourself forget your name or else you won't be able to return to your home. A high risk indeed. But Chihiro is not here to stay. Clear in her goal to bring back her parents from their pig state, the girl confronts every peril with courage and innocence. Friends along the way will keep her company and good advice. Zeniba, the lovely counterpart and twin sister to Yubaba, the mysterious No-face, Kamaji, that annoying huge baby son of Yubaba (Morphed into a hamster?), and off course: Haku. A river runs through her, this interpretation she must find. Spirited Away (El Viaje de Chihiro), is an overwhelming display of dream like qualities and imagination, a tale of the purest enchantment between the tenderness of a lone child and the magical side of parallel realities. The girl is lost in the beginning, little by little towards freedom and a secret of love, she knows it by heart. In the end everything is bittersweet, but melancholic is her future. Some how the film is constructed in perfect motion between a continuous 360 degrees exposure of consequent magical places, themes, and landscapes, blending adventure and emotiveness in an effortless chain. Talking frogs, spider like workers , dirty gods eager to be clean and indulge, translucent spirits, and simple-minded black pebbles. By the way, in this Spa the human odors are distasteful. Chihiro is set in a peculiar coming of age. Fragile and weak, she is nothing but a little girl with bad luck. Far from being a woman at the end of the tale, she is grown in inner dept and knowledge, the rest of her is let to be blossom and developed by the spectator, right there is one of the film's most touching elements, melancholic is the mood but with great hopes and expectations. They will come together if you want them to. Hayao Miyazaki has created a masterpiece that reminds us of that wonderful age when good was good, mysterious was magical, and when looks didn't matter, but the goodness of a kind deed. Dragons, spells, ocean sightings, and that long gone first love. Universal and wonderful! Its main theme is set around being pure and truthful to one's own soul. Its main vocation is storytelling at its highest and simplest manifest. From a strong and extend pallet of colors, to a character design that fits entirely the concept of children's drawings: big eyes, big gestures and soft voices. A child as the main actor against big perils. No one is anything without the help of friends. Good friends, a grandmother to cherish the child, and love, parental love, romantic love set along a river stream. It's the world we would like to return to, some day. Such quality can only exist in the boundaries of Japanimation. Movement, design, words and story, and Miyasaki as a creator is one of its finest examples. His film is already a reference mark in Animation History. Perfect in its composition of traditional drawings and computer frames, the balance is achieved with exact momentum. As always detail and effortless movement of the Japanimation style is use to express moods and moments with great expansion of emotions and tempos. Miyasaki made his presence and involvement with every step of the process, beginning with its original story, and ending with the final cut. The original score by Joe Hisaichi is beautiful and big as the Spa, along with a rich sound design to set the tone of every frame. An exquisite composure of sight and sound. Outstanding. Spirited Away can be appreciated at a high level in its excellent DVD edition. From a not so traditional Making Of (Nippon T.V. Special), that includes Miyazaki's passion high at work, to the Voice Recording Sessions and Story boards. Great 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio Track and a visual transferring that emphasizes both colors and details at a flawless level. When a film is as good as this one, the production process can be as interesting as the final product, this Two-disc Edition offers that insight. As any other Art Genre, Film Making is base in the spectator subjectivity. But this subjectivity is valid to a certain point. There are films so bad (for example Pearl Harbor), that anyone that believes that is a good film, doesn't know anything about cinema quality and good taste. And there are films so good (for example Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal), that anyone how thinks that is a bad film, either misunderstood the story, or simply doesn't know anything about good Film Making. This is the case with Spirited Away. Its genius is undeniable. |
