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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 |
 "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! "Epic, Beautiful, Profound, Moving"If this work of art does not move you or inspire you, I seriously must wonder if you are even alive. Amazon.com's review is right on target - this is AMAZING. This film is so deeply beautiful and refreshing it is nearly painful. Have you ever heard music so heavenly and godlike it nearly causes you pain? This is a similar experience. Watching this is so refreshing, new, and different I really lack some of the words to describe it. It is intelligent, very subtle and unlike most throwaway children's fare (which is crass, cluttered, disgusting and/or just haphazardly thrown together) this movie has the ability to profoundly move adults. Much like Harold Budd's epic tone poems, this film is subtle, sweeping beauty. A work of true imagination, a great escape from our cynical, industrial world. Are you sick and tired of kids cartoons that are gross and filthy? Do you want to see something that is the ultimate breath of life, innocence, and joy? Time for Miyazaki's Spirited Away! Disney loved it, PIXAR loved it, the critics loved it, will you have the maturity and depth to love it? "Great Animation"If you are into Hayao Miyazaki, this DVD is a must. The colors are brilliant, the animation is extremely imaginative and stands out from the rest. Another great DVD that you might enjoy is Gartel's- Trance, Dance and Other Living things. Gartel is the Miyazaki of Multi Media. You might also enjoy the Ren and Stimpy series. I can't help myself, I just like them. "Alice In Wonderland meets Japanimation"I was familiar with Princess Mononoke, so I was excited when I heard about Spirited Away. I was surprised at how different Spirited Away was compared to Princess Mononoke. This movie is an innocent adventure of a girl trying to free her parents from a spell that turned them into pigs after eating food that wasn't their's to eat. Through the bizarre, cute, and very assorted curious characters she runs across she is able to grow on everyone, including the most anti-anime viewer. No-Face, the soot creatures, and the giant baby are funny characters. The paper birds and various guests of the bath house give the viewer some entertaining and cool scenes. I have successfully shown this movie to many of my friends who have sworn off anime. They loved this movie. It's not the over-the-top obscurity that many people associate to anime, it's a very western culture style of film. This Alice In Wonderland tale is a refreshingly simple story that you will find funny and absorbing. "My First Anime"My boyfriend recommended this movie to me. At first I was not very interested because it was Anime. I had never watched a movie like this before. You have to have some prior knowledge of Japanese customs to fully comprehend the concept of this movie. There are points in this movie where it makes you jump. Some scenes you feel so bad for the characters. I recommend this to anyone who wants to see a sensitive yet slightly action-filled movie. This is really a great movie. I liked it so much that I bought it a week after I first saw it, and as you can see its no cheap buy. But I recommend that you get yourself a copy, it's worth it. |
