Spirited Away

Spirited Away is the Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki film that made of me a full on fan. I am now taking a moment to make all of the squee! sounds a person one tenth my age might make in reviewing this movie.To forestall the flow of superlatives that this movie deserves allow for a little admin.Spirited Away is Family Friendly. Having a young girl as the hero may make it a tough sell for small boys, but it is such a well told story, they may let themselves be won over.It is certainly aimed at the younger family members, but in my house, two adults, no kids it is a favorite movie. Miyazaki has made a movie with enough sophistication and depth to be more than kiddie show. Studio Ghibli as usual has made this such a beautiful movie, that it can be enjoyed as an animated art show even with the sound off.Spirited Away is what a fairy story should be. It contains almost all of the classical elements, but it refuses to be easy to anticipate. There is always an unexpected detail, or another beautiful image that make this a viewing delight.Observing the conventions, ten year-old, whiny and grumpy Chihiro Ogino(voiced magnificently by child actor Daveigh Chase) is moving with her parents from her home to a new life in the country. Along the way they find themselves in what they believe to be an abandoned theme park. Her parents succumb to the temptation of rich and savory food and are turned into pigs. Chihiro being too scared to eat avoids the transformation and learns that this is a magical town where spirits come for their holiday and to take advantage of the wondrous Bath House.The Bath house is ruled by the ruthless, but not entirely evil Yubaba (Again magnificently voiced by Suzanne Pleshette). Here the young Chihiro signs away her name to become one of the workers. Literally she signs away her name and becomes known as Sen. She cannot go back to her old life until she remember her old name. She will be called upon to perfume heavy work, make friends of unlikely spirits, help fight evil and make sacrifices in favor of others.So far this is fairly standard fairy tale stuff. But back it with almost unlimited imaginings of what spirits might look like, non-traditional plotting and depth of imagination. Miyazaki and Ghibli have peopled a complete magical world and shown us a ten year-old girl who can stand up to it and win it and us to her side.This is my second copy of Spirited Away and at least my 4th viewing. It is that good.

What can be said about "Spirited Away" that has not been stated before? This is one of the best animated films ever created and arguably the highlight of Hayao Miyazaki's extraordinary career. This incredibly imaginative work is combined with an emotional story that really makes this one special.This is the story of Chihiro, a 10 year old girl who is moving to a new city when her parents decide to take a quick detour to what seems to be an abandoned amusement park. However, the park is filled with magical creatures and her parents are turned into pigs. Chihiro must grow up quickly in this exotic world not only to save her parents, but to survive.I cannot speak enough about the story itself which is expertly crafted or the beautiful animation that includes some wonderful scenes at the bath house, the strange characters that fill the screen and my favorite, the train on the flooded tracks which provides views of the distant clouds that almost had me feeling the cool breeze blowing past. This is a must-see film for sure.As for the blu-ray transfer, all I can say is "Finally!" as it took long enough. The blu-ray provides a crisp, clean presentation of the film which meets and exceeds all expectations. I was fortunate enough to see Spirited Away in the theaters which is the only way to view this film in a superior format to the blu-ray edition.As far as the rest of the extras goes, it duplicates what was available on the standard 2-disc DVD that was released several years ago. However, that does not detract from my rating at all. If you like this movie, then by all means get this blu-ray edition as it is well worth the price.

It is a bonafide masterpiece in every way possible. A few key things that stand out:-The most intricate and creative animation I've ever seen. The visuals will be super fun if your kids watch it, but otherwise this film is something that can only be properly understood and appreciated by adults.-The story itself is very novel and entertaining. It can technically be considered a coming-of-age film, given the evolution of Chihiro (the protagonist) as a human being throughout the film, but there are so many other things going on independently. It is an apparatus of stories that happen to unfold in the same area, binded together.-But this movie is also filled with so many layers of depth in terms of the philosophical aspects (particularly in the symbolism and imagery.-The most beautiful soundtrack I have ever heard (composed by Joe Hisaishi). Check out "The Sixth Station" and "One Summer's Day."-Its director, Hayao Miyazaki, is a genius and does a phenomenal job with every film.-You pick up new things and little bits of nuance every time you watch it. It's my favorite film of all time so I've watched it at least 25 times, but I still find myself looking at and thinking about different things each time.Overall, this film is one that I would consider to be one of the best films of the century. It is also one of the most critically acclaimed films anyway (with a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 96 on Metacritic). However, I must warn that this is not an "anime" movie. It is not even close to an anime movie (which is more histrionic, emotionally shallow, and oriented towards being entertaining—as opposed to being a sophisticated work of art). Nobody in Japan would ever call Spirited Away anime. The only reason it falls into the "Anime" genre on this website is because it is an animated film that happened to be made in Japan, and many Americans often assume that anime simply means *a Japanese animated movie.* But comparing this to a cheesy Japanese anime show would be like comparing the Pixar movie Up (which is, in many ways, an adult film) to a shallow kids Disney Channel movie.Enjoy!

Apart from the fact that this movie is absolutely amazing, I'd have to say you get what you pay for in terms of product quality.At first I was skeptical buying a Bluray of an animated motion picture because I wasn't sure if you could "tell" it was high-definition, but I think I failed to realize this is a studio Ghibli film, so everything has an amazing level of detail the likes of which has never, and will never be surpassed by any other animation studio.The Bluray comes with extra content, including a "making of" special, "meet Hayao Miyazaki", "behind the Microphone" and some other special featurettes. All of this content is standard definition on the Bluray disc, but this is just something we'll have to live with like all Disney BTS Features.

Bought for my 14 year old niece who's fallen fast for Anime - who absolutely loves this film and a year later is still thanking me for it!. - If your child is new to Japanese film - this is a really lovely film - wouldn't buy it for anyone under 12yrs though because it can be a little scary in parts. All in all though beautiful animation and a lovely story of a little girl trying to save her family.Synopsis:In this animated feature by noted Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, 10-year-old Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) and her parents (Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi) stumble upon a seemingly abandoned amusement park. After her mother and father are turned into giant pigs, Chihiro meets the mysterious Haku (Miyu Irino), who explains that the park is a resort for supernatural beings who need a break from their time spent in the earthly realm, and that she must work there to free herself and her parents.

This is flawless. Its moral point is clear without being hammered home. Visually, the film is powerful and the claustrophobic atmosphere is ever-present, though again without being overdone. The script is simple and effective. The acoustic and visual elements are perfectly integrated. Above all, the story is gripping and at times hair-raisingly tense.I wouldn't recommend this film for young children but I certainly would for older ones, and for discriminating adults.

An amazing movie and most little kids in my family love it as do I. Some things to note... at the time of writing this review there is no 4K version. Even if there was (or is), I have read elsewhere that the movie was created in 2K so BluRay 1080P is the highest definition so, there is no need to purchase a more expensive 4K version for the movie alone.Also to note, there is a Japanese soundtrack version with English subtitles. This is often how to watch and hear the film in the best, true to the script way. Often the Japanese is far more eloquent than the American audio version. You can see this by turning on both the subtitles and the US Audio track and reading the difference in language from the subtitles to what you hear.The film itself is excellent. Culturally ghosts and spirits are everywhere and in everything in Japan so to see a girl walk among spirits is not alarming and wasn’t intended to be frightening for a Western audience so bare that in mind when allowing kids to watch it - I think it’s good to discuss what they watch and I found this an interesting talking point with my kid.Hope this helps and is interesting!

My Japanese friend wrote a list of Japanese films for me to watch before she went back to Japan in 2004. Later on when I found these were animes I said to myself "NO". And that was all forgotten until 2006 when a friend told me to watch Spirited Away and that I would enjoy it. I took out the library copy and after watching it, I went straight on to Amazon to order my copy. Because I had to have it! LOVED IT! LOVED IT! LOVED IT! And hence the immediate start of interest into Studio Ghibli productions. Out of all them this will be my top one. This was like Alice in wonderland in Japan and changed her name to Chihiro. Miyazaki was amazing with his creativity and how subtle he was with his imagination.What happened to that list? After watching Spirited Away I was quite annoyed with my Japanese friend that she did not say anything about this film. My apologies to her, only last year I found that list and Spirited Away was on the list, number one, along with other superb Studio Ghibli films. :)