SPIRITED AWAY (PG) 2001
SYNOPSIS:
Warning!
Contains
spoilers...
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Chihiro and her family are in the process of moving to a new home in a new area and all that entails.
Chihiro, herelf, isn't too happy with this as she'd grown quite attached to her old environment. As they head towards their new house,
Chihiro's father makes a wrong turn and insists on following the road through. The road, however, ends in a dead end but also an entrance to what looks like a dilipidated building. Somewhat curious, the family explore and find themselves on on the other side of the building and what looks like an abandoned
amusement park but for a restaurant stacked with fresh food. Having seen no one,
Chihiro's parents begin to help themselves to the food, confident they can pay for it later.
Chihiro, being somewhat sulky, refuses to join her parents and begins exploring. She comes across a bath house and a boy who is just as surprised to see her. He chases her off and warns that she should get back across the river before night falls. Somewhat shaken,
Chihiro looks for her parents and finds a pair of pigs
in their place. She panics and heads towards the river only to find it much larger than when she first came in. Thus begins her adventure in the realm of spirits.
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Japanese animation directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Rating: PG (Supernatural themes)
Running time 122 mins.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
www.spiritedaway.com.au
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HEROIC-CINEMA REVIEW:
Can I just say I recently had the fortune to see this film for the fourth time, most recently in the new
English dub by Disney, which it looks like they like they will be promoting much more than
Princess Mononoke.
And yes this is good thing.
Everything you may have heard about this movie is true (unless of course what you've heard that this movie is terrible and only deserves to be archived in the deepest darkest pits of hell along such greats as Tor the Fighting Eagle - in that case, I revoke my previous statement). It is a fine movie and well worth watching. I wasn't that surprised that the most anticipated event for the
Japanime 02 survey we did recently was
Spirited Away (though personally I was more looking forward to
Millenium Actress but then I'd seen the movie twice previously already) but then Hayao Miyazaki (the director) is responsible for some damn fine anime such as
Nausicaa, Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke. Many critics tout
Spirited Away as his greatest work ever and I'd be hard pressed to argue with them.
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The film is simply wonderful. And I don't use wonderful as a mere
expressive either; I actually mean the film is filled with a true
sense of wonder, excitement, innocence and adventure that you loved
as a kid (well at the very least, I loved as a kid).
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To its very core, Spirited Away is a fairy tale and it is done so well that it doesn't have to much more than that. The most obvious comparison is with Alice in Wonderland with the young girl inadvertantly finding herself alone in an alien world. Of course in this film,
Chihiro actually has a personal stake with this world and intereacts it so much more than Alice ever did as a detached observer (one of the benefits of this being a true fairytale and not a political commentary dressed up as such methinks). The characters in the film are so much more than just a freak sideshow and the growth of
Chihiro is so... real... that you can't help but empathise with her and the friends she develops.
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As a complete digression, I didn't think of this until just recently but I found it quite amusing that the movie was based around a bath house.
Aficionados of anime will know that virtually all anime series involve a bath house episode to some extent. It has gotten to the stage that a number of series based around bath houses have started popping up that are completely over the top and silly. Not sure what this has to do with anything but anyway...
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Normally I am one of those people who prefer subtitles over a dub as I have come across so many badly dubbed movies. However I really didn't mind the English dub and am so glad it was done properly and done well. If you want to be pedantic, it isn't perfect. I did notice some inconsistencies, mainly in the beginning before the story really gets going. But what I did appreciate was not having to focus so much on what was being said and being able to enjoy the beauty of the animation and the art.
I applaud Disney for finally marketing an anime to the general audience that I had expected with
Princess Mononoke but didn't happen. This is a great piece of work and if you don't go to see it
( it opens officially second week in December nationally), I offer my condolences.
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Rating: 10 appreciative kami out of 10.
Reviewed by Eugene Chan
LINKS OF INTEREST:
Spirited Away page on Nausicaa.net
Chingyee's report on the Australian premiere at J02
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