Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Animated, with the (English) voices of: Daveigh Chase, Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis, Suzanne Pleshette

- Reviewed by Vickie

I have to admit: I was a little wary before I sat down for the screening of Spirited Away. Feature-length animated films can be hit-or-miss. Sometimes, they're brilliant (hello, The Emperor's New Groove) and sometimes they're not (please, no more Rugrats). Granted, their target audience is a smidge younger than I am, so I suppose varying degrees of greatness on my scale may not be the case for, say, a six-year-old in the audience. But this one was going to be more than two hours (!) long—which is fine if it turned out to be stellar, but painful if it didn't.

Nonetheless, I digress.

I'm thrilled to report that I loved it. Loved it. Renowned Japanese writer-director Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke) came out of his self-imposed retirement to make this film, and I say, "Thank you!" At 62, he's blessed with a keen knack for storytelling, decades of experience that younger upstarts can only dream of, and the ability to create the most beautiful, elaborate, ethereal worlds inhabited by all kinds of colorful characters.

Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro, a ten-year-old girl who finds herself trapped in a sort of utopian Disneyland for the spirit world after her unsuspecting parents stumble upon what they believe is an abandoned amusement park. Things, of course, are not what they seem and the adults are quickly turned into pigs, leaving young Chihiro to fend for herself. Aided by a young man named Haku, who knows the ins and outs of the spirit domain, Chihiro embarks on a fantastical adventure through this land of ghosts, goblins, animals and, among other things, a giant baby who's later turned into one of the cutest characters in the entire film. (Trust me.)

Miyazaki has created an animated delight that is equally entertaining for children and adults. And I say that as someone who thought Princess Mononoke was... kind of boring. (I know: gasp!) He manages to weave themes such as environmentalism, the need for individuality, the importance of family and the perils of poor hygiene into a whimsical story that's often as funny (people laughed out loud many times during the screening) as it is poignant. The characters are all well-realized and well-rounded, and the entire film is a visually mesmerizing beauty to behold.

Official Movie Site

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