During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl
wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where
humans are changed into beasts.
Director:Hayao Miyazaki
Writer:Hayao Miyazaki
Stars:Daveigh Chase,
Suzanne Pleshette,
Miyu Irino |
See full cast and crew »
Storyline
Chihiro and her parents are moving to a small Japanese town in the
countryside. much to Chihiro's dismay. On the way to their new home,
Chihiro's father makes a wrong turn and drives down a lonely one-lane
road which dead-ends in front of a tunnel. Her parents decide to stop
the car and explore the area. They go through the tunnel and find an
abandoned amusement park on the other side, with its own little town.
When her parents see a restaurant with great-smelling food but no staff,
they decide to eat and pay later. However, Chihiro refuses to eat and
decides to explore the theme park a bit more. She meets a boy named Haku
who tells her that Chihiro and her parents are in danger, and they must
leave immediately She runs to the restaurant and finds that her parents
have turned into pigs. In addition, the theme park turns out to be a
town inhabited by demons, spirits, and evil gods. At the center of the
town is a bathhouse where these creatures go to relax. The owner of the
bathhouse is...
User Reviews
Good
morning. Last night I was able to catch the Disney US Release of
Spirited Away ( originally The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro). This
is another Disney purchase of a Japanese hit. For those that don't
know, Disney has a nasty habit of importing titles from Japan and then
changing the story when dubbing films or creatively editing the endings
or plot to "suit American audiences". Personally I think that's a
travesty. So whenever you go see the Disney release of a foreign film,
realize the film you are watching may not be the 'same film' the rest of
the world sees.
OK, that aside, was it a good film? I
deliberately did no research before seeing this film as I prefer to go
into films with little or no expectations. All I knew was that the film
was directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki, the same man responsible for
Princess Mononoke ( a film released a few years back that I also
enjoyed). In the case of Spirited away, I'm glad I did not know what I
was getting myself into, otherwise I might not have come (and
surprisingly, not for the reasons you likely assume).
The film
concerns a young girl and her parents who find an odd tunnel in the side
of a hill while moving to their new home. Upon investigating the
tunnel, they find a strange "theme park" on the other side devoid of
inhabitants. Upon investigating the theme park, things are obviously
very "wrong" (at least to the little girl- her parents seem woefully
oblivious) and as it gets closer to sunset, things just get worse.
Unfortunately, this is all the plot I am able to reveal without spoiling
the uniqueness of this film.
This is an 'adult-oriented' movie.
It has some rather disturbing images and ranks among the weirdest films I
have seen in my life. It's a bizarre amalgam of Wizard of Oz,The
Neverending Story, Alice in Wonderland, My Friend Totoro, Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang and The City of Lost Children (just to name a few). This film
is interesting from beginning to end even though the plot advances
rather slowly. There is always some new thing to see or some truly
bizarre thing to witness. The animation is above average but not as
impressive as Mononoke (and even features several gratuitous CGI
sequences).
There is a great story and some great humor. I
laughed more in this film than I have at any Hollywood 'comedy' in the
last 5 years (and Spirited Away is not a comedy, it just has several
good comedic breaks). No nudity. No Profanity. No 'gratuitous' violence.
Some rather disturbing scenes of characters getting eaten alive (and
some threats thereof) but even the eaten characters return unharmed
later in the film.
This is not really a 'family film' (and
definitely NOT a "kiddee film") but it is something you can take the
whole family to. Smaller children will not understand the story, but
they'll like the visuals and enjoy the humor. Mid-teens might be a bit
"weirded out" by the subject matter and the visuals and older teens and
adults may be too jaded by American cinema to enjoy the film for what it
is- a lavish fairytale from a foreign country. This film runs about 2
hours so leave the "kidney-buster" sodas at the snack bar. If you have
to take a bathroom break, you WILL miss something and I assure you no
friend nor helpful audience member will likely be able to adequately
convey what it is you DID just miss.
If you enjoy Anime or the
bizarre, make an effort to see this film. Even if you don't normally
like "cartoon movies", you might give this one a chance. It is not a
'casual moviegoer' film by any means and does rely on some thought from
the audience to enjoy it. It will also likely be the oddest film you'll
see this decade and you'll be sure to remember this film long after all
the other 'disposable movies' have faded from your recollection. This
film is receiving almost no advertising. I didn't even know it existed
until I saw the poster tucked away in a corner at the theatre earlier
this week. I hope Disney puts a little more effort into advertising this
film's release because it is truly an original film and worthy of a
large audience. Hopefully positive word-of-mouth will get this film the
attendance it deserves.
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