Spirited Away (2001, dir. Hayao Miyazaki):

Before starting my review properly, I must emphasise that you do not need to be a fan or an expert in anime to enjoy Spirited Away; the strength of Miyazaki's storytelling being such that my dad saw this film and enjoyed it after having complained before it that his eldest son was taking him "to go watch a foreign cartoon". Indeed, I feel that this story could not have been told in any other form; there are magical spells, shape-shifting (frequent in Japanese myth) and strange creatures in abundance. This is also a very spiritual film that packs in references to the Shinto/Buddhist spirit world.

There are few proper humans within the world into which Chihiro stumbles; for example the surly half-human half-spider mechanic Kamaji appears fearsome at first glance to Chihiro, but when she gets under the surface she becomes a good friend of his. This is also evident in other characters such as Haku, Yubaba, Zeniba and Baby (who begins by threatening to break Chihiro's arm but then threatens Yubaba to protect Chihiro). Miyazaki's two main moral messages within this film are to not judge people on appearances alone (as seen by Chihiro's shock at the creatures in the bath-house, then her eventual acceptance and befriending of many of them) and a pro-environmental message that is recurrent in much of Miyazaki's work at Studio Ghibli (particularly emphasised in one of the many stand-out scenes in the movie when a local river spirit is cleansed of the terrible pollution inflicted upon him over the years of his life).

The animation and cinematography is gorgeous; in the c.g.i. era, it is refreshing to see hand-drawn animation of such beauty. This is not to say that Miyazaki ignores computer help: when it is used, it is to very good effect (e.g. Chihiro in the garden walk to see her parents) and manages to embellish the beauty of the hand-drawn work. Miyazaki keeps the regular viewer enthralled while packing in little details to amuse anime and Studio Ghibli fans: e.g. the soot creatures from My Neighbour Totoro are recruited as Kamaji's assistants in the machine-room of the bath-house.

This is a film for all the family: the adults will enjoy this film as much as their children. Even though my family and I saw this film in the original Japanese with subtitles, there is a brand-new English dub approved by Miyazaki for those of you who can't cope with subtitles.

Ivo

5 out of 5 ? go see it.

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