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Thanks to the Internet Movie Database for poster art.
Alice in Wonderland, eat your heart out, there's a new fantasy that surpasses you. Spirited Away is one great film with superb animation and characters you actually care about.
Chihiro is voiced by Daveigh Chase, aka Lilo from Lilo and Stitch. She and her family are moving and are almost at their new house when a wrong turn leads them into a tunnel. It begins like a Scooby-Doo episode. Mysterious characters running around an abandoned theme park. But the rest of the movie unfolds like no other. A feast is layed out, and Chihiro's parents start pigging out and-of course-turn into pigs. Soon other characters come out and Chihiro flees for her life. Various, and odd, events ensue.
I have got to say-if there was ever a movie for everyone in the family to enjoy, this is the one! Interesting characters, interesting events, and interesting visuals encourage a very interesting moviegoing experience. We have got to hand it to Miyazaki (the director), he's created another world that will stick with us for the rest of our sane lives.
I'm not into animè at all, but the animation was-wow! It looked like two different settings-the very realistic background and the obvious characters. The emotions on the humans were very real (or as real as this movie could be). All of the various "others" from the opposite world were life-like and seemed real. However, there was one thing that I didn't fully understand-what was the purpose of No-Face? He could have been just in there for linking purposes, but it doesn't really bother me one iota.
A lot of times, my heart was a'going th-thump. There were many tense moments, many funny moments, and many, many powerful, dramatic moments. You smile when Chihiro is happy; you're sad when she is sad. There are some movies that can make you do that, but not many. A very creepy moviegoing experience.
The 124 minute runtime seemed to run by quick. It felt like awhile for the movie, but you hardly noticed it. I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. When I walked out, I heard some other kid say, "It was OK, I guess." Spirited Away is not really a little kid's movie. They'll be too scared and will not be able to fully grasp the potential of the film. They also seemed upset because it was "so long". Don't go to many more movies, kiddos. This'll seem like a commercial.
Miyazaki, if I could, I would shake your hand. You've created a masterpiece, plain and simple.
Rated PG for scary moments and a surprising amount of blood.
Review Date: October 20, 2002