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15. Kohlingen 
Hayao Miyazaki has done it again, this time ushering in an Oscar-Award winning animation about a little girl named San who accidentally trips into the spirit world. To be up front, I love every Miyazaki movie (though Kiki's Delivery Service is last on my list), because of his ability to create realistic atmospheres in bizarre settings. In perhaps his most bizarre setting yet, the story of a girl's struggle to adapt to a new place and way of life is familiar and welcome theme from Miyazaki. The animation is quite breathtaking; if you were lucky enough to see it in theaters it is truly an experience. The characters are quite memorable, especially the big baby, who is simply awesome and must be seen to be believed. There is an assortment of ghouls, spirits, monsters, frog waiters, giant chickens, and….I can't even remember half of them. The action sequences aren't as numerous as say, Laputa or Nausicaa, but you don't watch Miyazaki movies for action scenes anyways.
I kind of thought the ending was a let down, though it was appropriate. The story was not quite as strong as Totoro or Laputa, but I think this may have been intentional. The world of Spirited Away is supposed to be random and chaotic, it is the spirit world after all. Yet in this world of demigods and dragons, San finds warmth, love, and the characteristics of home. It did not make the lasting impression on me that some of his other works have done in the past, but I really enjoyed the imagery of this movie. Good music, too.
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| 14. Chris
This is definitely my favorite Miyazaki film. While
it is slow at points, the sheer creativity and amazing artwork definitely push
this to the top of my must see list. Basically, it tells the story of a young
girl who is (in an *almost* logical fashion) transported to the spirit world,
and must get a job there and help her parents and such. Basically, it's just an
incredibly charming movie. Animation: Let's
put it this way. If you find any fault in this animation, you're absolutely insane. Sound:
Another perfection. The dubs are especially good. Really, there is a ton of talent
here. Story: While a bit slow and fairly scary
for very young kids, I feel that the story itself is wonderfully interesting.
In fact, this is the only anime my parents have ever managed to watch all the
way through (they hated Princess Mononoke and Grave of the Fireflies).
This is definitely anime for everyone. Overall:
A must own. Seriously, that is all. |
| 13. Global
Frequency The
one trait I admire most about Hayao Miyazaki as a director is his open-mindedness
concerning animated films. His work isn't always half as amazing as it's reputed
to be, but he's shown himself capable of producing fine films for both children
and adults, without an excess of violence or condescension. Spirited Away
deals with themes he's explored before in My Neighbor Totoro: being lost,
being alone, being without parents. Chihiro is a lackadaisical girl who's forced
to draw upon her own heart and willpower to rescue her parents, who have been
turned into pigs by the mistress of a huge bathhouse for the spirits. While she
works for her freedom she encounters a cast of weird characters, including the
creepy but innocent No-Face, the dragon Haku and the domineering Yubaba herself. Spirited
Away is an enjoyable film that goes on for far too long. The last half hour
is all but extraneous, meandering more and more until the sense of wonder that
was there at the beginning of the film is virtually gone. Too many subplots are
dropped into the mix too quickly and never resolved. Still, it's interesting and
poignant for the first hour and a half, and Chihiro is one of Miyazaki's
strongest characters to date.
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| 12. Marshal
of Manga Simplistic
in nature and childish in outlook, Spirited Away tracks the adventures
of a young girl who is whisked into the spirit world when her parents unwittingly
explore a sacred patch of land. The plot revolves
around the girl's interactions with the inhabitants and visitors of a spirit town
- in particular, she gets a job in a high-profile spirit hotel as a maid who performs
all sorts of tasks. The story is quite plain in
that Chihiro is rescued in the beginning by this boy who doesn't know his name,
but who knows Chihiro's name because they met somewhere before - we learn later
that Chihiro fell into this boy when he was a river (curiouser and curiouser)
and therefore knows his name too! Chihiro feels endeared to this boy and her dogged
determination to save his life later on is at once both ridiculous and heart-warming;
if I rescued a girl from a car accident, that doesn't mean she's going to monitor
my safety forever more and spend all her waking hours hoping I'm OK does it? I'm
overstating myself but that's the impression one gets… perhaps it's Miyazaki's
way of saying that people by nature wish to be loyal and loving, and this aspect
of humanity is fully revealed once all a person's protection against emotional
pain is removed. As with most of Miyazaki's
works, this movie relies more on symbolisms and deeper meanings evoked than what
the storyline would suggest. It is essentially a movie where you get what you
take from it. Depending on how ambitious you are, this is either a movie for five
year olds with active imaginations or a social commentary that is expertly done
under youthful undertones. It explores greed, identity, loneliness, innocence,
compassion, and the innate human beauty that exists within all of us. It could
also be seen as a warning to parents not to restrict their children's cultural
development by being overprotective. Visuals are
lovely and lush, while Joe Hisaishi proves his musical creativity does
not age as he does. It lacks Laputa's dashing
adventure, Porco Rosso's serene beauty, and Nausicaa's stylistic
flair, but this one is definitely worth watching once, if only for the visual
and aural experience.
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| 11. ND
As soon as I sat on the theatre seat, I knew Spirited Away
will be good and expected a lot of it since it's the latest Hayao Miyazaki
film. It has been 4 years since his groundbreaking cinema film Princess Mononoke.
I was very astonished and speechless after watching the film for 2 hours. In my
opinion, Spirited Away is the most sweet and magnificent Anime I've ever
seen. It definitely had the perfect characters, acting, story, music and animation.
First the animation was very vivid and gorgeous. The background scene is so detailed
that it makes the film look like a live action movie. No Anime could ever come
close to its high quality drawings. Voice acting was done very well. Rumi Hiiragi,
a popular teen idol, did the voice of the main character named Chihiro. She did
sound like a 10 year old kid and her voice almost brought the life into the character
throughout the whole movie. As for the story and the character development, it
was the best I've ever seen. Chihiro is normal kid who is being a selfish brat
and a coward. Her life suddenly changes as she absorbed into a whole different
atmosphere, where spirits and monsters exist. She either has to work hard in the
bath house or turn into a pig along with her parents forever. With help of her
friend, Chihiro's life dramatically changed a lot in just 2 days when she learned
to feel confidence and take responsibility of things she caused. All the confusing
plots finally made sense at the near end of the movie, and it was very beautiful
to see such epic storyline. The score fits really well with its orchestra sound.
The score was written by Joe Hisaishi, the same guy who wrote for Princess
Mononoke and Beat Takeshi's Brother, and his music is really
good at bringing out more emotions for the movie (it either makes you feel relax
or intense, I was disappointed that it never got nominated for Best Score in Oscar). Spirited
Away is Hayao's second 2-hour film Anime film that he directed. His first,
Princess Mononoke, was major success, mixing with a lot of graphic scenes
and orchestra sound to make the movie feels very epic and classic. Hayao Miyazaki
is getting better at his job as screenwriter/director as you can see from this
movie, and he really IS!!! To me, it feels like he combined all of his ideas from
Totoro, Laputa, Mononoke, and Kiki's Delivery Service
along with his new ideas into one movie: Spirited Away. Spirited Away
contains the serenity of the 10 year old child (Laputa, Kiki's Delivery
Service), creative creatures (Totoro) and epic storyline with more
explicit scenes (Princess Mononoke). In my opinion, Spirited Away
is a little bit better than Princess Mononoke (I don't mean to offend Mononoke's
fans who think Mononoke is better than Spirited Away) While Princess
Mononoke is for more mature audience, Spirited Away is almost for everyone,
children to adults. I almost cried at the end when everything must come to an
end. I feel so empty that I wanted to stay inside of the movie -_-; It was very
entertaining throughout the 2 hour and kept my eyes on the screen the whole time.
I'm sure this movie will be considered classic Anime that ever made in 20 to 30
years from now on. |
| 9. moskun
Sometimes I think anime fans and critics alike feel pressure
to like Ghibli movies, even if they really, y'know, don't. In any case,
we've spent so much time campaigning the "animation is not just for kids"
message that we sometimes forget some animation is for kids, and I can
see kids liking this. My main beef is the pacing; I felt like I was sitting there
for three hours while a little girl did some very non-interesting things. |
| 8. h8er13
I know there's been lots of reviews of this, but like many,
I really can't express enough on how good this movie was. Of course, it is very
indicative of Miyazaki and after watching this, Spirited Away quickly
became my favorite Studio Ghibli productions, right with Whisper of
the Heart. The seiyuu is perfect, the music is appropriate, the character
design is unique...there are no visibly apparent flaws. The one thing I love about
Miyazaki's work is the direction of the characters. Each character's actions,
expressions, and manners of speech are so appropriate and wonderful. It's something
every anime otaku and new comers to the world of anime will immensely enjoy. Miyazaki
stated, this anime is "for 10 year olds and people who remember being 10."
Zettai, do not miss this one. |
| 7. Hentai
Sensei  Miyazaki
is no doubt in my mind one of the best anime directors of all time. Spirited
Away did not disappoint me, even though it took me 2 and half hours to find
the stupid theatre. The movie is rich in colors and the characters designs of
the movie are unbelievable. I spend most of the time watching the background of
the movie admiring the details Miyazaki puts in. Unlike normal anime, where
the background detail is normally ignored, Spirited Away offers the finest
details. The story basically is about Chihiro moving
with her family to a new town and her father took a wrong turn and this ultimately
cause the whole family to end up in a ghost spirit bath house resort. The story
then gets difficult for the heroin as Chihiro's parents became pigs as they ingest
the food that is made for the spirit. Chihiro had no other choice but to work
for bath house in order to have any chance in rescuing her parents. While
Spirited Away is a great anime movie, it did not live up to my expectations.
Usually Ghibli films' main character inherits some admirable personality
and characteristics. However, Chihiro, in my eye is just a 'normal' character.
She is not as courageous as the heroin in Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa
and not the as likable as the heroin in Laputa or Kiki's Delivery Service.
The love story between Chihiro and Haku is also not as developed as it is in Laputa
and Princess Mononoke. This movie has the potential to match the greatness
of Laputa and Princess Mononoke, but falls short.
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| 5. Cross
Scars
Spirited Away; Miyazaki's latest record breaking
anime offering. Since his first work for Studio Ghibli in 1984 Miyazaki
has been at the top of the pile when it comes to anime directors, having subsequently
directed one anime movie after another that was both brilliant and highly popular.
The mass success of Spirited Away merely cemented his position and pushed
him far ahead of any other anime director. But Spirited Away is far from
being just hype. Four years on (at the time of its original release) from his
previous work, Mononoke Hime, Miyazaki shows that he has lost none
of this touch. Spirited Away is brilliant and quite simple fantasy tale.
Chihiro, our heroine, on her way to her new house with her parents ends up going
down a tunnel that leads to a magical land far removed from modern day Japan.
Here Chihiro has to work in an inn, where various gods come to relax, to get by
and also to find a way to save her parents who were turned into pigs. There's
nothing spectacular about that plot but Ghibli makes this magical land
into probably the best anime world I've ever seen. The variety of odd looking
and magical characters is astounding and the inn where Chihiro works bustles with
these characters and activity as well as looking fantastic itself, which really
helps to bring the place to life. The quality of animation here is also amazing
and creates an unbelievably vivid anime world, which I find far more interesting
to look at than some boring computer generated mechas. But Miyazaki would
never let the animation get in the way of the story. The characters in the movie
are all wonderfully portrayed and as with Mononoke, characters are never
exclusively good or bad which is what leads them to be so interesting. The whole
cast of this movie is endearing and that's an achievement in itself. Rounding
this all off is an excellent soundtrack which perfectly fits the atmosphere and
events and really makes this movie the complete package. Ghibli
films, and not just Miyazaki films, in general always seem to have something
special about them. The focus the studio puts upon the characters, setting and
plot is what makes their films so wonderful to watch. Spirited Away looks
fantastic yet the quality of this would never be allowed to compromise the quality
of the story itself and that's what makes this film, along with all their others
stand out so much. While perhaps not achieving the emotive feelings of Grave
of the Fireflies or Whisper of the Heart (my personal favourite Ghibli
film), Spirited Away does have an excellent set of characters, which are
at the heart of all Ghibli films, and it creates a magical feeling which
even far surpasses the like of Totoro and any movie that manages to do
that is worth the kind of box office success that this movie garnered. |
| 3. Tempy
Miyazaki's first project after Princess Mononoke - Spirited
Away became Japan's top box-office earner. A wondrous adventure filled with
odd creatures, Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro, a young girl who
gets trapped in a mysterious resort for the spirits. This world inhabits many
strange, but likable characters. Amongst those are the cute dark soot (which also
appear in My Neighbor Totoro), the hideously disgusting Stink-God, the
three bouncing heads, Kamiji the six-legged boiling room operator, and the freaky
but ultimately innocent No-Face. It's this wonderful world which gave me the most
pleasure while watching the movie. Chihiro herself seems to be a less interesting
heroine than those in previous Ghibli features. Spirited Away is
neither like the epic stories of Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa,
nor the more down-to-earth romantic tale of Whisper of the Heart or the
coming-of-age tale of Kiki's Delivery Service. The love story between Haku
and Chihiro is underdeveloped as well, though there's a beautiful scene where
they tumble down from the sky. Still, Spirited Away does remain highly
entertaining and contains many memorable scenes and characters. |
| 2. Hybrid
Well of you combine the elements of a girl named Chihiro, her
curiosity given parents, an old town inhabited by gods, a bath house, a mysterious
masked character and a boy by the name of Haku.....................you so simply
get Miyazaki's latest masterpiece Spirited Away. As with many other
previous Miyazaki's works like Mononoke-hime and My Neighbour
Totoro, Spirited Away strength lies in the rich world that Miyazaki
creates and the unique character designs that comes up with. An example of this
in the movie is Kumaji, an eight legged spider like creature with monkey hands
and a human head, that operates the boiler room in the bath house. And with any
other Studio Ghibli film the animation is simply stunning and detailed,
as computer CG and traditional cell animation look simply stunning and lifelike.
The scene of the where Haku tries his best to hide Chihiro presence after taking
in a breath while crossing the bridge, is only one example of how CG and cell
animation can look so stunning and brilliant. In conclusion, this is another masterpiece
from the mind of the master himself Hayao Miyazaki. Highly Recommended. |
| 1. Leliel
A wondrous adventure in the vein of Alice's Adventures Through
the Looking Glass, Sen follows an unhappy young girl named Chihiro
and her curiously neglectful parents through Miyazaki's rabbit hole. En
route to a new town, the little family goes astray and finds itself lost in a
hot bath resort for the gods. The film largely follows Chihiro's efforts to fit
into a new environment more drastically different than she could have ever imagined
herself moving to. Some comparisons to previous Ghibli films are inevitable; Sen
is not as epic as Mononoke-hime, nor as ordinary as Omohide Poroporo,
but somewhere in between, like Kiki's Delivery Service if a bit more fantastical.
It is heavier than usual on comedy, although often dark in tone. The animation
is truly stunning, Ghibli again setting the standards and meshing CG more seamlessly
than ever before. The very heavily Japanese-styled resort is brought to life in
countless ways. Another soundtrack by Hisaishi Jou fits the film very well,
though the music is often subdued and invites echoes of previous works (the final
piano piece from Mononoke-hime makes an inexplicable encore). It is, in
short, another excellent all-around Ghibli film. Highly recommended. |
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