Running time: 125 minutes
Certificate: PG
Language: Japanese
Screenplay: Hayao Miyazaki
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring (voices): Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Bunta Sugawara, Yumi Tamai, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Takashi Naitô
Yubaba tries to dissuade Chihiro from working for her. |
When a wrong turn leads her
and her parents to an abandoned theme park, things begin to get a little
creepy. There is no one around, but
there is a stall with masses of delicious food. Mom (Yasuko Sawaguchi) and dad (Takashi Naitô) dig in with gusto, but Chihiro is freaked out and goes to
look around. As she is away, night
begins to fall and she is warned to leave by a stranger called Haku (Miyu Irino). As she heads back to her parents, lights come
on and mysterious spectres begin to materialise everywhere. Finding her parents have been turned into
pigs, she is stranded in the strangest world imaginable with no way home, which
is scary even if you’re not a child. Things haven’t even begun to get weird yet. Advised to work to survive, she begs for a
job from the sinister sorceress Yubaba (Mari Natsuki), who runs a bathhouse where six million gods come
to rest every night.
The
imagination that has gone into this film is astounding. Every frame is a work of art (I’m serious –
pause it anywhere and literally bask in the quality), hand drawn and then enhanced by
computer; it has got to be one of the most beautiful films ever created. The mixing of the mundane and the fantastical is seamless and incredibly effective - the steam powered basement where living soot supplies the fire with coal, or the bathhouse floor where legions of staff, including Chihiro, now called Sen since Yubaba took her name, work to scrub baths and floors between visits by the many and varied gods. One stand-out set-piece involves a visit from a river god who is so clogged with muck, rubbish and pollution he is mistaken for some kind of stink spirit.
Chihiro relaxes during a rare moment of peace. |
Not only
one of the best animated films I’ve ever seen, but one of the best films ever
made, animated or not.
Score: 9/10
Spirited Away is universally adored, as it should be - see these reviews by Chris at Silent Volume and Bill.
Spirited Away is universally adored, as it should be - see these reviews by Chris at Silent Volume and Bill.
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