Spirited Away (2001)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Rumi Hiragi, Bunta Sugawara, Mari Natsuki (Voices)
Genre: Adventure/Anime
Running Time: 123mins

Rating:

Chihiro is a ten year old girl. We join her in the backseat of her fathers car, as she and her parents travel far from their old home to a new town, with a new school and a new home. After a stop at what appears to be an old run down bath house leaves Chihiro alone and bewildered she is forced to work at the spiritual bath house for the Gods under the control of Yubaba in order to survive. While her parents suffer for their greed it is up to Chihiro to learn the all important lessons of life : responsibility, identity and maturity in order to put a stop to the doomed fate of her parents.

Some could argue that I first saw Spirited Away in the worst possible way. I was visiting my girlfriend in Paris just as it was released. Being an ardent Miyazaki / Ghibli fan she simply had to see the film that brought Miyazaki out of retirement. Hayao Miyazaki is the creator of such wonderful films as My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Kiki's Delivery Service to name but a few.

Once news spread that he was planning to retire after the extensive work he had done in order to bring Mononoke to the screen, the 62 year old director was besieged by letters from his fans, young and old alike, begging him to make another film. Such is the popular nature of Miyazaki's films, that they are so eagerly anticipated. And so, in a cinema in Paris, the curtain opened and the film started. Initially my plan was to decipher, the best I could using my limited knowledge of Japanese and French. Oh, and also the occasional tap on my girlfriends shoulder as I asked the very same question that everyone hates to overhear at a cinema: "What did she just say?"

And although the opening twenty minutes did surprise me with regards to just how much I could put together from the Japanese dialogue and the French subtitles, it became very clear that minus a few considerable plot twists (Zenibaba for those in the know) for the most part Chihiro was more visually communicative than dialogue driven. And this is where readers start to think that you're writing about a live action film, because for Chihiro, Haku, Yubaba, the faceless spirit (even!) all of the characters; principal or otherwise; are all animated so well that a simple look or a facial twitch is captured in its most expressive of ways, transcending what would be pages of dialogue.

Outside of the important plot twists / developments everything to know about the characters personalities, and relationships with others can be seen through expression and body language. This is the milestone in animation, expressions (and Ghibli have been doing it for decades) not the CG trickery of Final Fantasy but a combination of traditional cell painting and modern computer effects - backed up (more importantly) by an involving storyline and Miyazaki's relentlessly spectacular imagination.

Like Mononoke before it, with Chihiro, Miyazaki has created another adventure of epic proportions, a world bigger than the imagination, filled to the brim with wonderfully weird creations. A Miyazaki film is always best approached blind, to be blown away by the amazing scenery and the bizarre inhabitants at first viewing. Trust me, if I go into too much detail about Kamaji, the three heads, or the "Makkuro Kurosuke's", the magic will be diluted.

Retaining the all important rites of passage and morality tales inherent with a Miyazaki film, Chihiro shows how animation should be : involving, emotional, thrilling, humorous, and with just the right amount of sentimentality. Accompanied by another fantastically rousing score by Miyazaki and Kitano regular Joe Hisaishi, Chihiro is a magical experience that guarantees to thrill both young and old.

Quite simply wonderful.