Rating: 
Summary: Purely astounding...
Review: there's no other way to put it. The animation in this movie is crisp, fluid and clear, no drags or jumpy frames. Music is beautiful and accents the story further. Story line and characters are amazing, you really feel for them. The end leaves you BEGGING for more, not wanting to believe that it's over already!!This story takes you on a fantastic adventure into a world of spirits, magic, dragons, and on a journey with a little girl who's lost, scared, and is trying to save her parents. You watch as the girl, (Chihiro, or Sen), transforms into a strong character who is willing to overcome her fears and do whatever it takes to save the ones that she loves. A truly captivating story!! One you'll want to watch over and over again!!
Rating:
Summary: An amazing film.
Review: Most modern cartoons are stilted, with unnatural motion, poor plot development, and lack of attention to detail. In contrast, Spirited Away is a masterpiece of pacing, imagination, and beautiful artistry. The plot may seem strange to Western sensibilities, but it needs to be viewed on its own terms - possibly as a fantasy in the mind of a (very imaginitive) child. Parts of the film show images of buildings and landscapes in beautiful, sharp color. When the spirits "come out" - the mood changes to a ghosteliness, but then clarity resumes, as if we accept this is as the new "normal". Some of the characters are wierd caricatures, while others have grace and are oddly sympathetic. I'm not sure this film will appeal to all - it's strangeness may put off some, but those willing to open their minds will be rewarded. This is wonderful stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: We came, we saw, anybody want it next?
Review: I had not heard about "Spirited Away" until it won awards. When a relative happened apon a pre-release video copy, he passed it along to us because we are huge Disney fans. My husband, 2 daughters and I love Disney animated movies. My older daughter, who is 6, had to run and hide 1/4 of the way into "Spirited Away". She has never done that from an animated movie before. Watching the parents turn into pigs was too much for her!
The animation is beautiful but the story line is disjointed and many parts are not explained. It is as trippy as the Teletubbies. I'm glad I saw it once, but it certainly won't be watched until the tape wears out like "Toy Story"!
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: I was tentative to get this film at first, but have absolutely no regrets. I really enjoyed the depth of the main character, and the uniquely interesting supporting characters. The amazing part is this is an animated film. Totally outstanding for kids and adults. My only hope is that some force in Hollywood doesn't attempt to turn this into a live action work with heavy CGI...it would ruin the beauty of the film and the experience.
Rating:
Summary: Even Better the Second Time
Review: Great movie, ignore the low rated reviews that complain about "Projectile Vomiting"
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies of all time.
Review: Wow.Spirited Away is an amazing movie and it blew me away.This is top notch anime,and it is one of the greatest movies of all time,period.The animation is excellent,too and if you are only used to watching the typical Disney like animated films then you will be amazed at how different and cool this movie is.Don't rent Spirited Away,buy it.You won't regret it if you do. I give this movie a perfect 5 out of 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Great humor for all ages
Review: Released in 2001, Spirited Away has become an instant classic in animation, bringing classic anime to a much wider audience. In its roots, this is a classic coming-of-age story like thousands before it. A young girl begins the story afraid of her own shadow, cranky, timid and clingy. The family is moving to a new town and Chihiro doesn't like any of it. Her mother is clearly tired of this behavior and her father tries to push her into being stronger. Then, just as the girl feared, something went wrong. A little trip into a strange area suddenly has her parents turned into pigs, herself trapped in a servant's contract, and no sign of escape. She's put to hard work and sees no way of escaping. It's the opposite of the Wizard of Oz - instead of a gorgeous world where she has friends, she's a scullery maid with people snarling at every turn. And like in Pinocchio, it was their own boorish behavior that had the parents turn into farm animals. But slowly Chihiro realizes that things aren't as bad as she first though, once she gives it a fair try. Her fellow maids are actually quite friendly and helpful. The bathhouse in which she works appreciates the things she's able to do. The creatures and monsters that inhabit her new world, once quite fearsome to her, are now friends. Most especially, Chihiro is taken care of by a boy, Haku, who both works for the witch overlord of the bathhouse and also seems quite familiar to Chihiro. As the story moves along, Chihiro matures quite a bit, of course. The whole story is about her growing and learning and discovering her strengths. Her friends band together to help her out, and the requisite happy ending results. I understand why this is the highest grossing movie in Japanese history, and also why it was nominated for an Academy award. The general tale is one all people can relate to - the difficulties of change when you're a child, the wonder and strength that comes from realizing you can overcome those difficulties. The characters all have dimension - there aren't "good guys" and "bad guys". Characters start out harsh and annoying, but you get to like them when you get to know them. Even the 'mean' characters have understandable reasons for being that way. And yet, despite being an avid student of the Japanese culture and understanding a lot of the underlying themes, the movie just wasn't quite "finished". Themes were started and not completed. Things mentioned with importance are later forgotten. There are characters that she meets for 5 minutes and is petrified of, and others that she knows for 8 minutes and is crying when she leaves them. Her roller-coaster emotions are inconsistant, even as she is maturing. The same is seen in the animation. There were many sequences in the animation where it became jerky and rough. Yes, some scenes (the entrance to the boss' office for one) obviously were labors of love, with exquisite detail. But there were other scenes that should have been breathtaking - the dragon flying near the end, for example - that looked clumsy. And then only a few moments later, the two faces as they fell were again extremely well done. It's as if someone chose key parts that had to stand out, and really worked on those - but left the other scenes to middlemen. When I hold the animation of Spirited Away up to many of my other favorite animated classics, I'm afraid that Spirited Away just isn't as consistant or smooth across the film. Also, with the theme being so timeless, I'm afraid that much of the movie was incredibly predictable. Even one of the key secrets wasn't much of a great moment when it was revealed, because there was no 'story meaning' to it. I won't give away the ending section, but while much of the middle of the movie sung with innovations and interesting, fascinating twists, at the end it dissoved back down into just about every other coming-of-age story written, and some extremely tired cliches finish the movie off. I truly felt let down. It sort of indicates the general tone of the movie when my favorite scene here doesn't hold a candle to my favorite scenes in other animated classics, either from a drawing, a plot, or a character point of view. It was simply funny. It was the soot-dust scene, where Chihiro has first entered the scary bathhouse. She sees a poor little soot-dust creature struggling to carry a lump of coal, and it gets crushed by the coal. Aghast, she tries to help out the creature by lifting its coal lump and then carries the coal herself to the furnace. The other soot creatures all crowd around her and it almost appears they're thanking her for saving their friend. One of the soot creatures lifts his own lump above his head ... and then THUMP, he drops it on himself, wiggling his little arms and legs and shrieking for help. Suddenly every little soot creature is dropping its coal on its head, hoping to get out of some work. It had me hooting in laughter. So in the end, while other aspects of the movie were lovely but not excellent, I loved Spirited Away for those little spots of laughter in the story. Those little details are where it shone.
Rating:
Summary: Also, the Bonus Disc...
Review: revealed how Miyazaki and his young & talented team struggled to created this masterpiece. What was most interesting was how Miyazaki conveyed his traditional view and artistic technicques to these younger generations. In one point, he asked the team if anyone knew how a dog would show his teeth. No one did, so he took them to an animal hospital to observe dogs. All these little stories make the bonus disc very entertaining... but watch it only after watching the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I just received and watched the Japanese version with English subtitles. It was even better than the dubbed version I saw in the Theater.
The Japanese version does not have any subtitles for the "other" features portion of the DVD, so if you don't understand Japanese you will not care for those parts of the DVD. But the movie itself is more enjoyable and the voices sound more like what the characters look like. I do understand some Japanese so maybe I am biased because I don't have to read all of the subtitles.
No matter what version you do get the movie is very good.
Rating:
Summary: all there is to say is ....AMAZING....!!!
Review: well..I am 15 and a girl. This movie has a great storyline and it has to have the most beautiful dragon that i have ever seen. It may look childish at first but it goes deeper. "Spirited Away" truely touches your heart. It leaves you in awe. I highly reccomend this to anyone at all who would like to see a young girl's courage and bravery save her parents.
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