Spirited Away

Rating:
Summary: BUY It (the DVD)
Review: This movie is the best one I have ever seen, you should get the DVD. It is not that much more expensive but the japanese dialouge is better than enlish. This movie may look a little odd but it is a mix of adventure and mystery. At first you may be a little confused but if you watch the whole thing, every single detail will be explained. This is a movie for the whole family. My brothers hate cartoons yet they loved this movie. You have too watch this movie from beginning to end, if you don't, not only will you be confused but you will blow the fantastic ending. I never cry during movies but my eyes welled up at the end of this movie. Two thumbs up to Hayao Miyazaki!

Rating:
Summary: SPIRITED AWAY
Review: ONCE IN A LIFETIME AWESOME MASTERPIECE.

Rating:
Summary: The Oscar winning film... lets just say this movie was good
Review: Well, the firs time i saw the preview of this movie i had absoutly no interest in seeing it. But when it won the oscar and the previews started to grow, then i wanted it. On easter my parents got me it, i watched it and was blown away. The animation was diffrent, the story was diffrent. Its good to see an anime film thats diffrent from your average films. Go out and buy it, its wortht he money.

Rating:
Summary: Animation at its finest, plot at its thinnest...
Review: The animation and drawn movement of the characters in this movie is abolutely terrific. But even though it can touch on deep things at time, it never brings all these deep messages together, or shows how they relate to any overall theme or plot in the movie. I didn't give the movie 5 stars because it left too many things unexplained, unsaid, and unresolved. Basicly this movie leaves you hanging with too many loose ends, it almost needs a sequel to tie it up.
Another problem is that too many lucky coincidence happen, (like Chihiro just happening to be standing on the balcony when Haku is being chased). Even just an implication like they were somehow psychically bonded would have done, but there was nothing. Or how everything at the end just seems too resolve itself, and how nearly all the bad guys are suddenly good guys (like No-face) for no apparent reason. It also suffers from some pacing problems, where it just seems to rely on the animation to keep you interested.
Now some of this could just be a result of the english translation, but not all of it. Other than those weakness and complaints, the movie is really great overall. It is definitely worth watching, just don't expect a truly coherent plot or theme.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: This movie is a funny yet action pack (sort of). I've seen kiki's delivery service and it didn't catch me. But this movie was ausome.My favorite character was Haku. It's a great movie for the family. I personaly think there should be a sequel. People that look at this review should trust me because I love anime. This movie is now my favorite movie. Now my top 5 list of favorite animes are:
-Spirited Away
-Princess Moninoke
-DBZ
-Dirty Pair Flash
-YuYu Hakusho

Rating:
Summary: Utterly Charming!
Review: "Spirited Away" -directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke). This is an amazing and breathtaking Japanese animation. It puts Disney formulaic cartoons to shame. The art work is utterly charming with attention to detail. Spirited Away is nothing but charming without shamaltz or mushy sentimentality. From beginning to end, feels like a bizarre dream, never dull and always entertaining. I love it! All ages should watch this amazing animation and only watch this with the Japanese audio with subtitles, not with the dumbed down, Americanized dubbing! You'll be glad you did!

Rating:
Summary: I only wish I had been spirited away while watching this...
Review: OK...first of all, I bought this movie after reading all the positive, praising reviews on here, and was, for the first time on here, let down by them. As a fan of PRINCESS MONONOKE, I bought this dvd on a whim...thinking it would have the same captivating enthralling story, beautiful animation, and positive symbolism...HOWEVER, I have watched this movie three times since purchasing it and still sit through it with the same furrowed brow expression and confused look on my face every time. I DON'T GET THIS MOVIE! The plot is so unbelievably thin and boring that it actually ruins the beautiful animation of the film! I liked a lot of the symbolism in this movie though...The plot points that dealt with greed(the parents over-indulging in the food of the spirits, only to turn into pigs for there glutiny), love (Chihiro caring so much for Haku to give him her magical gift from the river spirit), and laziness (Chihiro quickly adapting to the spirit world and working hard without complaining)were interesting and nicely put together in the film. I would have thoroughly enjoyed this movie if it wasn't for the extreme dry spells in the dialogue and story line. There were too many long, drawn out sequences that were just unnecessary that had me rolling my eyes and practically falling asleep. Chihiro's voice was enough to make me want to bash my own head into the tv set to make it stop, and I don't think I will EVER understand NO FACE-the weird, disturbing white masked spirit who wreaks havoc in the bathhouse of the spirit world-but has some sort of otherworldy love interest with Chihiro because she lets him in, thinking he is a customer. I just don't get it. The art in the movie is fine...I have no complaints about that part. This movie was a disapointment though. I was expecting something whimsical and fun and this was just disturbing and dull. I am planning on RENTING Castle In The Sky or Kiki's Special Delivery Service, in hopes of finding anime that is more light hearted and enjoyable-that has characters that I can actually invest some emotians into...The characters of Spirited Away were boring, distant, and emotianally hollow....I almost hoped that Chihiro would be stuck in that world and forced to eat her butchered pig parents...that would have made the movie more interesting at least...

Rating:
Summary: Ghibi studios has outdone themselves.
Review: Spirited Away is a beautifully drawn, anitimated, and plot out story about a young girl, Chihiro, who at the beginning is a tad bit whiny and spoiled. But as the movie progresses you see Chihiro, now named Sen, become more mature. It's a wonderful movie about, I believe, responsibility and love. I think Disney did a fine job dubbing it, as they have with the other movies by this same person. Grant you, I was disappointed in the ending, but if any of you remember Princess Mononoke it too had an ending like this. It leaves viewers to come up with their own idea as to what happened after the movie ended.

Rating:
Summary: This simple: It's the most magical movie ever on screen
Review: I don't care what anyone says: This is THE best movie of 2002. You know what, forget about movies like "Chicago", "Gangs of New York" and "The Lord of the Rings". I guarantee you, that it will be THIS movie, NOT "The Two Towers", that will be remembered 20 years from now. "Spirited Away" is a fantastic journey through imagination, and is as landmarking as Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". It is, clearly, one of the most important films ever made. It's about finding yourself and even though you might be afraid, you must overcome fear and do what is needed to do. It combines an "Alice in Wonderland" type world with a good-hearted, wholesome message, but doesn't hammer us down with it.

The movie tells of ten-year-old Chihiro (Daveigh Chase), moving away into a brand new home in the suburbs. When her father takes a shortcut, Chihiro and her family find themselves in what seems to be an abandoned theme park. Her father and mother find some food and, eating it greedily, turns them into pigs. Chihiro is not in a theme park: It is a world of Japanese gods and spirits. Led by Haku (Jason Marsden), Chihiro gets a job at the bathhouse for spirits in order to stay safe from the witch Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette) and rescue her parents. Like "Princess Mononoke", "Spirited Away" is drawn by master animator Hayao Miyazaki, and features some of the best backgrounds EVER in an animated film. One of the best things about Miyazaki is his attention to even the detail. It are those little moments that fill the movie with a sense of magic. Not to mention all the spirits and gods of the bathhouse. Don't let "Pokemon" dismiss you from "Spirited Away"!

Rating:
Summary: More subtle, oblique than "Mononoke"
Review: In my opinion this doesn't necessarily make the movie better. I supposed I was expecting to see this movie and be utterly blown away a la "Princess Mononoke," and in some ways I was. It moved me and made me think, and the movie's artistry let my imagination soar free just as with "Mononoke."

However, my first impression is that the coherency in that earlier Miyazaki film is missing here. Being that this and "Mononoke" are the only two films of his I have seen, maybe this kind of movie is really more of his style and he isn't usually as lucid or accessible as he was with "Mononoke," yet I still think that film set a standard for storytelling, emotion, and beauty that few, if any, movies have matched since. The plot progressed at a thrilling pace, and the conclusion was perfect and utterly satisfying.

"Spirited Away," on the other hand, doesn't progress nearly as smoothly. In fact, the only real (coherent) plot development occurs in the first 45 minutes or so of the movie, with the changing of Chihiro's parents to pigs, her introduction to the bath house, her meeting with Haku and Yubaba, and her meeting with No Face. After that, to a certain degree, the movie seems to meander plot-wise. Though characters are put into dilemnas here and there, you never really get the feeling that they're in true danger, or that any of the plot elements really are that crucial. Despite the fact that I admire the gray-area nature of good and evil in Miyazaki's films, I think it would've served the movie's plot and development better if Yubaba had been more maliciously cast. Might be fault of the translation, but I don't know...

There are some elements that make little sense with the overarching themes and plot line of the movie, as well. No Face is possibly the biggest example of this. He/she/it just seems to be thrown in to add meat to the plot, and little more. It's an interesting diversion, but it makes little sense with the story, besides highlighting the theme of greed, possibly. Which brings me to another aspect I didn't like so much: themes of maturation and love were (pretty) well dealt with, but the theme of greed was probably too overdone, especially with Chihiro's parents turning into pigs and No Face's handing out of gold to everyone.

Being as I've viewed it all the way through only once, it might need some time, but so far I just don't see the coherency of "Mononoke" here.