Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Animated Feature for Children and Adults
Review: When her family stops to look for a place to eat in an abandoned amusement park, young Chihiro (voice of Daveigh Chase) wanders off on her own and finds that the park changes in strange ways when the sun goes down. When she looks for her parents so that they can leave, she finds that her parents have turned into...pigs! Thus begins Chihiro's adventure. She learns that she is actually in a sort of resort for sprits and supernatural beings. She must find friends who will help her to navigate this world of witches, spirits and monsters in order to return her parents to their human form and return to the human world herself."Spirited Away" is directed by renowned Japanimation director Hayo Miyazaki. And it deservedly won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. This film is better than anything I have seen Disney produce (Pixar films excepted). It is simply more imaginative and engaging. And it won't bore the adults or older children in the audience. This is a good film to rent or buy if, as much as you would like to watch a movie with your young children, you can't help dreading it. "Spirited Away" isn't highbrow, but it won't make you groan either. And it's not a musical, so there are no insipid songs that you won't be able to get out of your head for weeks.
Rating: 
Summary: The first good movie I've seen in a long time
Review: This is a wonderful movie. It isn't as deep as princess mononoke but it is wonderful just the same. I saw it three times in the theater in under a week, that's how much this movie moved me. It's not just a movie it's an experience. As an extra little bonus for anime fans the dub is very good, something I could watch over and over. (At least I thought so) One word of caution is I could see serveral younger veiwer being scared by some of the scences, so those of you with young kids at home are advised to watch this movie before showing it you your kids.
I have only two complaints about this DVD set. One being I have some issues with the literal translation subtitles, though my Japanese is limited, I feel they could be a little more accurate. (A Spanish language track also would have been a treat)
My other is issue is the "selected scene story board accsess" is simply for 1 scene. I would love to see storyboards for the entire movie like what was included for laputa, kiki, and the Japanese release. You can watch the story board with english or Japanese dialoge but be warned there are no subtitles.
Over all this is a great movie and a great DVD. I'd give the movie 5 stars and the DVD 4 stars for reasons explained above.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Animated Adventure from Hayao Miyazaki
Review: Like "Princess Mononoke", director Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated film, "Spirited Away", was inspired greatly by animistic Shinto beliefs. The story begins with a young girl named Chihiro riding in a car with her parents. While driving to their new home, they take a turn onto a dirt road that leads them to an old building. In spite of Chihiro's objections, she follows her parents into the building's entrance. They emerge on the other side into daylight and walk towards a set of buildings. The buildings appear abandoned, but when Chihiro's parents smell food cooking, they follow it to a well-stocked restaurant and begin to gorge themselves. Chihiro refuses to eat and wanders away to investigate on her own. When she returns, she finds that her parents have turned into two fat pigs. When night suddenly falls, Chihiro is further terrified by the unexpected appearance of an assortment of strange spiritual beings; but one boy, Haku, helps Chihiro and tells her that there may be a way to restore her parents. Will Chihiro, who is later renamed Sen, be able to restore her parents and survive in the strange world or spirits and magic? As in "Princess Mononoke", the animation in "Spirited Away" is intricate, amazing and beautiful. Other very interesting characters include the witch Yubaba, Sen's coworker Lin, boiler manager Kamaji, the little black creatures that assist Kamaji, and No-Face. Western viewers may find the story strange since the story contains no battles between good & evil, and also since many of the characters are inherently neither good nor evil for the most part either. Overall, I found the plot to be very engaging, as well as the cinematography and animation, and I rate the film with 5 out of 5 stars. The DVD version can be watched in its original Japanese with English subtitles, or dubbed in English, which was done well. "Spirited Away" is a film that children and adults alike can both enjoy and watch repeatedly without becoming tiresome.
Rating:
Summary: Such a great movie
Review: We Americans are typically skeptical of animation and also Japanese films. But the buzz on this thing was so strong i had to see it. I dragged my girlfriend to see it and we both loved it - adored it. One of my favorite movies - what you lose in "reality" Miyazaki more than makes up for in creativity and beauty. A must see.
Rating:
Summary: Charming and Eccentric
Review: Don't expect TOO much from this exuberant and unpredictable film. It's not a great movie and not even particulary good in terms of plot, character, story, or technical expertise. But if your kids are bored with formulaic Disney productions, this is a wonderful and refreshing change. This movie has a theme, rather than a plot: the young girl, trapped in a supernatural world, who must perform onerous tasks and solve a puzzle to reverse a spell. A different storyteller might have given us a predictable tale in which the heroine fails to precisely follow the instructions of her wise guide, plunging herself into greater difficulties, but overcomes her obstacles through courage and persistance while learning a valuable lesson in maturity, then stumbles across the key to the riddle and solves it, returning everything to normal while leaving her with new-found inner strength. Director Miyazaki confounds these expectations despite constant allusions to the form. Sen, our heroine, DOESN'T do exactly what her mentor Haku says, but it doesn't really matter because he doesn't actually know what to do about HER problem ANYWAY! In fact it is HIS problem that he leads her to resolve. Sen's own problem is resolved rather carelessly at the end of the film in a rather abrupt way. Our ride is at an end and we are being dumped out of the funhouse, but it's been quite a trip! The film takes us into a wonderful surreal environment based on Japanese folktales. VERY small children will undoubtedly find some elements scary, but middle-school children will find the gross-out effects enthralling. The film is at times mawkishly sentimental, however, and is probably aimed at adults: its message is that memory holds the key to our problems.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite of Miyazaki
Review: Another great work from Miyazaki!
Rating:
Summary: greatest movie for both adult and children
Review: this is an absolute masterpiece! you should definitely buy it.
the English dub isn't great though, recommend you to choose the Japanese dialogue with english subtitle when you watch it, it's much better this way.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I thought this was a delightful movie that shows a young girl overcomming the odds of her circumstances. The first half of the movie is a bit confusing and difficult to know whats going on and what the ultimate good and evil are but by the end you just feel so good for Chihiro. one scene in particular made me feel really good... the scene where haku and chihiro are returning to the castle (or whatever you want to call it) and they discover haku's origins. the first time i saw that i found myself with a huge smile on my face feeling so good for the characters. wonderful movie. it really made me feel good.
Rating:
Summary: Try Thinking, Parents...!
Review: Spirited Away is indeed a wonderful movie and if it can spread some positive messages of love, trust and friendship, then all the better. I saw this in the theater and I never heard any screams from the little kids. I saw little kids in the theater when I went to see "Hannibal" so I wouldn't place too much confidence in American parents' judgements!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of hype
Review: After hearing all the great reviews from various sources for Spirited Away, I decided to buy this DVD and prepare myself to enjoy a spectacular film. Much to my dismay, it did not come close to all the hype. Even the Academy makes serious blunders on occasion. There are very few great films, and for me, there are 5 key points that need to be met to make a great animated film. 1) First thing you see is the Animation, and admittedly, Spirited Away was done very well. I was impressed by the animation, the details.
2) A good story. Spirited Away lost it in this category. While the story I will admit is interesting, it is a far cry from a GREAT story. It is way too bizarre, and I suspect this is due to cultural differences. I would suspect that Asian cultures would appreciate this film a lot more.
3) Character Development. This was done fairly well in the film, and you come to associate with the character once you get through the bizarre story.
4) Music. I feel this can be one of the most important factors that bring the rest of the factors together (If they are good). Music will set the mood to the whole story, and I feel this is another point where Spirited Away let me down.
5) Originality. This is not as major of a factor, but one nonetheless. Hands down, Spirited Away is very original. I maintain that so far, my favorite animated movie is "The Lion King". It meets all of these points with flying colors. Some of you may argue that point on #5 citing similarities to "Kimba the White Lion". I do not see a basis for that accusation. In conclusion, the film was interesting, but I definitely cannot give it 5 stars. I will not give up on this filmmaker though, and plan on renting "Kiki's Delivery Service."
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