Spirited Away

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, Bad DVD...
Review: I've watched the movie in Asia over 2 years ago when it first came out. It is the most wonderful Japanese anime I've ever seen. I had waited two years for the zone-1 version to come out.

And I'm totally disappointed by the picture quality of this DVD! It's blurry and desaturated. It's lost all the sharpness and saturation of the original movie. Can't believe Disney did such a bad job on Telecine (the film transfer process) for this award-winning movie.

But the problem is, for this DVD, disc 2 (the Original Japanese trailers) is better than disc 1. The first several trailers just look gorgeously crisp and clear with absolutely no blurs, and the color looks vibrant and vivid..

So, I think Disney should consider re-mastering this movie or offering a refund program. Watching this DVD, my wife says, is like watching a VCR. Great Movie, bad DVD...what a waste...

Rating:
Summary: One of the most thought provoking films ever
Review: Being an anime fan, I took my mother to see this film over Christmas break. Keep in mind, my mother is a huge drama buff - she graduated from Michigan State with a Major in drama, writes screenplays, directs, even held a Drama School for awhile. Until she saw this film, she couldn't understand my enthusiasm over anime.

She sighed through the first 10 minutes, but once the parents turned into pigs - she couldn't even blink. On the way home from the film, she couldn't stop talking about all of the hidden meanings within the film, the characters, the animation, the way that it makes Alice in Wonderland look like Barney in comparison.

If you want to introduce an incredibly cynical person to anime - this is the film to introduce them to. You really can't go wrong with it, no matter how old they are. After taking my mother, we both took her friend and her friend's 15 year old son, and they too became mesmorized by the film.

Adults and children alike will be swept by Spirited Away!

Rating:
Summary: Visual perfection, or as close as I have ever seen
Review: Wow. I have just seen this masterpiece a second time at the theater and was more blown away then the first time. I cannot recommend seeing it on the big screen enough, I will buy the DVD to be sure, but one must see the grand scope of this to appreciate it in full. It is not so much what it is as what it is not. It is not a pretentious "adult cartoon" relying on kinky sex and violence to pass itself off as highbrow entertainment. It is not that bad "anime" (spelling)? that I would hope we would have seen the last of by now. This is original, heartfelt, funny and simply dazzling to look at. How rare is it these days to see a good story told in an interesting way that is coherent and funny as well as dead serious and never heavy handed or depressing? There are so many ways Japanese animation can go wrong (at least to American audiences) and this film steers well clear of all of them. A child's journey of self discovery, of learning timeless lessons about friendship and family, and it is never politicized, never used as an excuse to push some religious or sociological agenda. Small children might be scared at parts of this, the pigs in particular were disturbing (I was more scared then any of the children in attendance, which is usually the case anyway) but they will be won over by the happy but never sappy ending. How sad that so many films feel it is necessary to have a depressing and downbeat story to be taken seriously, how sad that so many small minded producers cannot see past short term profits and commercialization, how delightful and fortunate that someone still cares about art for arts sake and takes the effort and expense to bring this wonderful tale to the screen, like all great art this film enhances life, one cannot help but feel better after having seen this, you really owe it to yourself to spend two hours in this magic place where good can overcome evil and everyone can solve there problems the right way. And the little girl from the ring voices the main character, how perfect is that?

Rating:
Summary: Vastly Over-rated
Review: For someone who loves animation a great deal, I sat through this movie greatly puzzled at the praise heaped upon it and its box-office takings. Yes, it has some strange and wonderful imagery, but come on! So has tons of other Japanese and Chinese animated features. Plus, the story is so plodding, and at times confusing, that my partner started nodding off half way through the movie. For a vastly superior and more entertaining animated feature in the same vein, I greatly recommend Tsui Hark's 1997 animated remake of "A Chinese Ghost Story". With its strange fantasy world of gods, demons, ghosts and timeless love, "A Chinese Ghost Story" is a great deal more engaging than the sleep-inducing "Spirited Away".

Rating:
Summary: Great experience
Review: Wow what a wonderful movie. I watched it with my 5-year-old kid I was moved by the story and animation, though my kid needed some explaining he loved every minute.
Both of us who are used to Hollywood/pixar/Disney movies were interlard by the movie plot and visuals.
Totally recommended. Thank you Miazaki

Rating:
Summary: WEIRD MOVIE...BUT YET ITS COOL... I LIKE IT
Review: This movie is pretty good, it has a good plot and its really deep. Its a movie that you can't just start in the middle of the movie and start watching it in the middle of the movie. You have to watch it from the beginning to the end. I read one review about someone's 8 year old being scared to death about the parents tunring into pigs. So I definitley would not reccomend this movie for younger ages. If you are looking for a japanese anime movie for younger children, try kiki's delivery service. The only anime movies i saw before this one was the pokemon movies and kiki delvery service, but this one is weird, but yet, I love it. Before buying this movie, I would defintley rent it to make sure you know what your are buying. Like the no-face eating people...and blood all over the place. But if you are a true japanese animation mainiac, i would say u will love it

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is an amazing movie. The images are lush and brilliant and the story is intricate. It has all the charm and intrigue of an old legend or fairytale and can absorb people of all ages. However, parents of young children should note this is not a tame cartoon: it isn't appropriate for every child.

Rating:
Summary: Oh I'm so Impressed...Not.
Review: This film, it's true of all anime and Manga style animation is so awful. The characters look like square heads with odd shaped eyes, no noses, and weak disloge useually dubbed in English. The color is way off and the movement is jerky and lacks substance. They say this was a great film. Not it was not. I've seen better stories in a Godzilla film.

Rating:
Summary: Miyazaki's Best
Review: In the past year Spirited Away replaced Titanic as the highest grossing film in Japan and won a Best Animated Oscar. Unfortunately many Americans have never heard of this wonderful film.
The recent imports of Anime (animation from Japan) such as Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh and Digimon, have given American audiences an incorrect image of anime. In many cases these shows have been completely reworked for American audiences. As a result many of the rich and complex story lines are diluted down into fast moving action with little plot. It is no wonder many adults relegate Anime to children's cartoon.
Luckily masters such as Hayao Miyazaki are still showing the amazing powers of animation. Spirited Away, arguably his best work ever, is the story of a young girl, Chihiro. She and her parents are moving to a new town. Along the way they take a wrong turn and end up in a spirit land. The center of this magical land is a giant bathhouse where the spirits come to realize and rejuvenate themselves. The bathhouse is run by Yubaba, a witch with again head, a giant mole, a giant baby and a twin sister. When Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs, she must take a job in the bathhouse cleaning tubs in order to save herself from the same fate. Chihiro must overcome her fears and find the strength to save her parents and get them all home.
The spirit world is populated with many fanciful creative the like of which we have not seen since Alice fell down the rabbit hole. But don't worry, extensive knowledge of the Japanese Religion Shintoism is not required to enjoy this film. Simply know that they believed everything had its own spirit from radishes to rivers.
If you did not get a chance to see this movie in the theatre, this is your opportunity. The film is a sweet, funny and slightly trippy story that is sure to delight.

Read a review of the whole DVD at shelikesdvds.com

Rating:
Summary: Subtitles?
Review: Can someone comment on whether this DVD has the original Japanese voice actors and subtitles?