Rating: 
Summary: Best movie I've seen in a long time...
Review: I just saw this movie last night and I can't stop thinking about it! This is not a movie just for kids or for anime fans, it's for everybody. The story is wonderful and engaging and the animation is spectacular. I don't know why this wasn't nominated for Best Picture, in my opinion it deserves the distinction.
Rating: 
Summary: Award-winning spirits for today's child
Review: This fantasy won the Academy award. It was typical Japanese fare, similar to the old 'Speed Racer' my children watched on t.v. It was an antimated GHOSTBUSTERS or similar to the Scooby-Doo movie. Village Roadshow Pictures are releasing some really strange productions such as the primitive prequel to DREAMCATCHER. It seemed to be based on a Japenese video game as in early Nintendo. It contained weird animation, artificial acting (no emotion), and bad voice overs. Even the skinny woman with superhuman strength sounded like a man. Bette Ford made a good "old" woman. There were some subtle references to various classics, thus the fairy tale aspect. The male 'lead' had a Little Lord Faulteroy haircut and looked like Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. He had a feminine hand (long, slender fingers) like that of the father in the famous painting of THE PRODIGAL SON. He was put under a spell and transformed into a weird dragon. After the hungry phantom swallowed the frog (WIND IN THE WILLOWS) whole, later he was regurgitated and revived -- as in the story of Jonah in the Whale. Even the "Pillsbury doughboy" baby of the incredibly old madame looked like Medulsa with snakes in his long swirling hair. He is transformed for awhile into a strange-looking mouse which is carried around by a real-sounding mosquito. He looked like a Sumari wrestler. Everyone had such wide big eyes and no noses. At first, I thought it was going to be just another "eel" story, but it was just as much a Japanese version of Spiderman. There was a court jester tempted by the gold, a skull phone of the 'old woman' gnome, poor Sin knee-deep in mire at the bathhouse where Sludge was a smelly guest. The music kept the atmosphere of a geisha instead of a pig farm. There was an abundance of exotic plants and a spectacular hawthorne bush. Other colorful flora abounded in this little paradise by day/Hell after dark. The rain clouds were symbolic of foreboding things to come. Other clouds and the night sky were somewhat realistic-looking, except for the moon. I've never before seen such industrious sootballs. And when they played charades, it was a sight to behold. Their elevators are faster even than those in the Sears Tower in Chicago. One final test (where is Sin?) was a ride on the ghost train to the Swamp on which the conductor shredded the tickets, for whatever reason. As in any fantasy, it takes awhile for memories to return, and only love could break the spell. The public t.v. series SAGWA, misadventures of the Siamese cats, is much more enjoyable than this academy award-winning feature.
Rating:
Summary: If I could give this more than five stars, I would!
Review: This has got to be my favorite movie of all time. It is funny, moving, romantic, horrifying, and a little disgusting all at the same time. If you see any movie this spring, make it Spirited Away!
Rating:
Summary: A great movie for everyone.
Review: Spirited Away is full of creativity, just like Castle in the Sky and Kiki's Delivery Service. The story is of a young girl who is transported through a "tunnel" to a strange and different world. Once her parents turn into a pig from eating too much, she tries to find a way to bring them back, while trying to get out. Haku helps her, and she falls in love with him later in the movie. Many different adventures happen in the movie. While she tries to save Haku's life, she uses her courage she never knew she had. This movie was The Most Acclaimed movie 2002, and won the oscar of Best Animated Movie.
I highly recommend watching if you like anime, and even if you don't its a great movie for you and your kids. Watch it, you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING to look at, especially on the big screen . . .
Review: I just saw this movie on the big screen yesterday, and learned while skimming Amazon today that it's due on DVD in about 2 weeks! Well, let me tell you, I'm so glad I saw it on the big screen, because a large part of the amazing film "Spirited Away" is its absolute beauty; the color, animation, the look and feel of the movie SCREAM for the big screen, and I'm only sorry I saw it dubbed and not in its original Japanese. But for sure, this is one movie I will be buying the very day of its release. The plot is nominal -- a young girl is moving to a new city with her parents, feeling isolated and a little afraid at this new venture in her young life. On the way to their new home, her father takes what he believes to be a shortcut to their house, but instead they wind up in front of an entrance to a bizarre-looking tunnel. In front of the entrance sits a stone statue that is too big for the car to go around so, curious, the parents decide to check out the strange-looking building with the tunnel on foot. Their little girl, immediately fearing something is wrong here, has to be cajoled into going -- and this sets off a bizarre adventure for Chihiro (the girl) that you have to see to believe; she soon ends up all alone in a VERY strange land. Saying more would be giving stuff away, so let me just say that Chichiro is indeed "spirited away" to a world where she must learn to be strong in order to save herself -- and her parents -- from being stuck there forever. On the way she meets both friends and enemies of all shapes, sizes . . . and worlds. This is one heck of a movie, one of my favorites and candy for the eye as well as the mind. Beautifully made and well-crafted, anyone meeting Chihiro will immediately love her, and root 150% for her success. My ONLY negative in seeing this fine film comes from the actual theatergoing experience itself -- because the film is being distributed by Disney in the USA, there were MANY children in the audience, from babies to early teens. PLEASE NOTE: this is NOT a movie for very young children, by any means -- some images might disturb them, some "monsters" in the film may be too intense for kids under, say, 7 years of age. One woman down the aisle from me walked out with her four daughters less than ten minutes into the film. This is NOT a "Disney movie" by any means, it's Japanimation -- some of the finest I've seen, and -- as much as I also love "Lilo and Stitch" -- I can see completely why "Spirited Away" won the Oscar a week ago for Best Animated Film. A brilliant movie, it would be an honor to have it in any movie-lover's DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the Unimaginative or Dull
Review: If you're contemplating on whether or not to buy or see this film take a look at the other reviews. Only about five people gave it less than 4 stars (-and when you find them check out how many other people found that entry useful). If you're an adult without children you can still find this movie remarkably interesting; however, if you've lost your inner child or if you're dead inside you might just come out of the theater bewildered or disappointed. This is NO Princess Mononoke. Miyasaki wasn't aiming for another serious film. In my oppinion, this movie has something to offer to almost everyone. Some conservative parents might find it a bit morbid or scary for kids but if your children are permanently traumatized by it than they must have had some issues to begin with. Loosen up and keep an open-mind to this masterpeice.
Rating:
Summary: Another Miyazaki Masterpiece!
Review: Hayao Miyazaki really scored with this one. If you don't know him by name, he is the man who's brought us such classics as Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro. Spirited Away looks great on the big screen, and that's where it belongs. However, the dubbing by Disney isn't that great, I'm sorry to say. No need to worry, though, as the DVD edition contains the original Japanese! This movie is a must-own for any movie lover, and certainly and anime lover. I give it a six out of five!
Rating:
Summary: Miyazaki's Masterpiece Spirited Away
Review: I am a huge Miyazaki fan but this one was just amazaing, his best work yet personally.I read soem other reviews saying they didn't like it because it scared their children and it was too weird. Its true this movie has a lot of scary parts and some people said it was "dark" which it isn't at all!Its truly a beautiful movie but I would reccomend your child would be 10+up for some parts even freaked me out.Amazing Animation, but some people said"the characters were to mean" such as her parents"they yell too much" one person said. You can hardly call them yelling its true they wern't perfect parents liek in some others and they did care about Chihiro but theyre like most parents in my hoem town they don't really care what their children do so they seemed real to me."Yubaba was too cruel" When her baby was goen she worried like a real mother you have to expect her to get angry ,wouldn't you if your child((if you don't have a child just pretend))) went missing, she was just worried and seriously after Sen ((Chihiro)) cleaned the Stink Spirit she started to appreciate her more, and ok soem characters such as HA-Noshi((No Face)) might scare soem children I thought he looked creppy before I saw the movie but now he's my favorite character and by the end he wasn't truly evil and personally I never thought he really wanted to hurt Chihiro.I'm not doing this to complain to people who don't like it i'm just saying open your mind and see the beauty of this movie such as the part when Haku remembered who he was, and if you think the characters are cruel remember Zeniba's kindness towards Sen and No-Face, and how even though No-Face attacked her she tried to help him, also remember the comedy parts in it "seriously they are hilarious!"AND ITS ON OVER 90 TOP TEN LISTS!THAT HAS TO TELL YA SOMETHING!Pretty much this is a great movie which even beat his previous movie Mononoke Hime((second fav!!!)).
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie for everybody
Review: Spirited Away is a great movie that can be enjoyed by mostly everybody, although I think that young children might be a little bit frightened by some of the scenes in the film.
One of the reasons I really like this film is because of its setting. It helps me re-open my mind again to the places I visited when I was young, and it lets me travel to a place that isnt filled with the usual things that fill modern day movies (even kids movies) like guns, space ships, etc. Basically it is a place that has been barely explored by films.
There was absolutely no possible way that this movie could not win an Oscar. NONE of the animated films even came close to par with Spirited Away, on many levels: Story, visual quality (Miyazaki truly is a master of animation), sound and music, everything.
The movie has been released in theatres because of its win. DO NOT MISS this chance to see this in theatres, and when the DVD is released, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT even think about not purchasing this film.
Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars, were it not "disney-fied"...
Review: i originally saw this film in the theatre. i was amazed by the originality of the storyline and the visuals. it was so refreshing to be in a non-western mindset for a change. unfortunately, chihiro opened her mouth and out came "lilo's" voice. as i listened more carefully, i suddenly heard "meg" on loan from hercules. from this moment on in viewing the film, i became apprehensive; i kept waiting for a musical number. don't get me wrong. disney has made some of the most amazing musicals ever, in my opinion. in the age of ashman/menken, they really knew what they were doing. but watching 'spirited away' in the disney-dub version seemed wrong somehow, and musical numbers, which would be very ill-fitting to the style and magic of this particular film, could be felt lurking in the shadows though thankfully they never emerged. i think that miyazaki's work could be much more appreciated with subtitles. there is a poetry to the japanese language that, while at times a bit 'fluffy' to read in subtitles, is much easier to take when read as opposed to hearing it spoken in an american accent. (i wish i could explain this more clearly, but that's as close as i can get to it...sigh). ... that said, endure the american disney dub and allow the magic of spirited away to take you to places in animated movie-making that you may not have known existed. it's delightful, intelligent, beautiful, and clearly made to be enjoyed by everyone in the audience as a MOVIE, which is why you won't see chihiro or any of her friends in a happy meal or at target--though i'm sure the disney store is already trying to work out a deal to take care of this. sigh.
| 
