Spirited Away

Rating:
Summary: Simply incredible
Review: This movie blew me away. It is the best movie I have seen all year and ranks in the top 5 movies I have ever seen. I heard by chance from a friend that "a movie by the guy who did Princess Mononoke is playing down at the Bijou" our local art house cinema in Worcester, and as I liked Mononoke, decided to check it out. I was in for sheer delight. I walked out of the theatre in shock over the boundless creativity that seeps out of the seams of this film. Incredible plot, characters, emotions, philosophy, morality, beauty and animation. It is sickening that animators and directors in the States don't even come close to this level of movie-making brilliance. And it is disgusting that Disney has such a monopoly on our movie market that you would have to be a Miyazaki fanatic to even hear about the release of this flick. Regardless of our creative inferiority and capitalist dominated society over here in the US, do yourself a favour and do what it takes to track down this movie and see it. Enjoy. I know you will.

Rating:
Summary: Kids only, please
Review: Spirited Away is a cute kids' movie. After hearing so much about it, I (an adult) found it disappointing. Even for an animated feature, there was too little character development (I couldn't figure out, for example, why the father had to speed up the road like a madman--it made no sense), the "spirits" were curiousities but not terribly interesting (a giant turnip spirit?), the evil spirits (actually, they'd have to be characterized more as "bad" rather than "evil") lacked any fright factor--they were just a bit silly. All-in-all, a tepidly amusing afternoon for an adult. My advice? Send the kids; stay home yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding negative commentary about this movie
Review: I have always had inclinations to deeply respect Japan; I feel it is one of the most capable artistic centers in the world, akin to '70s USA. Everything about it rings of a combination of art and technology. Much more interesting, though, is how this ties in with common Japanese themes. Just as Final Fantasy VII was a video game, it focused thematically on respect for nature. In the same vein, Miyazaki's Spirited Away (another phenomenal movie) manages to do this through an animated medium.

This theme occurs again and again in Japanese cinema in notable works such as Akira and Neon Genesis Evangelion. It, quite honestly, never gets old. This is what makes Spirited Away special. While it addresses modern life, it does not focus on the impersonal nature of technology. Spirited Away's focus is entirely its own. Spurred by the depressed indifference Miyazaki found in "10 year-old girls" he knew, he created a portrait of a young girl, Chihiro, overcoming obstacles. It's a simple story, designed only to encourage Japan's newest generation. But, what makes it great is the art with which this is accomplished. I call this movie a portrait because it lacks a Western-style plot. It has no distinctive beginning and no end. What causes Chihiro's disillusionment is unknown, and her story does not necessarily end upon leaving the abandoned amusement park where the story takes place. This reflects the Japanese belief that nothing really ends, and serves as a problem for those unaccustomed to this viewpoint. Likewise, there are some complaints about the story from other reviewers that I urge you to dismiss based upon some simple explanations about the movie.

First, many note the anti-Western themes. Really, Miyazaki avoids these. Rather than casting blame on others, he avoids classifying Chihiro's original condition as having any cause. This isn't whiny, it's art. Rather than giving in to the audience's primal inclinations to insist that an adverse condition in the individual (Chihiro) is caused by the negative input of society, Miyazaki instead focuses on Chihiro's triumph. In short, this is more of an uplifting movie than some sociocultural blame game. If you want proof of how controlled Japanese animation can be regarding anti-Western sentiment, watch Grave of the Fireflies (from Studio Ghibli). It's hard to find, but it's easily the best war movie I've ever seen (and it features no battle scenes, another amazing instance of artistic control).

Also, some reviews noted Chihiro's "absence of greed" juxtaposed against her parent's gluttony as indicative of traditional Japanese virtues. This is not so. She does not eat lustily with her parents because she thinks she will get in trouble. Note that she is entirely self-absorbed until her parents are taken captive. Only when she can no longer be disinterested and negative about modern life does she truly change. Yet, the obstacles of life do not change at all. The spirit world remains the same, although it appears in a much more friendly way towards the movie's end. The demeanor of the characters in the movie are all determined by Chihiro's outlook. Even the cold-hearted witch is shown to be a loving grandmother. And despite being easily enraged, she cares dearly for her oversized baby boy.

A note on the ratings. The movie is rated PG because it deserves to be rated as such. Here is the first sentence describing the PG rating, straight from http://www..../

"This is a film which clearly needs to be examined or inquired into by parents before they let their children attend."

And people cannot believe it's only rated PG? PG stands for Parental Guidance Suggested. You can be sure that the movie contains some objectionable content, and if your kids don't like "scary" movies, then exercise some parental guidance. Don't go blaming the filmmakers or the MPAA when they are right, but you refuse to follow their recommendations.

Rating:
Summary: seen in three times and counting
Review: such a fanciful movie but the type you can believe. reminded me a bit of Labyrinth. cool japanese mythical gods, well constructed characters, cute creatures... im not one to like cartoons, but this is on exception

Rating:
Summary: From an old man somewhere in Asia
Review: Unfortunately, I have seen neither gAlice in Wonderlandh nor gNever Ending Storyhso far but also in Asian folklores and ancient record you can find sort of similar plots to gSpirited Awayh. For example, in Kojiki, an ancient Japanese history book written more than a thousand and hundreds years ago, a god called Izanagi wandered into the strange world through tunnel on the way to chase his dead wife, Izanami. He spent wonderful times with his wife there but, when he left the strange world, Izanami, who was now an eternal resident of the strange world, has asked Izanagi as exactly the same thing as Haku did to Chihiro. gDo not look back while you return home.h In the case of gSpirited Awayh, Chihiro never looked back and succeeded to be back to her real life. In the case of Kojiki, Izanagi looked back and saw what his wife was really like. Though Izanagi could manage to come back from there but humanfs tragedies started since then. What Izanagi did has changed his wife to a death goddess. That is why every human has to die sooner or later nowadays. Besides, the adventure stories with dragons and children have been typical in Asian cultures. One of the recent famous stories in Japan may be gTatsunoko Taro (Dragon Boy Taro)h roughly based on local folklores and written more than 50years ago. A protagonist riding on a dragon plays an active part. It was really a heartwarming story.

Sorry that my post might be a little bit off topic but lastly gSpirited Awayh itself is rich and worth seeing more than several times. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Animation!!!
Review: Please, if you get the chance, this is the one movie you should see this year. Currently in limited release, this multi-award winning animation, is really amazing to see. The Japanese, particularly, Hayao Miyazaki, take animation to a new level of WOW!

The story is about a young girl, who gets stuck in a Bath House for the spirit world. She encounters various spirits, a witch (or two), all sorts and shapes of creatures, from animals to, well, it's as if someone reached into their dreams and pulled out a slew of wild characters which defy written description.

As I said, the animation is breath-takingly gorgeous. From seascapes, to renderings of the sky, to the mystical flying dragon. And the story is great, there is adventure, and mainly a story about a girl taking on all sorts of challenges to find her parents.

We took our six year old, who has seen and loved Kiki's Delvivery Service and Totoro, as well as Catnapped, (another Japanese animated movie)all of which are really great movies, and she loved it. We've seen it twice. There are some creepy characters, but they grow on you, as their personalities make them less hard to look at. There is also a tiny bit of blood, nothing too gorey or pro-longed, no knives or guns involved and one scene involving copius amounts of vomit, but it's a spirit doing the puking, and most of what comes out is brown sludge and a few of the workers, all unharmed.
Overall a moving and beautiful story and not in a league with ANY American animation, not even what we consider to be the best, this is, if you can imagine, even better!

Rating:
Summary: I can't wait for this to come on DVD
Review: A wonderful story of Japanese folklore taking you on unimaginable journeys to mysterious places. The movie draws you into it and you, too, feel the magic surrounding you. I want to buy this for all my friends!

Rating:
Summary: reminds me of the festival of bon in japan
Review: beautiful scenary. beautiful story. nice sense of humor. full of symbolism. the scene where all kinds of japanese gods arrive at the port to the "yu ya", it reminded me of the festival of bon in japan. the festival of bon is where japanese buddhists float lanterns into the sea and that is supposed to send out the dead one's spirit. anyway, i loved it.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars isn't enough
Review: I've never written a review but this movie was so good that I feel that it would be a disservice not to. The first anime I ever saw was "Princess Mononoke", also done by Hayao Miyazaki. I liked that one so much that I figured this movie would be good as well. After a summer full of theatrical garbage that left me leaving the theatre, each time, swearing that I'd never see another movie, I was hoping this movie would leave me a little more satisfied. I underestimated it. This movie is amazing, both visually and emotionally. It takes you on such an emotional journey that you may end up leaving the theatre with a drenched sleeve. A friend of mine put it into simple words that eluded me. He said, "That's why they make movies." Visually the movie can be considered epic in proportions. The world that your taken into is so grand that it will ocupy all your senses. This is probably the best movie I've seen all year.

Rating:
Summary: A Japanese animation masterpiece
Review: A 10-year-old girl, Chihiro, becomes lost in a bizarre alternate reality, where she takes a job in a bathhouse that caters to traditional Japanese gods. This beautifully animated film, while adventurous and often quite funny, is also pervaded by a sense of melancholy. There is a feeling that the beings we encounter have been neglected and forgotten by the outside world. Chihiro touches the lives of those around her, making friends and allies, doing much good, and becoming dear to many of the inhabitants of this strange place. Yet we always know that eventually she must return to her parents (who need to be rescued by her). Her inevitable departure from Wonderland and return to our own more mundane world, having learned and changed a great deal, perfectly evokes the bittersweet feeling that comes with maturing out of childhood, when our surroundings seem full of wonder and mystery, into adulthood, when we have become more jaded and security and stability begin to displace the desire for adventure. This is a masterpiece in the same vein as "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz," but it is a complete original. There is nothing derivative about it.