Spirited Away [DVD]

I am Japanese, so I should describe a review in terms of Japanese point of view. Miyazaki is pretty popular in Japan, not only do children see his movies, but also adults. In this movie, he is showing the Japanese ancient, but almost forgotton sense of value.

In a movie there are many gods visiting a bath house in order to rest. Japanese ancient religion contains so-called 8 million gods, which means everything has spirit. The meaning of this is we would respect everything. If you believe that a god lives in your coffee cup, you feel it valuable and would try to use it as long as possible. Moreover if you respect each river, mountain, and other nature stuff, it leads to environmental protection, which is Miyazaki's big concern.

If you like it, I recommend to see other movies produced by Miyazaki. My favorite is Nausica, and Laputa is also fantastic.

Writing as someone who has never watched anime before, this animated feature is an incredibly imaginative superior production with an intelligent story.

Chihiro is on her way with her parents to a new home - on the way they stop to explore a strange tunnel, which takes them into another world. In this world, through gluttony, her parents are turned into pigs, and Chihiro is rescued by Haku, a young boy. She finds work in the centrepiece of this world, the bathhouse for spirits, in which she has many adventures which gradually change her from sullen and spoiled to helpful and kind.

The ideas are complex, and the animation suitably layered as well. The bathhouse creatures are weird and wonderful creations - neither heroes nor bad guys, good nor bad - just fascinating multilayered characters. All of the main storylines involve layers of identity, nothing being what it first seems, and the animation style lends itself to this incredibly well. There is the slime monster who everyone cannot bear the smell of, who, with a little kindness reveals a more benevolent and powerful spirit. Or the `No-face', sort of a walking `Scream' portrait, who changes his identity through loneliness, but returns once kindness and friendship are given. And of course Haku, who takes many forms before being redeemed when reminded of his true identity.

Though the animation on one level may appear simplified compared to modern cgi `toons', in fact the colours and rhythm of events are richer than most, and although I am writing this after one viewing, one suspects that there is much more to be seen on multiple viewings.

Amongst the almost universally glowing reviews however, it is worth remembering that this is a Japanese film. This is both an asset and a detraction. The asset is clear - this movie has more imagination in one scene than any current animated Western feature has in its whole length, both in animation and story. However, while Hollywood sometimes falls prey to too much schmaltz, the absence of a sweetener to the tale here means that it is difficult to be absorbed on more than an intellectual level. Animated features work because you become passionate about the characters or the outcome - not easy when all you are doing is thinking how wonderful all the ideas are.

The DVD comes in two disc form, with the first showing the film in both English dubbed (by John Lasseter of Toy Story / Pixar boss fame) and the original Japanese with subtitles. There is also an option to watch the whole movie in its original storyboard form, but hard to imagine anyone would watch the whole movie this way - though it is fascinating to see this embryonic stage of the movie for a minute or two in places.

The second disc contains a range of material educating the non-Japanese and anime fans amongst us of Miyazaki's output, amongst other generally interesting bits and pieces.

Having said that, the tale is a complete one, the experience rich, and the moral positive. Perhaps younger children will find this a little scary in places, and perhaps a little complicated, but it's a small quibble with so much to warrant the Oscar (Best Animated Feature, 2002) it won. Recommended, as long as you are comfortable with something a little bit different, and prepared for not so much sugar with your dessert.

Occasionally, just occasionally, a film becomes a culture in its own right, and everything it is related to falls away around it to leave it standing on its own. Spirited Away is such a film. It has taken over box office records in Japan, and not done too badly in the western hemisphere, widely being cited as one of, or even the, best animated film ever produced.

But Miyazaki's epic is not just a brilliant animated film. It is a brilliant film. All too often, animated features are great because of the animation, that is the technical dazzle and sheer fantasy nature that the animated medium allows for. And that's great. Spirited Away, however, goes further. The themes it touches on - greed, emotional attachment and the imperfection complex that blights every human being; as well as presenting the importance of traditional values - can be found nestled in the scripts of the deepest live action films.

We quickly become immunised to the sheer weirdness of the world presented to us in this film, and that helps us identify with the characters that we might otherwise struggle with.

The plot is summarised well above, but to give a brief outline (which falls massively short of doing the film's complexity justice); I don't want to ruin the sheer surprise of the exotic, and downright bizarre nature of the spirit world; suffice to say it'll leave you dumbstruck and inspired by the attention to detail that has gone into it. Essentially, the film follows Chihiro, a ten year old girl, who, along with her parents, is transported magically into a world of spirits and sorcery. When her parents are turned into pigs by a cruel spell, she must battle her way through the politics and intrigue of the society she has been stranded in. Helping and hindering her along the way are the friendly but icy spirit Haku, and the greedy sorceress Yubaba. Chihiro must find her way out of the spirit world alive, and with her parents restored to human form. Confused? You will be, so the trick is to let go for two hours and allow yourself to become immersed in the fantasy of this spirit world.

You come away from this film feeling like you've learnt something, feeling like you've had a good time, and absolutely certain that you're going to watch it again. This is the hallmark of a good film - shelf life - and in this respect Spirited Away is timeless. Like all truly brilliant motion pictures (e.g. Where Eagles Dare, The Sting, Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon), you come away with a substantial number of questions, and a need to have a repeat viewing to start to answer some of them.

Purists will prefer the original Japanese version, but the dubbed English version has made the film accessible to many more; and, as it's an animated film, the dubbing is considerably less obvious than with live action films. As an animator, I have found a repetitive draw to this film for inspiration and ideas; but as a regular movie-goer, I simply find it a truly excellent, must-see flick.