A Beautiful Film

Rating: 9/10 (5 April 2014)

This film was part of my childhood. As a young boy, I was enthralled by it. I'm sorry, but this is something many of you will not understand as you will no doubt have been at least ten when this masterpiece came out. For some reason, the surreal creepiness of Spirited Away left me entranced as a child. There was something unexplainable and satisfying whilst watching this when I was younger. When I looked back at the movie, having not seen it in many years, I could only remember certain moments of it and how I felt during the moments. I cannot put into words how much this affected me as a child; the movie had a lot to live up to.
Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed a nigh perfect film. It all feels magical and focuses on the characters, all of whom are wonderfully wrote and portrayed. You can connect with Chihiro, whether you're an adult or a child, and know her feelings as she progresses through the unique and strange story. This film is, in a way, a coming of age film. It shows Chihiro turn from a spoilt child into a well mannered young woman due to the events of the strange, but satisfying story.
Miyazaki directed the film perfectly, in my opinion. This was possibly my favourite thing about it. He didn't focus on the amazing, majestic buildings and architecture, he focused on the characters. He treated the artwork as if it wasn't important, which is the perfect way to go about it. Beautiful buildings and scenes that could be explored, but are left to the imagination and aren't widely focused on.
I also adored the music for the film. It was always there in the background, but never was it obnoxious or annoying. It fit perfectly with the scenes and helped the story along. Credit goes to Joe Hisaishi here. He scored a perfect soundtrack to the film. Without it the magic is gone, in my opinion. My favourite is definitely the haunting, rather bittersweet main theme to the film. The music fills me with nostalgia and is so calming and touching.
Hayao Miyazaki is extremely well known for his animations. Sadly, I've never been into Japanese animated films or TV shows. The only animations I'm well versed in are Disney films, such as 'The Lion King' and 'Beauty and the Beast'. This is the only Japanese animated film I've ever watched beginning to end. Fitting that my first is one of Miyazaki's, and arguably his most famous and well known as well.
I watched the film as a child in English dub. After hearing everything about the Americanisation, I viewed both the Japanese with subtitles and the English dub. I honestly cannot see how the English dub ruins the film, as purists say. I was fine with the voices, not even Chihiro annoyed me, and the added lines were not terrible. I in fact enjoyed the added two last lines at the end. They added a wholeness to the film, linking the beginning and the end.
The only added line I did not like was when Chihiro recognised the dragon as Haku when this was not apparent yet. I actually preferred the dubbed version because with it I could enjoy the scenes without constantly reading the subtitles. Spirited Away is the one film where you simply must see the beautiful scenes without the distraction of subtitles. I see no problem with the dub in this particular film. It makes it much better to those who cannot speak Japanese, in my opinion.
So, did the film live up to my nostalgic memories? No, of course not. When does anything? But I certainly enjoyed filling the gaps and I'm happy that I didn't skip this in fear of ruining nostalgia. This is truly an amazing film. Not perfect, as the plot just seems unnecessarily weird at times and I can't say I fully enjoyed everything. I'd say that if this were a film for adults, I'd give it a 8/10. But this is a film for children, and I remember watching it as a child. I loved it to an extent which I cannot describe. That would give it a perfect 10/10. This film brought the child out of me. Truly beautiful, in almost every sense of the word.