Mystical, engaging, wonderful!

Rating: 10/10 (16 October 2002)

Spirited Away is one of the most perfect movies I have ever seen. The least I can say about it is that there was not a single moment during it that my attention wasn't completely focused. The plot was fantastic and full-bodied. Each character was given so much personality, even the little soot spiders weren't treated as two-dimensional.
In a way the whole film felt like a dream, in that it is seamless. It flows, effortlessly, from scene to scene, from emotion to emotion - straight from terror and tragedy to comedy - without the subtle bump that wakes you up, that lets you know that the makers of the movie and the creator of the script had wanted you to be crying but now you really should be laughing. It was so LIFELIKE. Sometimes in real life the most grim moments contain honest elements of comedy that do not seem out-of-place. But trying to put that sort of convoluted emotion into a film creates a very thin line that too many have fallen off of.
There was no part of the film that felt fake, or rushed, or shaky; the intensity of the story line and the determination of the lead character was obvious throughout. More than causing interest, this movie made me FEEL. I was sucked into the drama. I can rarely say that a movie made me laugh and cry without feeling like an idiot, but the caliber of this picture is so high that I don't even feel embarrassed. I laughed. I cried. And you will too.