Indisputably brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (31 January 2003)

A film like "Spirited Away" is an incredibly rare gem. While works of absolute genius do appear most years (and 2001-2002 has certainly seen a lot of these movies reach our screens), they are so often the sort of films that can only be recommended to hard-core film buffs, generally because they would be dismissed as "strange". Films which are easy to watch, entertaining, and yet are absolute and indisputable works of artistic genius are few and far between.
All this said, "Spirited Away" meets all of these requirements. With some of the most beautiful animation you will ever see, clever dialogue, brilliant characters and some fantastic social commentary, it works at so many levels and can, and should, be appreciated by everyone. Unfortunately, the majority of animations which come to western cinemas are only able to be truly enjoyed by school-age children, and a lot of children beyond a certain age are reluctant to either watch or enjoy them at risk of being "childish". As a result, truly original animations which appeal to an older demographic are rare - Richard Linklater did a brilliant job with "Waking Life", but unfortunately that could only really appeal to a small group of adults because of the high-brow intellectualism of the ideas explored in it. Films like "Toy Story" and (breaking the tradition of all sequels being pathetic) "Toy Story 2" are usually the only exceptions, managing to appeal to adults with a more sophisticated style of humour.
BUT "Spirited Away" is, despite being technically a "children's" film, the sort of movie that almost no-one is too old or too young to enjoy. Very few movies like this exist, even though a lot of films are marketed as being "all-ages" films. The sheer imagination that has gone into making this film cannot fail to bewitch anyone who sees it, and it has so much which can appeal to older viewers, particularly the many satirical and poignant comments it makes about contemporary capitalist Japan (such as the faceless people on the train, lifeless, barely there). This film will probably never truly make sense, which is the beauty of it. There are no cop-outs - it truly embraces the surreal and the imaginative, without ever becoming conventional or at all unoriginal.
I saw this film in the original Japanese version, and would suggest that people watch it in this version if they can. But really it should just be seen in whatever version is available, doing whatever it takes to see it. No really - it's worth it.