A lovely but empty shell...

Rating: 6/10 (18 December 2003)

Despite the gorgeous animation and backgrounds, I find myself agreeing with some of the more negative reviews on the site--once one gets past the otherworldy, alien nature of the "Spirit World" (about 1/3 of the way through) and moves into the actual plot, what is there?
SPOILERS AHEAD: If the big message of the show is spiritual growth, well, Chihiro (though whiny)doesn't seem particularly bratty or selfish at the show's beginning, and doesn't seem much changed at the end--if anything, she seems justifiably resentful of her parents by the closing scene. Her parents return to normal without their memories, so no lessons there. Except for Haku and the "Big Baby", the world she leaves doesn't seem much changed after her departure--for all we know, nasty old Yubaba went right back to turning her unproductive workers back into pigs the moment Chihiro's gone.
Perhaps the plot is more of an "Empire Of The Sun" type of thing, of a child's survival in a tough period, but given the animators' efforts, that seems like a cop-out of a plot. So does the "Alice In Wonderland" amazing-but-pointless journey. Easier to think that maybe (like Mononoke) Miyazaki rushed through the story and is dismissing dangling plot threads with a shrug and substituting outrageous character design and mild schmaltz for genuine personalities. Oh, and giving us more blobs--lots of moving, amorphous blobs!
I dunno--should I end "The greatest animated film of this (or any!) year" with a detached "hmm!" as the credits roll? Another Anime flick, Kon's "Millennium Actress", left me with a lump in my throat. SA simply made my head ache...