Spirited Away

Rating: 8/10 (10 January 2006)

I had only experienced Japanese cartoons with the mildly entertaining but ultimately terrible Pokémon and Digimon, but I have to say, I was looking forward more to this good looking film from Studio Ghibli, dubbed into English, from director Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke). Basically ten-year old Chihiro (Lilo & Stitch's Daveigh Chase) is moving to a house in the suburbs with her mother (Dumb and Dumber's Lauren Holly) and father (The Shield's Michael Chiklis). They get out of the car to walk down a lonely dirt road, and end up in open country surroundings, and finding a café which the parents eat in. Chihiro wanders off, and briefly meets the mysterious Haku (Jason Marsden) who warns her to leave immediately, but she can't when she discovers her parents have become pigs, literally. Haku finds her and promises to help by by getting a job at the bathhouse working for Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), who has a nicer twin sister Zeniba (also Pleshette) and the thousands of God and spirit customers. Chihiro does as well as she can in this strange world, but she must find a way to break her parents spell and be able to return home. Also starring Hercules' Susan Egan as Lin, David Ogden Stiers as Kamajii and John Ratzenberger as Assistant Manager. The story is a little strange, but bare in mind it is Japanese, but with good dubbing voices and aspiring animation, you'll enjoy the experience. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, and it won the BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language. It was number 68 on The 100 Greatest Family Films, and it was number 8 on The 100 Greatest Cartoons. Very good!