Review - Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2020)

I have watched it two times.
The first on, I rented at the library, because I received good review about it. I had high expectations since I also watched Princess Mononoke a week before, and I was totally charmed by the original and audacious writing of Miyazaki.
This movies goes deeper than you can think of, it is a Japanese fairy tale indeed, but the characters have complex feelings, the better ssociation that I can make is for Yubaba. At first, you think that she is the archetypal vilain, but as the story goes on she is more like an Anti-Villain, and you learn that she have motivations for her actions, she want to protect her world, and the spirits, she is opposed to Chihiro only because, she have no choice, this is why you make some comparisons between her and Dr. Zaius from The Planet of the Apes.
Furthermore, this film adresses mature themes like the life, I can only cit the scene where Chihiro travel with the spirits in a train while we see the
landscapes to succeed to each another, and we see some spirits leave the train while no one his coming in, has a kid you can't understand these references, but they are still there to make to more mature public think and enjoy the movie.
The second time it was with my students, the movie kept all his magic after that second views, and you can finally appreciate the message hidden in it that could have been hard to catch at the first time, you will enjoy even more the details that Miyazaki carried to the animation, the lights, the facials expressions. Somehow, you find somethings in Miyazaki's works that is inexplicable, but you can feel it.
Finally, it is obvious that this movie helped to increase the popularity of Japanese cinema and anime when it won his first Oscar, and it was really important because as we know anime are now very influential in arts.