A wonderfully beautiful film

Rating: 10/10 (27 October 2007)

I first heard about this on Jonathan Ross' 'Film' TV show, (I don't remember what year). It showed the clip of Chihiro trying to feed the dragon Haku the gift from the River God. I wasn't sure why I wanted to watch it, but I told my mum I wanted to go see it. She didn't like the look of it, so I put it out of my mind until a year or so later I saw it premiere on Sky and decided to watch it. I was absolutely blown away by it. I made it my mission to get my friends and family to watch it. I then devoured every Miyazaki film I could get my hands on. Contrary to most people's opinion, I think his films have gotten better. Whilst his other films, notably Nausicaa, have wonderfully rich stories, the feel of his later films are more complete and stand up to the test of a wider audience. There is an indescribable feeling of awe that struck me when I first saw this film, the same I got from Akira.
Obviously, being a big fan of animation makes me inclined to enjoy this film and a desperate love of cel animation that makes me long for another golden age of Disney is going to make me love it that much more, but putting aside the technical wonder of this film, it's visually compelling and has a beautiful story. If you like a departure from reality and have an appreciation of animation as an art form rather than a tool to keep kids quiet, I'm sure you have already seen this film, if not, then I suggest you watch it (subtitled, the screechy dub is unbearable). Years later, I still love this film as much as I did when I first saw it. My rating is obviously just my personal preference, of course not everyone will like this film, but I believe it is a breath of fresh air and a step in the right direction for making classic animation relevant again.