Too metaphorical

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 2005)

*may contain Spoilers*
Spirited away was a very beautiful and mesmerizing movie. The animation is marvelous, the backgrounds beautiful. But the plot is muddled. I didn't get this film the first time I watched it. The problem isn't that there's no plot, it's just really subdued. The General story arc is pretty simple and somewhat uneventful. A girl gets trapped in the spirit world and must work there to try to free her parents. However most of the story (from what I have read) is told through allegory and metaphor, however if you don't get the metaphor you'll be pretty lost. For example; the character No Face, he's sometimes a ghost who seems pretty benevolent and who can't talk (just make sounds and gestures) then later he has legs and can talk, then he goes on a rampage and eats people, then seems friendly with Sen then seconds later tries to kill her, then seconds later they're friends. The hardest part is that there is no obvious motivation for his actions. But from my reading elsewhere, he IS a metaphor, he's "no face" meaning no character, he's takes on the traits of whoever he's near, which explains his drastic change of character. But were never "told" this! Now, I might be stupid, but I didn't get that, therefore I dint get that whole part of the movie. Other parts are just a inexplicable, Like why would Sen's parents go to this "theme park" which has apparently been closed for some time, then find some food lying around (which doesn't belong to them I might add) and then start eating it all. Were they under a spell? I don't know, just not rational behavior. Another part I didn't get until after I read an explanation; A Stink spirit comes to the bathhouse to take a bath. Sen is helping him when she finds a "thorn in his side" when she pulls it out, it turns out to be huge pile of trash, and the stink spirit turns into a water spirit. Once again this is a metaphor for pollution. (Ok, I kinda' got that). The newly cleaned water spirit gives Sen a piece of food (?) which she feeds to two different characters to "cure" them. (It's never explained that this is magic food or anything). I didn't get the significance of her knowing Haku in the past, or the coal sprites (which we focus on for quite a while) they don't seem to play any real role in the movie.
*end of spoilers*
I think the movie is trying for a "mysterious" feeling. It did evoke a sense of wonder in me, but I was a little too lost.
Upon reading detail explanations of the movie on the internet, I realized that I missed (or misunderstood) about a dozen parts in this movie. I appreciate mystery, but this may be a little overboard.