Amazing

Rating: 10/10 (19 June 2004)

About ten minutes into 'Spirited Away' you realise that this movie is going to be totally unlike anything you've ever seen before - even the director's previous movies. Half an hour into the the thing, you feel like you're witnessing some sort of collision between Walt Disney and David Lynch. Put simply, 'Spirited Away' is damn weird - sometimes charmingly weird, sometimes excitingly weird, but sometimes just plain old what the hell is a 'stink spirit', and why does it have a bicycle stuck in its side type weird.

If you think that is supposed to be criticism, think again. 'Spirited Away' is every bit as incredible as the most incredible things written about it would have you believe. It simply transports you to a meticulously realised universe of spirits and mythology; a world utterly brimming over with fantastical sights and characters. The realisation of this whole mise-en-scene is a monumental cinematic achievement. You come out of the movie really feeling like you've just spent two hours in some incredible parallel universe.
The attention to detail is staggering, the surprises endless (and I just mean every damn camera shot has something in it that will make your jaw drop to one extent or another), and somehow through this barrage of unheralded ideas the central character comes through rock solid, as do all of the supporting ones.
That isn't to say that characterisation is the movie's long suite. Perhaps it's just a cultural thing, but it seems to me that even the best Japanimation doesn't _quite_ have the Disney capacity to make you fall in love with the characters. Or perhaps you could argue that Disney is just overly sentimental. In any event this is really the only very slight fault I could find with 'Spirited Away' - and it is slight, because there are scenes, particularly in the latter part of the film, which will bring a lump to your throat.
One quibble: people keep saying how much better the animation is in this film than in Disney (well, Disney aren't even doing hand-drawn animation anymore, but you know what I mean.) I think they mean that the backgrounds and drawings are better. The animation - literally the movement from frame to frame of the characters - is not up to top notch Disney standards. Watch a car drive along the road in the early part of the film: it is conspicuously jerky, unlike the smooth panoramic, sweeping animation of Disney in the past decade.
However, except in those very early scenes, it isn't very noticeable, and even if you did notice it, you would be so gobsmacked by the amazing, almost poetic backdrops in so many of the scenes that you'd soon forget about it.
I guess I've picked a few holes in 'Spirited Away', haven't I? That's why I'm only giving it a meagre 9.5 out of 10.0.
It's a masterpiece. See it.