Wonderful coming-of-age story, beautifully pictured

Rating: 10/10 (2 June 2005)

Seldom have I seen a movie full of such boundless fantasy, incredible beauty and opulent pictures. Miyazaki presents the story of Chihiro who has to rescue her parents from the spell of a witch in fantasy world with such extravagant richness that stuns the spectator.
Granted the story about this fantasy world with all kinds of exceptionally weird creatures and situations takes needs getting used to at first. But very soon the spectator is totally engrossed by the magical story and overwhelming pictures.
In view of the diversity of bizarre creatures, the filmmaker's creativity seems almost unlimited. The beautiful pictures have a very soothing and at the same time enthusiastic effect onto the spectator.
But the brilliance of the movie doesn't only result from the beauty of the pictures, the story itself is very subtle and profound. In short, it is a story about growing-up. Chihiro and her parents are on their way to their new home in the suburbs when they accidentally step into a magical world, where Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs. From now on, Chihiro has to manage everything by herself. She has to attempt to turn her parents back into humans and is confronted with situations and characters that don't coincidentally seem like metaphors of our world. Now, Chihiro learns how to solve problems herself and how to deal with the characters of the people she meets. At the end, Chihiro has turned into a almost mature person.
Although occidental spectator won't be able to understand all symbolisms that are conveyed by the characters, but there's is actually no need of it. The fantastic world and its creatures perfectly work as a scenery for a wonderful coming-of-age story.
The wonderful, as customary for composer Joe Hisaishi, music adds even more magical beauty to the scenery.