A Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2002)

I just saw this movie in a theatre yesterday and I still cannot stop thinking about it.
The story is in the vein of Through the Looking Glass, but I honestly feel that movies like Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland only wish they could have the depth of this film. The world presented and the characters included have so much perspective to them that I could sit down and analyze for hours.
The movie is a true fairy tale. Love conquers all, hard work is rewarded, etc. However, where it is a fairy tale is that Miyazaki is not afraid to be dark. Many times in this movie the viewer is filled with the same dispair that we see in Chihiro. The scene near the beginning where the spirit world opens up around her is both breathtaking and absolutely chilling.

To sum it up, very few movies I have ever seen have completely whisked me away to a different world and I felt truly there. A completely different reality. Any movie that could have a label of fantasy attached them attempts this, but rarely do you completely feel enveloped in this foreign world. In the past year, two films have done that better than any other films I have ever seen, Lord of the Rings and Spirited Away.