A masterpiece of art from the Walt Disney of Japanese animation.

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2005)

As with Miyazaki's films, SPIRITED AWAY is a magical tapestry of sights and sounds filled with exotic creatures, mythical settings, and, for its heroine, a little girl named Chihiro who is cute and sweet and thankfully not a selfish brat or bad-tempered hysterical bitch (unlike some of the other Anime I was watching around this time period). She starts off as initially sulky, but mainly because of a situation we can all relate to: she is moving with her parents to a new home, and thinks that her new life is "gonna stink". She becomes understandably panicked and suspicious when her parents decide to cross through a forbidden tunnel to a restaurant-filled village where they gobble up food that is sacred and cursed. Yes, CURSED -- her parents are transformed into pigs! To free her mother and father, Chihiro must find work at the town's central bathhouse (populated with all sorts of bizarre and unconventional spirits). The bathhouse's contemptuous owner, a greedy sorceress named Yubaba (who has, MY GOODNESS, THE HUGEST BABY I HAVE *EVER* SEEN!), grudgingly agrees, and in doing so renames her Sen. Although our ten-year old heroine is at first frowned upon by many of the bath house workers, Chihiro finds true friends in Kamaji, the six-legged(!) boiler man, Lin, the gruff but loyal bath house woman, and of course, Haku, a mysterious pale-faced boy whom Chihiro seems to have a deep connection with....
To reveal anything more about this masterpiece would be a crime, but I will emphasize that the artistry is jam-packed with weirdness, imagination, and creativity, from the bathhouse's exotic-looking guests to a mysterious shadowy specter called No Face, who voices anyone he swallows -- and tempts people with gold. The sceneries also deserve special recognition; every location in the film, from the bathhouse's atrium to a breathtaking train ride across a glossy seabed (my personal favorite sequence in the movie) is painted with love and care... so stunning that one feels tempted to grab it like candy. Joe Hisaishi's music score, although not as memorable as some of his earlier works for Miyazaki, is a fabulous accompaniment for the picture; some of the tunes work better for the scenes than as a listening experience. The characters, as always, are believable, full-fledged, and multi-faceted -- there are no cardboard cut characters or caricatures present.
Under the supervision of John Lasseter, a longtime fan of Miyazaki (and creator of many PIXAR productions, most notably TOY STORY, MONSTERS INC., and FINDING NEMO), and Disney director Kirk Wise, the film was dubbed into English -- with phenomenal results that rank with Disney's previous dubs for Miyazaki's films. The cast is quite good, although Daveigh Chase's performance as Chihiro is a little too shrill and whiny at times (albeit excellent overall). Out of the performers who lend their vocals to the characters (including Jason Marsden in what is probably his best role yet, Lauren Holly, Susan Egan, Michael Chiklis, Lauren Holly, and even a cameo from PIXAR regular John Ratzenberger), it is Suzanne Pleshette who steals the show; she plays Yubaba's greedy, loud-mouthed nature, pampering maternal side to her baby, and her twin sister, Zeniba (who, by the way, is the opposite of Yubaba -- she is IDEALLY Granny!) to perfection.
I wouldn't say it is the best Miyazaki dub, though. Practically all of them have been excellent (not counting WARRIORS OF THE WIND, which I haven't seen), and I am therefore reluctant to compare the Disney/Ghibli English tracks to one another as a result. But SPIRITED AWAY's dub, although a bit too overrated IMO, is absolutely well done, and I commend everyone involved.
SPIRITED AWAY received a modestly successful limited theatrical release in America, but it made many of the Top 10 Best Films of 2002 lists and even earned a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Animated Feature of 2002. Indeed, it is almost an understatement to say that if it were not for it's success in America, Disney probably would not have decided to go ahead and release a good remainder of Miyazaki's first-class, imaginative output.