"The Ritz" crossed with "Meet the Feebles"

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2002)

I was looking forward to this, the same way I was told to go see "Princess Mononoke", which was also quite dull. Well, if this is the pinnacle of high art in the realm of Japanese Abomination, I'll go back to Disney. Maybe something got lost in the translation - like the entire plot. Ocha-roll (later called Sen for no apparent reason) becomes lost in the land of the spirits. She is forced to haul coal against any rational child labor laws, is insulted for smelling bad like a foreigner, and finally finds work in food service and cleaning. So, it's apparently the story of immigration in Japan. Only the Japanese could use multiculturalism as an excuse to make fun of as many races as possible. There's fat Polynesian women, French frogs, and more eastern European stereotypes than you can shake a Punch-and-Judy stick at. There's an import Russian old-woman-crone figure (voices by the amazing Elaine Stritch) named Abba, who is the "witch who rules the bathhouse". Yeah, I have some gay friends like that, too. True, the Japanese are masters of "kowaii kawaii" cuteness, and there's a great flying gerbil and some funny split-second monster cameos. However, Americans won't understand the daikon creature mistranslated as a "turnip spirit", the whole setting of the bathhouse, or the way the idea of spirits, little "spirit houses" and guardian statues fit Japanese culture. Personally, I don't understand why everyone told me to go see it... I'd rather have watched "My Neighbor Totoro" or "Kiki's Delivery Service" instead. ** (out of 5)