Spirited away is certainly one of the most surreal and beautiful films I've seen

Rating: 9/10 (10 February 2004)

Spirited Away - Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi - 2001 Every year there's a handful of films that manage to take flight and cross international boundaries with massive success and translate to a truly international audience. In 2003 Hayao Miyazaki's Animated Masterpiece, Spirited Away, washed up on British shores to an audience who took it in and loved it as the beautiful ghost world tale it was meant to be. This is an 'Alice in Wonderland' like tale, of a young girl who's parents are turned in to pigs while exploring and enjoying the cuisine of a seemingly abandoned theme park. Chihiro remains trapped in this theme park, that after darkness, becomes a surreal world belonging to a collection of ghost and beasts. Chihiro settles down as best she can in this parallel word, as she befriends many characters, and searches for her parents. While the story line may be a little disjointed, the visual imagery of this film makes up for any faults. From the eccentric and eclectic characters, to the serene and stunning landscapes through which Chihiro journeys. This is thanks mainly to the fact that Miyazaki has combined hand drawn and computerised animation, to good effect. It successfully presents a film in a medium usually reserved for kids, but makes it encapsulating for both adult and child alike. Spirited away is certainly one of the most surreal and beautiful films I've seen. 9/10