Swept Away

Rating: Null/10 (9 October 2002)

I'm no expert on anime, but I know what I like. And I liked "Spirited Away," Hayao Miyazaki's elegantly surreal fable of a girl who finds herself by becoming lost in a strange world. The plot has been compared to "Alice in Wonderland," and I see no reason to dispute the analogy--like Lewis Carrol's story, "Spirited" creates a universe which is alien, yet echoes the truths of our own reality.
Alice in this case is Chihiro, voiced here in the States by Daviegh Chase. Chase also provided the voice of Lilo in "Lilo and Stich," and here again creates a child who is ultimately endearing despite (or perhaps because of) a tendency towards bratiness. Chihiro is sulking because her family is moving, and she isn't embracing the change in her life. Her parents aren't much help, waving off her fears instead of helping her cope with them. But en route to the new home, the family comes across what seems to be an abandoned theme park, but is in truth a sort of Club Med for spirits presided over by Yubaba, who looks rather like something you'd find on a Mardi Gras float. Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs for eating the spirits' food, and Chihiro has to install herself in Yubaba's domain--and do a lot of growing up--in order to get them back, while the various occupants of the bathhouse offer help and hinderance.
Underlying the story are distinct yet nicely understated themes on the dangers of selfishness and materialism, and the power of compassion. One visitor to the bathhouse is a creature so weighed down with commercial waste that it trails slime and stench in its wake. The other employees give the beast a wide berth but Chihiro, in the manner of all fairytale heroines, goes where the rest fear to tread and is rewarded for her kindness. In another instance, an initially kind spirit becomes poisoned with greed and transforms into a gluttonous beast. Yubaba has a child in the form of a big baby (in more ways than one) who reflects Chihiro's own unwillingness to change back onto her.
The film's pace is inconsistant, but the journey is a lovely one, filled with images charming and disturbing and an excellent visual style. It's a great film to get lost in.