Best seen in Japanese, without subtitles

Rating: Null/10 (7 April 2002)

This is a gorgeous movie which could do pretty well outside Japan...but for the problem of the title. The title itself is related to a plot point which is simply not possible to translate to English (or perhaps any non chinese-influence language) Chihiro's name being changed, shortened, actually, to Sen. There are two ways to handle this, and from the English title, I'm guessing they're doing it the graceful way...to ignore it, rather than awkwardly try to explain or translate it.
"Sen to Chihiro" reminded me a lot of the animated "Chinese Ghost Story". Not just visually (and the visual similarities are strong), but plot-wise, as well. "Sen to Chihiro" is much better, however, in every respect. (And "Chinese Ghost Story" was pretty good.)
I enjoyed this movie more than "Mononoke". Brilliant animation, design, and music, and a family-friendly story which isn't an insult to the intelligence of the audience...it may not be as hyped in the west as Mononoke was, but if Miyazaki finally wants to quit for real, I think this is an even better swan song.
See it at your earliest opportunity. Even if you miss the nuances, it's still amazing, and better than anything Disney has produced in 50 years.