One of the best movies that the world of animation has to offer.

Rating: 9/10 (18 July 2010)

"Now go, and don't look back."
Some movies diminish with time and repeated viewings. When you find one that doesn't, you know you have a true classic on your hands. That's exactly what Spirited Away is.
The animation and art are as impressive as any other animated movie that I've seen - including stop-motion movies, computer animation, and other traditional animation. The character designs are so imaginative that it makes me thoroughly jealous that I don't have the talent that these talented artists do. Every background and frame of animation is beautiful, and that's no exaggeration.
The story is simple, engaging, and charming. There no grand story arc, just a spoiled girl who matures a bit as she seeks a way back to her world for herself and her parents, and the trials that Chihiro and the various denizens she meets at the spirit bathhouse face. There are light morals about pollution, discrimination, and greed, but they're never presented in a way that's heavy-handed or blatant.
All that praise, and I haven't even mentioned the score (one of the best in any animated movie that I've heard) and the voice work (very good in both English and Japanese) Spirited Away was a labor of love, and it shows. It's a masterpiece for Studio Ghibli, and a movie that anyone with heart can love, be they young or old.