Spirited Away (or, How Sen Got Her Groove Back)

Rating: 10/10 (9 September 2008)

What is there to say about a film you give 10 stars? Only a few films fit the bill and this is one of them, featuring Miyazaki and his Ghibli crew at their very finest. Everything is in balance here, the Miyazaki-isms working at full charming blast. Spirited Away delves into a beautifully imagined world of mystical Shinto-like abstracts. It is a solid modern myth, with the spirit of folk-lore and fairy tales, the endearing, exploring nature found in RPG videogames, and the greatest tales of adventure and heroism.
Miyazaki has mentioned that he doesn't think young girls have enough good role models in the media and in response he fashions his characters as upstanding paragons of virtue. As others have mentioned, every single character, every little dust mite and creature is given a fleshed out personality in this film. Everything on the screen has full life breathed into it; the whole affair borders on being genuine sorcery.
And the pacing here is fantastic too. The film gradually unveils all the regions and character elements of Yubaba's mansion with appropriately shifting thematic events. Miyazaki's storyboard has the masterful crescendos and smooth resolutions of Kurosawa's finest moments -- a compliment not easily distributed. As such, the entire film is a breeze to sit through and you'll find yourself consistently curious as to what each scene will bring or how it will resolve itself. And the answer is always a delightful surprise.
This is supposedly the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan and is probably the most famous Japanese animated film to be released in North America besides "Akira". This is with good reason, although I've heard other viewers complain of the abstract qualities of the tale. But I find that the abstract elements neatly tie together without necessitating any hindsight critique.
Does that make sense to you? No? Too bad!