The word "masterpiece" is over-used

Rating: 7/10 (8 November 2002)

The word masterpiece is being thrown around a little bit too much on this one.
While I found myself stunned by the visuals in Spirited Away (particularly a magnificently realized train ride across the sea), its lackluster story - little more than a rip-off of (or homage to) Alice In Wonderland - keeps this film from being a classic masterpiece.
Some of the ideas were extraordinarily imaginative (the spirit bathhouse, Haku's transformation into a dragon, Yubaba's transformation into a bird, the boiler-room operator), others were just downright ridiculous (No-Face's regurgitation, the bouncing disembodied heads, the baby, an evil twin sister - what is this Days Of Our Lives?).
This is not to say that I was expecting literal-minded filmmaking. I was thoroughly impressed by the director's previous film, Princess Mononoke, but I felt its story was integral to its success (i.e. a hero's journey; the forces of human industrialization vs. nature and the need to co-exist peacefully). The "story" in Spirited Away is much more simplistic (girl overcomes her fears) and, as a result, leaves little in the way of narrative thrust or suspense (especially for a 2 hour movie). Princess Mononoke's story was epic and its running time and pace justified. Spirited Away is merely serviceable in every way except its visual palette.