Spirited Away
Apparently, this film out grossed (as in, financially outweighed) Titanic in several countries. Even if it is the biggest pile of shite since, well, Titanic, it should probably get at least a six and a half mark for that alone.
Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the equally little-known animé smash Princess Monokoke, certainly doesn't fuck about getting to the point of this lush-looking animated flick. Within less time than it takes to hard-boil an egg, this girls' parents have turned into pigs, and she's running for her life whilst simultaneously turning transparent. All in a day's work for a manga-style heroine, right?
Spirited Away is as imaginative as Don Bluth on acid and twice as memorable. There are so many enduring images and characters its hard to describe the experience of watching the film. How about the cute little bits of shit that the spidery grandpa 'stretch-armstrong' employs to do his dirty work? Or the beautiful scene on the train with those ghostly travellers, that conveys so much emotion in such a short space of time that, well, you'd probably just dismiss it as background material and ignore it. The attention to detail is that high.
The plot is pretty thin on the ground (a god's bathhouse of sorts, giving rise to several dilemmas) and is full of quite a few questions and leaps of logic that either leave you wondering what the hell is going on (Sen's escape from No Face, only to pay for his train fare?!), or will just add to the surreality of it all. And whilst we're at it, there's absolutely no character definition whatsoever, for anyone. But it's a cartoon, for Christ’s sake.
Kids will love this film an immeasurable amount, and adults shouldn't have a hard time enjoying it, for the amazing visuals if nothing else; and both will probably be able to watch it many times without any fear of boredom.
7.9
MD 02:04 05/03/2003