Product Description

From one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animated cinema comes the most acclaimed film of 2002. Hayao Miyazaki's latest triumph, filled with astonishing animation and epic adventure, is a dazzling masterpiece for the ages. It's a "wonderfully welcoming work of art that's as funny and entertaining as it is brilliant, beautiful, and deep" (Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal). SPIRITED AWAY is a wondrous fantasy about a young girl, Chihiro, trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and return her family to the outside world. An unforgettable story brimming with creativity, SPIRITED AWAY will take you on a journey beyond your imagination. "To enter the world of Hayao Miyazaki is to experience a kind of lighthearted enchantment that is unique to the world of animation" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). It's a fantastic tale the whole family will want to experience over and over again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #384 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-15
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.com
The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history (more than $234 million), Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro Kamikakushi) is a dazzling film that reasserts the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Lewis Carroll's Alice, Chihiro (voice by Daveigh Chase--Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch) plunges into an alternate reality. On the way to their new home, the petulant adolescent and her parents find what they think is a deserted amusement park. Her parents stuff themselves until they turn into pigs, and Chihiro discovers they're trapped in a resort for traditional Japanese gods and spirits. An oddly familiar boy named Haku (Jason Marsden) instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the greedy witch who rules the spa. As she works, Chihiro's untapped qualities keep her from being corrupted by the greed that pervades Yubaba's mini-empire. In a series of fantastic adventures, she purges a river god suffering from human pollution, rescues the mysterious No-Face, and befriends Yubaba's kindly twin, Zeniba (Pleshette again). The resolve, bravery, and love Chihiro discovers within herself enable her to aid Haku and save her parents. The result is a moving and magical journey, told with consummate skill by one of the masters of contemporary animation. MPAA Rated: PG ("Some scary moments") --Charles Solomon

DVD features
The most interesting extra feature on the two-disc set is the Nippon Television Special on the making of Spirited Away, not because it's significantly different from American making-of programs, but because the camera crew was allowed to film Miyazaki at work. It's fascinating to watch the visionary director explaining how individual movements should be animated, and even performing the little dance the frog-master does to welcome the No-Face to Yubaba's bath house. (Old animators describe Walt Disney giving similar performances, but no comparable footage exists.) It's also striking to see how intimate Studio Ghibli is, unencumbered by the tiers of management that burden American studios. The scene comparisons enable the viewer to study the storyboards for the film, which Miyazaki draws himself. These simple yet wonderfully vivid images capture the essence of a mood, a movement, an expression. "Behind the Microphone" offers a fairly standard behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the excellent English version of Spirited Away. --Charles Solomon

From The New Yorker
In his native Japan, the animator-director Hayao Miyazaki is considered a national treasure, and this movie, which he came out of retirement to complete, recently surpassed "Titanic" as that country's highest-grossing picture. It's an amazing work, filled with a visual intelligence that's meticulously composed and obscenely clever. Miyazaki's playful aesthetic is like a Japanese word that can't be adequately translated, best approximated as part Spielberg, part Dr. Seuss. So-called mature American audiences may be put off at first by a film that is essentially a cartoon about a fearful ten-year-old girl. But as the hero, Chihiro, sees her parents turned into swine and flees into an alternate world filled with the creatures of Japanese mythology and of Miyazaki's own invention, any distracting sense of childishness falls away. Left to savor are virtuoso touches, like a flock of birds that becomes useless paper, a train that glides along the surface of a lake, and one of the great villains of all time, Yubaba, who looks like a bobble-headed grandmother on speed. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Very pretty to look at, but somewhat confusing
I am not a fan of Japanese Anime. Though visually, they all look great and unique, the story plot is somewhat confusing for those not familiar with the genre. Spirited Away has it's great moments. The creatures are interesting and again, the visual effects are truly eye opening. However, at times, the movie just spirals into a completely different plot and you almost have to get your bearings about what is going on. It jumps and gets pretty weird at times. My husband, who is a fan, explained that alot of anime movies are shot like this. He actually told me that 'Crouching Dragon, Hidden Dragon' is basically a live-action Anime film. Like I said, it gets pretty odd at times and young kids may not understand alot of what is going on. It is better geared for the older crowd who can better appreciate the story.

I was definetly 'spirited away'
Who knew that someone could tie together anime, fantasy, love, and tons of imagination into 125 minutes? Well it was very much possible. I give props out the Miyazaki-san, because this is one of his greatest achievements.

First.
The characters are wonderfully depicted. The protagonist, Chihiro, has the greatest personality that a twelve year old (I think) could POSSIBLY have. Growing up, I'm guessing, she was probably either spoiled or ignored terribly. And when she's suddenly thrown into this world were she finds that she has to take care of herself, she shapes up. She steps-up to the challenge of surviving in a magical world when she, unconsciously, falls in love with the river spirit, Haku. And vise versa, Haku begins at the other end of the rope and has to learn how to be a child again. Having no memories of who he is or where he came from, Haku is just one emotional blank. And that is what draws Chihiro to him. From the moment they met in the spirit world, she realizes that Haku is always going to be there when she needs him, and all while Haku himself showed immediate concern for her safety and later on doesn't hesitate to help her once she becomes trapped there.

Second.
The colors and animation blend together so beautifully it is shocking. The movement of the characters, the music and the scenery is depicted so well. If you read it as a book or a manga series, there would be no doubt in your mind that the way the story is portrayed and visualized, would be how you imagined it when you read it.

Third.
The storyline is amazingly written very well for an animation based film. Love, regret, hopelessness, trust and friendships are just a few of the themes that underline this movie.

This is an excellent film, and I recommend it to people of all ages.

THE BEST!!
Absolutely one of my daughters favorite movies! This is the second time I've purchased it - she lost the 1st one. Great movie.