| In the late 1990’s, acclaimed
anime director Hayao Miyazaki retired from filmmaking
following the highly successful release of Princess
Mononoke (1997). A few years later, Miyazaki
met the daughter of one of his friends. She was
a spoiled brat who was lazy and whiny. So, Miyazaki
decided to focus a movie on a similar girl that
would concentrate on how people like her can change.
In 2001, Studio Ghibli released Spirited Away
(Japanese title: Spiriting Away of Sen and
Chihiro). The movie became the most successful
film ever in Japan, grossing over 30 billion yen
(over $200 million U.S.) and winning several awards
around the world. A few of these awards include
the Golden Bear Award, the Japanese Academy Award
for Best Picture, and Best Animated Feature Film
U.S.A. Academy Award, making it the first anime
movie to win an Oscar. Simply put, this film deserved
it. From the brilliant animation to the riveting
score, Spirited Away has it all.
Knowing how long the story is,
I have to go through the ever-painful task of
summarizing this work in a few sentences. In fact,
I’ll let the review fill in the blanks.
After having her parents turned into pigs, Chihiro,
a spoiled 10-year old, has to work at a bathhouse
for the spirits. There, she meets many strange
creatures. She meets love in the form of Haku,
a strange boy who can’t remember his name;
greed in the form of Yubaba, the evil witch who
runs the place; and care in the form of Kamaji,
the boiler man. She also helps a spirit, who changes
personalities, find a home. She meets many friends
on her quest to return her parents back to normal.
The plot is much more complex (and
intriguing) than what is stated above. In fact,
once you see the movie yourself, you’ll
see just how much I left out. There are many themes
in here as well; for example, when Chihiro is
signing the contract, Yubaba changes her name
to Sen. She nearly forgets her name at one point,
but thanks to Haku, she remembers. This symbolizes
that names are identities of people, and that
once names are changed, people can easily forget
who they really are. Another theme is love, for
without it, we wouldn’t be able to grow
up. In fact, that’s the primary theme of
this film: maturing into adulthood. You’ll
just have to see the film to know what I mean.
However, this movie wasn’t specifically
made for Americans. This is a very Japanese film.
What I mean is that there are many subtle cultural
references, such as the scene where Chihiro kills
the spell that resembles a worm. Kamaji tells
her that she must be cleansed of the bad energy
by placing her index fingers and thumbs into an
oval shape, which he would then proceed to separate
with his hand. Clearly, this is something the
Japanese would be far more likely to understand.
Next, there are the characters. Simply put, these
characters are very memorable. To begin with,
Chihiro clearly gets the most development. Throughout
the film, the changes she makes are visible and
the audience (well, myself at least) root for
her to reach the promises of adulthood. Next,
there is the mystery boy, Haku. We actually learn
quite a fair amount about him, considering his
character is so mysterious. He cares for others
and hates the fact he is forced to obey Yubaba.
He is a lost spirit, trying to find his home,
which has been destroyed by construction (another
theme). Next up is Yubaba. She is a greedy hag
who only cares for two things: gold and her giant
baby, Boh. The final major character is Lin, a
servant of the bathhouse who looks out for the
underdog, who happens to be Chihiro in this case.
Concerning the supporting characters,
there is Kamaji, the six-armed boiler man. He
seems rough, but it is discovered that he has
a very soft spot. Next is Boh, Yubaba’s
baby who is encouraged by Chihiro to literally
stand on his own two feet. The rest of the characters
are not quite as memorable, though. There’s
the frog, whose greed nearly gets him killed.
There are the parents, who are reckless and end
up paying the price for that as well. Likewise,
Zeniba, Yubaba’s twin sister, is the opposite
of Yubaba. She is caring and generous and even
offers a home to the last minor character, No-Face.
We don’t get to know much about him except
that he’s lonely and the only way he thinks
he’ll be loved is through acquiring the
perfect personality.
Without voice acting; however,
there would be no characters. The voice acting
here is top-notch, as all the actors and actresses
do their job well. Rumi Hiragi, who voices Chihiro,
does the voice just right. She’s very whiny
at first, but her voice matures in tone as the
movie progresses, reflecting her character's development.
Another actress worth mentioning is Mari Natsuki,
who successfully pulls off the voices for both
Yubaba and Zeniba. Their personalities are defined
perfectly and the line delivery is superb. No
one else really sticks out, save perhaps Miyu
Irino, who does a good job giving emotion when
need be. All in all, the actors/actresses do excellent
work, and no one sounded dull while recording
for this film.
Naturally, you can’t have
an anime film without animation, and Spirited
Away has this aspect covered very well. The
animation is some of the best animation cinema
has ever seen. It is magnificently detailed and
you could easily say the characters really
are alive. The sets are gorgeous, for if you had
time to kill, it might be possible to count all
of the straws on the ceiling of Zeniba’s
hut. Each cel looks like a painting, which is,
simply put, a remarkable feat. The animators did
a flawless job here. The CGI in this film is also
handled well, but the only time it looks pretty
obvious is when the river spirit is rising from
the bath. Overall, the animators deserve much
kudos for this film.
Finally, there’s the music,
scored by Joe
Hisaishi, Miyazaki’s composer of choice.
This is his finest score to date. Period. Many
themes in this film, such as Chihiro’s plight
in the town when the spirits are appearing, gave
me goose bumps. Every theme is outstanding and
very well scored. Heck, the score alone is enough
to sell the film, in my opinion. There is also
the song, “Always With Me”, sung by
Youmi Kimura. The song fits the film well, and
I'm sure Miyazaki knew this as he was heard humming
it to himself during production meetings. It’s
sung nicely by Ms. Kimura; the lyrics are beautiful
and warming.
To wrap up, this film is basically
the Seven
Samurai (1954) of anime. It is majestic,
beautifully composed, wonderfully animated, and
there’s not a single dull voice. The only
problem I had is that it dragged... for about
3 minutes. This film deserves a perfect score
and that’s exactly what it will get. If
any anime movie deserved a five out of five, it’s
this one. If I could, I would shake the hands
of everyone who worked on this movie. If you don’t
own it, buy it. If you don’t have the money,
steal it. This is a movie experience not to be
missed. |
(5/5)