Susan Granger’s review of “Spirited Away” (Disney/Buena Vista)
“For people who used to be ten years old – and people who are going to be ten years old,” says Hayao Miyazaki. If you saw “Princess Mononoke” (1997), you’ve glimpsed Miyazaki’s extraordinary animation. If not, you’re in for a treat. This time, the Japanese master has concocted a surreal, fanciful “Alice in Wonderland”/”Wizard of Oz”-like tale of an apathetic ten year-old girl, Chihiro, who is preparing to move to a new home and new school. Instead, she finds herself in a bewildering, vivid, enchanted world where she must work for Yubaba, a nasty witch who runs a hot-springs bathhouse frequented by Japanese gods and spirits, in order to break a spell that has turned her parents into snorting, squealing pigs. On her adventurous journey to self-discovery, this sulky, spoiled child must face her fears and conquer unique challenges as she’s guided by Haku, an enigmatic boy/dragon with magical powers. Supervised by Pixar’s John Lasseter (“Toy Story”) and Kirk Wise (“Beauty and the Beast”), “Spirited Away” is dubbed into English with Daveigh Chase (“Lilo & Stitch”) as the heroine, Jason Marsden as Haku, Suzanne Pleshette as Yubaba/Zeniba, Susan Egan as tough Lin and David Ogden Stiers as the six-armed furnace-tender Kamaji. (Purists can also see the English-subtitled Japanese version.) At 2 hours and 5 minutes, it’s longer than most kids-flicks but children seem to devour the fanciful eye candy – like a massive stink monster and an ocean-skimming ghost train. To say that Miyazaki’s intelligent, painstaking, hand-crafted anime, drawing from Eastern religions and Japanese legends, is magical, dazzling and brilliant is an understatement – just watch for a win at Oscar-time! On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Spirited Away” is an incomparable, ingenious, inventive 10. Don’t miss it!
