Spirited Away is possibly one of Studio Ghibli’s most famous animated films of all time. Made in 2001, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, it has grossed over $352 million worldwide and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards. It is often regarded as one of the best animated films ever made. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, stumbles across a different world full of Japanese spirits. After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro is forced to get a job working in Yubaba’s bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.
Summary (Credit : Wikipedia) Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are traveling to their new home. Her father takes a shortcut and ends up in front of a tunnel leading to what appears to be an abandoned village, which Chihiro’s father insists on exploring despite his daughter’s misgivings. While exploring, her parents find a food stall and begin to eat, but Chihiro refuses to join them and instead explores the rest of the village. Chihiro finds an exquisite bathhouse and meets a boy named Haku, who warns her to return across the riverbed before sunset. However, Chihiro discovers too late that her parents have transformed into pigs, and she is unable to cross the now-flooded river.
Haku finds Chihiro and advises her to ask for a job from the bathhouse’s boiler-man, Kamaji. Kamaji asks Lin, a bathhouse worker, to send Chihiro to Yubaba, the witch who runs the bathhouse. Yubaba tries to frighten Chihiro away, but Chihiro persists, and Yubaba hires her. Yubaba takes away the second kanji of her name, Chihiro (千尋), renaming her Sen (千). Haku later warns her that if she forgets her name like he has forgotten his, she will not be able to leave the spirit world.
Sen is treated poorly by the other bathhouse workers; only Kamaji and Lin show sympathy for her. While working, she invites a silent creature named No-Face inside, believing him to be a customer. A “stink spirit” arrives as Sen’s first customer, and she discovers he is the spirit of a polluted river. In gratitude for cleaning him, he gives Sen a magic emetic dumpling. Meanwhile, No-Face tempts a worker with gold and then swallows him. He demands food and begins tipping expensively. He swallows two more workers when they interfere with his conversation with Sen.
Sen sees paper Shikigami attacking a Japanese dragon and recognizes the dragon as Haku. When a grievously injured Haku crashes into Yubaba’s penthouse, Sen follows him upstairs. A shikigami that stowed away on her back shapeshifts into Zeniba, Yubaba’s twin sister. She transforms Yubaba’s son, Boh, into a mouse and mutates Yubaba’s harpy into a tiny bird.
Zeniba tells Sen that Haku has stolen a magic golden seal from her, and warns Sen that it carries a deadly curse. Haku destroys the shikigami, eliminating Zeniba’s manifestation. He falls into the boiler room with Sen, where she feeds him part of the dumpling, causing him to vomit both the seal and a black slug, which Sen kills.
With Haku unconscious, Sen resolves to return the seal and apologize to Zeniba. Sen confronts No-Face, who is now massive, and feeds him the rest of the dumpling. No-Face follows Sen out of the bathhouse, regurgitating everything and everyone he has eaten. Sen, No-Face, Boh, and the harpy travel by train to meet Zeniba. Yubaba orders that Sen’s parents be slaughtered, but Haku reveals that Boh is missing and offers to retrieve him if Yubaba releases Sen and her parents.
Zeniba reveals that Sen’s love for Haku broke her curse and that Yubaba used the black slug to take control over Haku. Haku appears at Zeniba’s home in his dragon form and flies Sen, Boh, and the harpy to the bathhouse. No-Face decides to remain with Zeniba. In mid-flight, Sen recalls falling years ago into the Kohaku River and being washed safely ashore, correctly guessing Haku’s real identity as the spirit of the river.
When they arrive at the bathhouse, Yubaba forces Sen to identify her parents from among a group of pigs in order to break their curse. After Sen answers correctly that none of the pigs are her parents, she is free to go. Haku takes her to the now-dry riverbed and vows to meet her again. Chihiro returns through the tunnel with her parents, who do not remember anything after eating at the restaurant stall. When they reach their car, they find it covered in dust and leaves, but drive off toward their new home.
My Thoughts :
I thought this movie was fantastic. Within the first 10 minutes, the plot had been explained and the action and drama began. I loved this movie because of the creativity in it. While watching it I felt like I was transported to a different world. Spirited Away contains so many minor characters with unique designs and personalities. It really feels like a different dimension.
The film is incredibly detailed which is especially hard to pull off considering the movie was created with traditional frame by frame animation, meaning thousands of frames are drawn by hand. Throughout the entire movie, there is movement. It isn’t focused on Chihiro while the other characters stand frozen in the background, moving slightly or blinking like they do in so many other movies. Instead, Hayao Miyazaki and his team took the time and care to make the characters in the background, even if they were tiny dots in a window, move just as much as the main characters do. The attention to detail in the movie is stunning.
Additionally, the scenery in the movie was beautiful. Even though it mostly revolves around the bath house in the abandoned amusement park Chihiro and her parents find, she travels far to meet Zeniba at the end of the film. The animation team made stunning scenery that appeared for simply a few seconds but looked and felt so real and gorgeous.
The score was composed by Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki’s regular collaborator, and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic. It fits the scenes beautifully and adds emotion and feeling. At some points, the music is calming and peaceful, but at others it is jarring and desperate. The music helps confirm the mood and emotion of the scenes and is utilized intelligently.
Trivia :
Spirited Away was created without a script. In fact, Mizayaki’s films never have scripts. He once said, “It’s not me who makes the film. The film makes itself and I have no choice but to follow.”
The movie earned 30.4 billion yen, making it the highest grossing film in Japanese history, overtaking Titanic at the box office.
The characters are named after who they are. Bôh means little boy or son, Kamaji means old boiler man, Yubaba means bathhouse witch, and Zeniba means money witch. Chihiro means a thousand fathoms or searches, while her worker name, Sen, just means thousand.
When Chihiro arrives at Zeniba’s house, the jumping lamp with sound effect is a nod to the Pixar logo.
The star-shaped treats the Susuwatari (black soots) were carrying are called kompeitô, a type of traditional Japanese candy.
At the beginning of the film, Chihiro is holding a goodbye card from her “best friend Rumi.” The Japanese voice actress for Chihiro’s role was also named Rumi.
Overall, Spirited Away is a fantastic movie and I highly suggest you watch it. It has an exciting and dramatic plot and is engaging for both kids and adults. The movie is beautifully drawn and animated and the music is soothing and relaxing. The characters are cute and rememberable and the entire film is well made and enjoyable to watch. I rate Spirited Away a 10/10.
