Fishing for expressions fit to describe Spirited Away, it’s difficult not to bring up somewhat clichéd expositions; one can salute the visionary director or the inventive storyline, or gush about the beautiful animation and haunting scenery. Yet these descriptions are as accurate as they are ... Read review
A remarkable fantasy adventure film quite unlike any other, Spirited Away tells the story ... more
of Chihiro, a headstrong 10-year-old girl, unhappy that her family are moving house and that she will have to make new friends.As they make their way to the new h...
A remarkable fantasy adventure film quite unlike any other. Spirited Away tells the story ... more
of Chihiro, a headstrong 10-year-old girl, unhappy that her family are moving house and that she will have to make new friends.As they make their way to the new home, Chihiro's father takes a detour to explore a mysterious tunnel in the woods. In the other side is what seems to be a deserted theme park but is in fact a ghostly town. Unwittingly, they have strayed into the Land of the Spirits, a world of dreamlike scenery inhabited by ancient gods and magical beings, ruled over by the sorceress, Yubaba. With her parents held captive and Yubaba set on enslaving them forever, Chihiro must use all her energy to survive in this strange new place. With the help of Haku, a brave young spirit, she is forced to overcome her fears and join an epic battle for her family's freedom.Winner of the 2003 Oscar for Best Animated Film and the Golden Bear at Berlin, Spirited Away is a visionary work from Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke), which sets the benchmark for all animation to come. The most successful film of all time in its native Japan, it's a thrilling and enchanting adventure for adults and children alike.
The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history, Hayao Miyazaki'sSpirited ... more
Away(Sen To Chihiro Kamikakushi) is a dazzling film that reasserts the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. Like Dorothy inThe Wizard of Ozand Lewis Carroll's Alice, Chihiro 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 instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba, 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. 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. --Charles Solomon
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Beautifully animated, tells a wonderful, original story. Disadvantages: Very few, if any.
...for expressions fit to describe Spirited Away, it’s difficult not to bring up somewhat clichéd expositions; one can salute the visionary director or the inventive storyline, or gush about the beautiful animation and haunting scenery. Yet these descriptions are as accurate as they are well-worn. Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 release, winner of the Best Animated Feature Oscar, is one of the more recent, and certainly most celebrated films to emerge from the ... ...understandable concerns. The story of Spirited Away cuts into this plot arc and causes our protagonist to grow up quickly and re-consider how she sees her place in the world, and her relationships with those around her.
From the Pevensie girls of Narnia through to Lyra in His Dark Materials, via countless other examples along the way, this coming of age-through adversity storyline is a familiar storytelling angle. Yet although this ... more
Fishing for expressions fit to describe Spirited Away, it’s difficult not to bring up somewhat clichéd expositions; one can salute the visionary director or the inventive storyline, or gush about the beautiful animation and haunting scenery. Yet these descriptions are as accurate as they are well-worn. Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 release, winner of the Best Animated Feature Oscar, is one of the more recent, and certainly most celebrated films to emerge from the Studio Ghibli animation powerhouse.
Although Spirited Away is full of enchanting imagination and original twists on traditional stories, the tale at the heart of the film is a classic one, explored many times on film and page. Chihiro is a stubborn, somewhat self-centred young girl on the cusp of significant change in her life; in the midst of moving house and about to start at a new school, she is pre-occupied by understandable concerns. The story of Spirited Away cuts into this plot arc and causes our protagonist to grow up quickly and re-consider how she sees her place in the world, and her relationships with those around her.
From the Pevensie girls of Narnia through to Lyra in His Dark Materials, via countless other examples along the way, this coming of age-through adversity storyline is a familiar storytelling angle. Yet although this provides a solid base for the story, it is to Miyazaki’s considerable credit that he is able to conjure something of such bewitching, intoxicating quality from the raw ingredients.
Chihiro’s journey in Spirited Away begins partway through another, more expected migration. En route to their new home, her father becomes lost driving through a forest. Passing through a tunnel, Chihiro and her parents come across an abandoned town, within which they also discover stalls laden with fresh food and drink. Ignoring their daughter’s protestations, the adults dig into the neglected feast greedily, leaving Chihiro to wander the empty streets alone. As the sun slips away, the town’s inhabitants begin to appear; spirits who frequent the shops and taverns and arrive by steamer across the river. Frightened, Chihiro runs back to her parents, only to find them transformed, great pigs sitting in their places, faces still buried in the food before them.
Trapped in this spirit-world beyond her own, Chihiro appears to have only one ally; an older boy named Haku, who seems to recognise her, although she has never knowingly met him. He tells her that her only hope of escaping the town and recovering her parents is to approach the owner of the Bath House that attracts the spirits to the place and beg her for employment, for it is her magic that binds this side of the looking-glass.
I earlier referred to the “intoxicating” power of this film; and Spirited Away is indeed a delight on the senses in so many ways. Visually, it is a stunning creation, combining wonderfully imagined and realised characters with astounding environments that delight on both big and small scales. Sweeping vistas, striking, imposing structures and a host of intricately-rendered finer touches work together to provide a fitting backdrop to the story – and are given extra vitality by an equally memorable soundtrack. The musical accompaniment is spot-on throughout, laying a contemplative, ethereal feeling to the content of the animation, rising intermittently to meet the demands of the plot.
Characterisation is wonderful, with Miyazaki giving us a wealth of figures who have more than just the one aspect to their personalities. The film largely resists the temptation to polarise characters as either good or bad, and show both sides in just about all characters – it takes us much of the film to figure out the genuine nature of some of the most memorable, and ambiguous individuals. Chihiro encounters all manner of friends, foes and plain miscellaneous entities during her experiences in the spirit world, and through her dealing with these characters matures and grows as a person.
She learns a hardiness from her work in the Bath House, but also develops a more compassionate, accepting side to her nature, which is shown in her dealings with one of the most enduring characters of the film, a spirit named No-Face (or Noh-Face). This spirit is hard to figure out, and most of those who reside in Chihiro’s new world make no effort to do so. A non-speaking entity, No-Face demonstrates both a tender, eager-to-please side when his approaches are mirrored by Chihiro’s compassionate, considerate efforts, but also displays a destructive, monstrous side when he rampages furious through the Baths. The way in which Miyazaki manages to create such an affecting, engaging character without having him utter a word is a fine illustration of the way in which Spirited Away is often able to tell its story through visuals alone, communicating in several ways at the same time, constructing a multi-layered, almost edible narrative, so rich and full is it.
There’s also a nice, refreshing twist in the way in which the director resists the temptation to draw too great a cleavage between the spirit and “real” worlds – there are many ways in which the two overlap, and there are enough ambiguities within the plot to stop the viewer too easily writing it off as a childish dream sequence or pure flight of fantasy. Miyazaki presents the world into which Chihiro stumbles as one which is separate from ours, but is never so far removed as to have no effect on our own, and is often hiding away just beyond easy sight. This may well be a reflection of the extent to which Japanese folklore is interwoven with everyday culture, and is a pleasant change of angle compared to the tendencies of some western filmmakers to present fantasy worlds as being as distinct as possible from their parallel.
Spirited Away, then, is a wonderfully rich film, full of engaging characters and memorable scenes that are likely to appeal across the age range. As a first venture into Japanese animation, this is a fine introduction, or for those already familiar with the genre and Studio Ghibli, this is essential viewing. Spirited Away leaves behind a trace that is distinctly hard to forget.
Well it was two maybe three years ago that this particular anime movie was being shown in our local cinema. I was utterly ecstatic I had never seen an anime movie before on the big screen aside from the Pokemon movies and the cowboy bebop knocking on heavens door film (although to be fair that was in the students union screen before it got remodeled, though was still very impressive non the less.)
It was an interesting experience considering the ... ...mother was a guy with a beard in the back row who could be heard laughing at some of the brilliantly constructed no face scenes. I presume he must have been writing an article for a local newspaper or something because he was taking notes.
This appears under the user name Reinumber4 on dooyoo.co.uk also
I think if this movie had been as well advertised as a Disney movie then there would definitely be more people in the cinema with us.
Any way ...
ReiIV 01.08.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spirited Away (One Disc Edition) (DVD)
SPIRITED AWAY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another magnificent fun film from the incredible Hayao Miyazaki.
Chihiro and her parents move to a new town and Chihiros new school.
Upon arriving they get a little lost and end up in an old run down theme type park which is very spooky and more than a little bizarre.
Chihiro spots little spirit houses in the undergrowth and strange carved stones in the woods.
They all decide to explore the park, although Chihiro ... ...quite rundown. They come across a deserted yet delicious smelling food stall and decide to tuck in but Chihiro has a bad feeling about the park and holds back. Instead she goes of to explore by herself and this is where the movie really takes off…..
Night falls quickly and the park begins to light up by itself and dark shadowy spirits can be seen at each stall and by the time Chihiro returns to her parents they have changed into huge pigbeasts..
...
Maximus-Qualitus 05.11.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Spirited Away (One Disc Edition) (DVD)
Advantages: its a nice movie Disadvantages: the characters are a bit freaky
I watched this movie when I bought it with my mum, my sister and my neice and nefue. They all loved it and so did I. Its such an interesting film, the story is good and the characters where amazingly drawn.
And it was only £10. GOOD BARGAIN!! :D
It is about a little girl, around 10, who moves away from her home, school and friends. She moves to this new place, and her dad thinks he can take a shortcut to the new house by going through an alternate ... ...decide they should have a wonder and investigate the scene. They find a small village, with a buffet. The mother, and father decide to eat the food with Chihiro (the little girl) protesting to them. Eventually Chihiro goes to explore this magical ghost town, which belongs to the spirits.
Chihiro spots a large bathouse, coloured blue, and steps onto the bridge, conecting the house to the opposite land. She is faced by a boy, later claiming he knows ...
CaitlinM121 29.12.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Spirited Away (One Disc Edition) (DVD)
Advantages: Beautifully animated with a great storyline and a great voice cast. Disadvantages: I want it to be longer than 2 hours! I wanted more out of this film ;'(
...we see anime forever.
Spirited away is about a 10-year-old girl, Chihiro Ogino, whos parents end up turning into pigs after eating the food for the spirits. To save her parents, she must work in Yubaba's bath house until she can find out a way to turn her parents back to normal. But most of the workers in the bath house do not trust her or would not like to work with her, so Lin is forced to take her in as her assistant. Although we think at first ... ...she is away from all the workers, she becomes a great friend to Chihiro. With help from a friend she thought she knew already (Haku) will she be able to return to her world with her parents?
This film has won many awards. It was winner of the 2003 Oscar for best animated film and won a Golden Bear.
This film is approxmitly 120 Minutes long. This film can also be watched with either:
Stereo 2.0 English Dub
Dolby Digital 5.1 English Dub
Japanese ...
goku1st 03.02.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Spirited Away (One Disc Edition) (DVD)
Advantages: Clever, good, well written, well animated Disadvantages: Bit hard to follow at times
This Japanese Animated Fantasy Film is without a doubt one of the best I have seen. It tells the story of a young girl, by the name of Chihro. She is moving house with her family and is worried about making friends. Her father takes a detour and they end up exploring a mysterious tunnel in a mysterious building. On the other side is a disused fair ground and things take a twist and a turn, a ghost town that is actually ghost ridden. Chihros parents ...
smiler01 14.03.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Spirited Away (One Disc Edition) (DVD)
OPTIMUM HOME ENTERTAINMENT; ELEVATION SALES; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
Release date
01/01/2007
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
OPTD 0838
Barcode
5060034578956
Languages
Main Language
English
Technical information
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
DVD Description
Directed by animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, SPIRITED AWAY is the tale of Chihiro (voiced by Daveigh Chase), a young girl who is taken down an unusual road by her parents while moving to a new home in an unfamiliar town. The curiosity of Chihiro's mother (Lauren Holly) and father (Michael Chiklis) leads the reluctant child into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Soon her parents are greedily feasting on various delights from an enticing food stand and are literally turned into pigs. The frightened and bewildered girl then encounters a young man named Haku (Jason Marsden), who explains what she must do to navigate this strange and magical realm. Finding employment in a hotel for spirits and other odd characters--including kimono-wearing frogs, lumbering tentacled monsters, and a mysterious apparition named No Face--Chihiro attempts to figure out how she can free her parents from the clutches of the resort's owner, a powerful witch named Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette). In the process, she makes some very eccentric friends--and has to deal with some notoriously stinky customers. A surreal adventure reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND, SPIRITED AWAY continues Miyazaki's streak of groundbreaking animated films that also includes PRINCESS MONONOKE and MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO. Succeeding MONONOKE as the most successful film in Japanese cinema history, this charming movie follows its own bizarre yet engaging logic as it reveals a cast of fascinating characters and jaw-dropping settings through stunningly beautiful hand-crafted animation. A movie experience like no other, SPIRITED AWAY is sure to enchant audiences of all ages, leaving viewers grinning with a giddy sense of wonderment.
Compare Spirited Away (One Disc Edition) (DVD) to other similar Family »
![Spirited Away [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78190406.jpg)
![Spirited Away [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/83201946.jpg "Spirited Away [DVD]")
