Spirited Away

Rated: PG
Release Date:2001
Running Time: 125
My Rating: 0/5
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Rumi Hîragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tatsuya Gashuin, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Yumi Tamai, Yo Oizumi, Koba Hayashi, Tsunehiko Kamijô, Takehiko Ono, Bunta Sugawara, Shiro Saito, Jack Angel, Bob Bergen, Rodger Bumpass, Daveigh Chase, Michael Chiklis, Jennifer Darling, Susan Egan, Paul Eiding, Lauren Holly, Noriko Kitou, Sherry Lynn, Jason Marsden, Mona Marshall, Mickie McGowan, Candi Milo, Colleen O'shaughnessey, Suzanne Pleshette, Phil Proctor, John Ratzenberger, David Ogden Stiers, Tara Strong, Jim Ward, Ken Yasuda

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"

Date added to my collection: 22 Oct 2005

My Comments: Animated