Spirited Away

A Film Review of "Spirited Away"

Copyright 2002 Glenn Walker

Hatao Miyazaki is a genius. He brought us "Princess Mononoke" and "Kiki's Delivery Service" as well as one of my personal favorites "Castle of Cagliostro." The animation is second to none - vastly superior to anything Disney (who distributed this feature in America by the way) has done lately.



Featuring the voices of Lauren Holly and Suzanne Pleshette this is the story of a young girl who wanders away from her parents at an amusement park and becomes the workslave of demons in an extradimensional bathhouse. No. Really. I couldn't make that up.

It comes off as an anime version of "Alice in Wonderland" meets "The Wizard of Oz." The fun stuff comes when Miyazaki takes the idea of the lost little girl in another world and then throws in everything including the kitchen sink. We get every lind of spirit, demon and monster you can imagine and more.

It's a wild ride and a fun ride (long too, your butt will get numb). It doesn't always make sense but it's definitely worth the price of admission. And besides it's always a thrill to see anime on the big screen.

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