Review spirited away

One complaint many people have about Anime is that they say cartoon are for kids. In a way spirited away is a children's movie. One truth I have learned about anime or any media form is that if it is good enough anyone can enjoy it, regardless of the target audience. That truth is plainly obvious if you watch spirited away.

The movie starts out with Chihiro and her parents moving to a new town. Things get interesting when they take a wrong turn. They end up at what the father says is an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro finds the place very scary but her parent's ignore this. Eventually they park themselves in front of a resteraunt with no people but pleanty of food and start to chow down. Chihiro runs off to explore and finds a wierd building. A boy warns her to run away quickly before the sun sets. She returns to finds her parents have quite literaly made pigs of themselves. So Chihiro is trapped in a odd world filled with creepy spirited. The boy she met before returns, introduces himself as Haku, and says that she needs to find a job or she will become a pig herself. Haku sends Chihiro to the bathouse where she might find a job, and eventually find a way for her and her parents to return home. After some twists and turns, Chihiro takes a job in the bathouse which seems to be the center of the magical world.

Spirited away is a children's movie, not in the sense that it is overly simplistic or is too cute for an adult to stomach, rather it is a movie that comes from the point of view of a child and captures a child's sense of wonder. Harry Potter or Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory would be good movies to compare this to. One word of caution though, even though it is a children's movie some children may find this movie frightening at times, however these momemts are brief and resolve themselves well as not to give them nighmares. So it would be a good idea for them to watch it with someone older. This is a good movie to babysit with.

The animation for spirited away is simply the best. Not only does it have have a big budget but it knows what to do with it. It contains the sense that the world is alive, from the biggest to smallest things. Each character in the mysterious world of the bathouse has his or her quirks beautifully animated, from Yu Baba, the witchy boss of the bathouse who is more head than body, to the tiny soot mites of the boiler room. The visual spectacle is the best part of the movie.

Spirited away is a great movie, as can be expected from director Hayao Miyazaki. For those of you who have seen other movies made by Miyazaki, all I can say is that this is one of his better works, and that is saying a lot. I give Spirited Away 5 out of 5..

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