Ujjwol Lamichhane

Title: Spirited Away
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Release date: July 27, 2001

Synopsis: While on their way to their new home in a country town, Chihiro and her parents get sidetracked and discover a mysterious tunnel that leads to what appears to be an old, but fabricated Japanese village. But this isn’t an ordinary village at all – it adjoins a bathhouse for magical spirits – who are none too happy to find humans among them. Chihiro’s parents fall under a spell, and Chihiro herself must work under the bathhouse’s manager, an intimidating, greedy old witch named Yuubaba who binds her with a contract and steals her name, renaming her Sen. With the help of various otherworldly employees, including the young man Haku, she must find a way to undo the spell on her parents and return home to the human world before she loses her identity forever.

Review:
Ok this is it. I am now writing the review. Writing the review of this particular so-called Hayao Miyazaki has been one the most difficult writing of my blogging experience. The movie Spirited Away or as it is known by its full title, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, or “Sen and Chihiro are Spirited Away” won Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2003 and many other awards and box-office gross records.

There are hundreds of review of this movie, I read more than 23 of those reviews. While reading those large number of reviews for a single movie, there is many things common in them. The only difference is the adjective used to praise this Hayao Miyazaki work. But truly speaking neither of these reviews applied to me and some anonymous commenter in different review posts. So I am now writing this review as what I felt after watching this imaginative anime as I have not seen one review that addresses the exact themes that are woven into the film.

I had watched this movie during night with great expectations triggered by the comments on movie review sites. Listed at top in many top ten anime list, I was truly excited for any anime for the first time. And I enjoyed the imaginative journey from Chihiro to Sen and again to Chihiro. Yes, I enjoyed the movie but I didn’t like the movie.

As expected, the animation and music are excellent. On an artistic level, the cartoon is a visual triumph. The colors are rich and animation is fluid. Many scenes in the movie are beautifully crafted. The train tracks in water, the bathhouse just add to the elegance and the beauty of the spectacular hand-drawn art. When Chihiro and her family first walk through the grasses into the spirit world, one can feel the breeze. On the dubbing side (as I watched the movie in English), a terrific job has been done and it is I think the best Japanese anime dubbing.

While the movie begins in modern day Japan, almost all film takes place in the strange Spirit World that Chihiro and her parents unwittingly stumble upon. Talking about the plot of this movie, the transition between child and adulthood of Chihiro where she is completely separated from everything she has known and must find her way back into reality is a strong but a lost plot by Hayao Miyazaki. Bathhouse of spirit has been used to portay the many different themes by stink spirit to loss of river to apartment complexes but it just gets few seconds on the screen.

This story of Hayao Miyazaki goes nowhere. The plot is somewhat fascinating, but you must realize that very little will be revealed. The story though is compellingly original but it does not make sense. The transition of self-centered and pessimistic child Chihiro to optimistic yooung Sen is just uneasy to move forward with though you will not realize this while you are watching the movie. Thanks to animation, the plot is at least a good family movie with sense out of nothing. The relationship between the Haku and Sen just adds to the wandering plot. There are many question raised in one’s mind(at least mine) regarding the plot. How did she knew that none of the pigs were her parents ? being one of many. Lots of side plot keeps happening till the movie is ready to end.

The beauty of the animation, skillful blend of hand-drawn foreground on a well-placed computer background works to generate the a better tool for storytelling. But the story of Spirited Away does not keeps up to this beauty. Finally, I would like to say that I am truly disappointed by this movie from the director of Princess Mononoke; an veteran anime director. And I would rate this movie 2.5 out of 5.

Consensus:
Though I enjoyed this beautiful hand-drawn animation, I didn’t liked the plot.

PS: Is this the effect of soul lifting Grave of Fireflies ?

Tagged: Anime, movie, Review