Spirited Away [DVD]

NOTE: The voice actors cited below are from the English language version.Spirited Away is a glorious fantasy; it's a poignant, sometimes dark and visually enchanting masterpiece miles ahead of recent Disney fare. This is partly because the film's not afraid to have morally ambiguous characters. Aside from Chihiro (Daveigh Chase) and to an extent Haku (Jason Marsden) there's no clear heroes or villains; even the main antagonist Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), a greedy, sadistic witch, has some love in her, and even the good humans like Lin (Susan Egan) have their mean sides. Throughout the film I was impressed by how seriously it takes itself; a lot of care has been lavished not just on the animation but also the story and characters. It's a breathtakingly original piece which creates a world as detailed and crisply presented, in the visuals and storytelling, as Star Wars'.While moving house Chihiro and her parents (Lauren Holly and Michael Chiklis) take a wrong turn and stumble across a seemingly derelict theme park. They discover an unstaffed buffet and despite Chihiro's protests her parents eat up, promising to pay the bill once someone arrives. Before they can, however, they're turned into pigs by Yubaba, whose underlings laid out the food for customers at her spiritual bathhouse. Aided by Haku, a young man and Yubaba's apprentice, Chihiro finds a job in the bathhouse so she can throw herself at the witch's mercy.The world of the spirits is so rich that this film rewards repeat viewings. Characters and their natures are presented with great subtlety; you're invited to soak up this strange place like a bathing spirit. I loved a spirit called No-Face (Bob Bergen), whose story arc could be a film of its own. He's a creature of emotion and atmosphere, produced by a deep imagination. He has a scene with Chihiro which contains almost no dialogue and is just a procession of imagery. You don't often see that in "children's films"; in the west we've become used to homogenised work and the placement of profit before art. Spirited Away, which overtook Titanic in Japan's box office, exposes our apathy and cynicism simply by being as good as it is. The animation isn't treated arbitrarily but like an actual medium. This is the kind of film you could watch on mute and have a deeply rewarding experience. Every detail reeks of lavish care; you can get lost in this world. The story's told with equal craft, relying on magic and adventure as opposed to an action climax preceded by a "journey", like a video game ending in a last boss. Spirited Away's entire second act has only one setting - the bathhouse - yet is more inventive than many films with several dozen.

This is a brilliant movie and got me hooked on the Studio Ghibli films. It takes a bit to get into the film, but the scenery and story are just brilliant.Now a classic/cult film.

From the opening theme to the closing credits, this film is so beautiful to watch and to listen to that it almost hurts. The animation itself is above average, but the backgrounds are, quite simply, stunning. Above all, Spirited Away shows a breathtaking imagination on the part of the director in bringing to life this deceptively deep story.Having seen this film originally at the cinema, this was the sum of my opinion on it - that it was beautiful but not very profound. However, after repeated viewings, I now understand what some other reviewers have alluded to. In particular, while the story serves almost as a canvas across which the director can introduce all sorts of wonderful characters - some funny, some actually quite scary - there is also a meaningful narrative here as well. The young heroine who, at the beginning of the film, is scared of facing the unknown even with her parents present, by the conclusion has become strong, independent and courageous. This transformation is brought to the screen with the same care and attention as the animation itself, with various events having exceedingly subtle effects on Chihiro's personality.But the main reason why this film works so well, and is so moving, is not that we see Chihiro growing up; it is because the story is, at its heart, about the most important human needs: the quest to return home; the need for acceptance and belonging; and above all, love.I bought this primarily because it was very difficult to find a cinema showing the original language version, which is included on the disc. Althought the American dub is, for the most part, sensitively done, it's not a patch on the Japanese original, in which the heroine sounds slightly older and which (in subtitles) refuses to resort to Americanisms. (Comparing the subtitles with the English language soundtrack reveals some cringe-worthy liberties with the original script in the American form.) Still, congratulations are due to Disney for having the foresight to make this wonderful film as accessible as possible.Incidentally, the first disc of this two-disc set contains the film with a storyboard comparison accessed via the multi-angle feature. While this quickly gets tiresome, it does provide for a very nice feature indeed: the second angle of the last chapter contains the series of background stills from the closing credits, but without the credits themselves. This means that you can appreciate the intricacy of the drawings without interruption, and whilst being serenaded by the gorgeous song Always With Me, which, along with Joe Hisaishi's delicate original score, rounds off a pretty much perfect package.

I love the time they put into this cover and inside of the case as well. I just bought this for collecting and definitely worth buying if you're a Ghibli fan! It also came with a few spirited away post cards if you like putting them on display on your wall or frame it. I definitely recommend!

Es una película estupenda. Lástima la falta de subtítulos o doblaje al español pero por el precio esta muy bien.

Un film strappa lacrime dell'egregio maestro myazaki!!! Assolutamente da comprare per amanti del genere!! Consigliatissimo è spettacolare!! Non posso aggiungere altro comprate e andate sicuri!!

Dvd ist in gutem zustand, sehr gut verpackt und funktioniert perfekt. Sprachen sind auch alle die ich haben wolte vorhanden. Eind dvd muss für alle anime fans.

I bought this for my daughter and I to watch together as she likes this genre of movie. I am glad I got it as it is a fun movie to watch. We had a great time watching it together and I have to admit I was enjoying myself too! It really is a good movie and has a great message to it! The DVD arrived very fast and in great condition. I would recommend this movie to anyone!