Spirited Away Reviews

I love Studio Ghibli, and Spirited Away is one of my favourite films from the studio. This is coming from someone who was delighted by Howl's Moving Castle, blown away by Princess Mononoke, emotionally devastated by Grave of the Fireflies and touched by the simplicity of The Cat Returns all but to name a few. Spirited Away is a mystical, charming and truly enchanting animated fantasy, even with the long length and some slow moments. The animation is absolutely stunning, both the hand drawn visuals and the CGI graphics give an ethereal charm to the film. The characters move more than convincingly and the colours are beautiful. The music is also outstanding, I loved the simplicity of the piano and the drama of the more dramatic parts. The story is a pleasure, I know people have complained of some loose ends, but it is an original, touching and charming one I feel. I also loved the characters. Chihiro, voiced with real enthusiasm by Daveigh Chase, is sulky to begin with, but she is also brave and resourceful, traits I like in young heroines. Lin is kind and sympathetic, and Susan Egan who was also in Porco Rosso was unusually sensitive as the character. Jason Marsden is charming as Haku, and Suzanne Pleshette is perfect as the grotesque Yubaba and as her sister Zeniba. Overall, I loved Spirited Away, it is really charming. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Críptica pero muy hermosa, en palabras de un conocido: “vale cada maldito quilate de su Oscar”.
No elaboraré.

El problema de Chihiro es que no tiene una narrativa muy coherente, pasan cosas, pero todas son confusas y todos los posibles conflictos son solo mencionados.
Sin embargo, le doy el pase a esta película porque su mundo es realmente fascinante, sus escenas están bien logradas, la animación es impresionante y la protagonista tiene un desarrollo decente.
Al final del día, lo relevante de la película no son las cosas que suceden si no como la protagonista reacciona a estos sucesos. Es interesante ver como esta deja de ser una maleducada al ser apartada de su comodidad y enterarse como funciona otra realidad, trabajando en ella y de esta manera dándose cuenta de el valor que tiene también su mundo.
No es una película muy coherente, pero su animación, mundo y protagonista hacen que como mínimo sea una buena película como entretenimiento.

'Spirited Away' is an assembly of gorgeous animation and great plotting. It tells the story of a family who move house and discover the spirit world. The parents are turned into pigs, the girl Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) takes a job working in Yubaba (Mari Natsuki)'s bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.

I was completely amazed by this film. This is the best animated film I've ever seen! It's also one of the best films of all time. This film has some of the greatest animation with fantastic quality and beautiful drawing! The plot seems as if it's taken 'Alice In Wonderland' to Japan, and it does it so brilliantly. The score is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking and the film is just full of surprises!

'Spirited Away' is the kind of film that makes you cry and makes you excited. You learn loads of things in this film that completely surprise you and for me, I just hoped for even more surprises! The cast deliver brilliant voice acting in both Japanese and English!

You will love 'Spirited Away', if you like to keep your eyes glued to fantastic animation, your mind to brilliant story telling and your ears to a beautiful soundtrack then this is the animated gold for you! I can't get the look of the animation out my eyes! 8)

This is the first film that I saw by Hayao Miyazaki, and I thought that it was beautiful, mysterious and very original. However, it's hard to compare it with Pixar because the differance between anime and computer generated animation is such that they are almost completely different genres. I found 'Spirited Away' very relaxing and meaningful. The animation was superb, the storyline was unique and heartfelt and the characters were a lot of fun, especially the superbly animated Yubaba. It will go down in history as one of the best animated films of all time, and was a pleasure to watch.

Spirited Away is a film that changed the animation genre around. This is one of the four main landmarks of animation. The others being Toy Story, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and The Lion King. Spirited Away went to another level by presenting us such a bizarre world like no other animated film has ever done before. Everything about this film was weird because it was, as I said, something new. I think the main thing I loved about this one was that despite how odd it is, it is a film to expand your imagination. This is better when you are a kid but you can do it if you're a teenager or adult.


Spirited Away tells the story of a 10-year-old girl called Chihiro. The opening scene is Chihiro and her parents driving to a new home in a new town. On their travels, they come across the entrance to the spirit world. Her personality changes from the beginning right until the end. At first she was a whiny and self-centred child and then becomes a hard-working, responsible and optimistic young girl who has learned to care for others. During her time in the spirit world, she is renamed "Sen" courtesy of Yubaba who is the owner of the bathhouse. Chihiro makes friends with a young boy called Haku. Haku is a dragon in the appearance of a boy who helps Chihiro after her parents are transformed into pigs when they ate all that food. He works as Yubaba's direct subordinate. She treats him like a slave more than someone who does favours for her. Yubaba is the adversary of the film. She is an old witch who supervises the bathhouse. She signs Chihiro into a contract and renames her as "Sen" in order to hold power over her for the duration of the contract. She has a giant baby called Boh who is twice her size.


Miyazaki goes really odd in this film. Things like a big baby who is bigger than humans who are years older than him, an old man with six arms like a spider, a devouring, black spirit known as No-Face, a boy who can transform into a dragon amongst others. Miyazaki does use the same kind of animation in every film he has done and he always has different worlds to wow the audience which is what I really admire about him the most. He is like Quentin Tarantino in cases of writing scripts. He thinks of his own stories and writes them so perfectly! They both make them quite cool scripts as well with a cool style to it. I don't know how to explain this with Spirited Away but it just makes me think that.


Overall, Spirited Away is a landmark of the animation genre that has granted its firmly sealed place as one of the best and one of my favourite animated films of all time.

Really cool childlike fairytale visuals with a level of creativity that reminds us why mythic tales fascinated us so much during our young ages, yet with enough of a few dark undertones to keep the interest of that part of our spirits that were crushed by the reality of becoming an adult. Fantasy fun with a slight twist of macabre for the whole family

''Don't you see? It's called... Love.''

In the middle of her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl Chihiro/ Sen wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters; where humans are changed into animals; and a bathhouse for these creatures.

Rumi Hiragi: Chihiro / Sen

''...Once you've met someone you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memories to return...''

Hayao Miyazaki's animated masterpiece is obviously a very foreign Anime piece; not simply because it comes from another country i.e: Japan. There is an imagination at work that is so organic, so remote that it seems to be given birth from an individual's subconscious. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi(2001) from Studio Ghibli connects universally; speaking as it does in a language that suggests anything is possible and children (Plus imaginative adults) of all cultures will respond to it instinctively.
The soundtrack is also very effective in setting the mood in key areas of the story.



Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi is trying to explain death in a simplistic yet secretive way to children; The creature/character No Face would be a likely candidate for that assumption.
Chihiro lets him in and does not fear him as with the adults fear of him; because she doesn't understand what he is. Interestingly, No Face travels on the ghost train and is, consequently, the only companion invited to stay with Granny when the friends decide to make their return journey.

Interestingly, the character No Face greatly resembles a silkworm. First, the film is Japanese and silkworms are important in Japanese culture. No face seems to have a white face and a mouth below it; Silkworms also have markings that look like facial features, and their mouths are below these indentations. Silkworms and No Face eat constantly and grow rapidly. At the end of the movie, No Face goes with Sen to visit Zeniba. No Face stays with Zeniba spinning silk which symbolizes the importance of the material and the creature. Miyazaki has created a perfect representation of the silkworm and an iconic character in the shape of No Face.
Personal favourite sequences included are the battle against No Face as Chihiro fends him away; by simply using a medicine/cure she was given and teaching him the importance of friendship. Also, revealing whom Haku really is and showing such loyalty to the one you love is a subtle touch; portraying the value of the emotional bond.

Lin: What's going on here?
Kamaji: Something you wouldn't recognize. It's called love.

The moral of this epic story is that sometimes perhaps, you need to mature and learn that you can't rely on someone else to save you.
It teaches us we must also value Friendship and loyalty with those few whom deserve it.
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi is a fantastic animation from Studio Ghibli's Miyazaki; with beautiful music, charming characters, a storyline that sucks you in with art and imagination; beyond possibility and comparison.

First anime film to be nominated for (and win) an Academy Award. It also has the longest runtime of any other film nominated or winning in that category (125 minutes).
Also of note, the flexible light creation that jumps around and leads to the house is a reference to Pixar's mascot, Luxo Jr. Miyazaki is a big fan of Pixar and wanted to show his admiration with this sequence. Many of his inspirations are given tribute by Miyazaki.

Triumphantly in 2003,Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi won the Oscar Best Animated Feature for Hayao Miyazaki; although Miyazaki was not present at the Awards ceremony, he definitely, like his Award winning piece, was there in spirit.
Simply put; a must see for any Anime fan, any fan of Ghibli studios; a story able to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi, or Spirited Away for Western audiences will leave you breathless and satisfied. It will capture your imagination and leave you spellbound.