962. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi/Spirited Away (2001)

Running Time: 125 minutes
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
Written By: Hayao Miyazaki
Main Cast: (voices): Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden, Susan Egan, David Ogden Stiers
Click here to view the trailer

ON MY JOURNEY I MET MIYAZAKI SAN

I haven't had too many brushes with animation since I started my journey, so to be honest I was a little skeptical about checking out a work of Japanese animation, especially one that had so much fantastical elements to it. Add to that the fact that I'd never seen a Miyazaki film and you could say I was really dreading movie night, last night.

Our film revolves around Chihiro, a little girl who, along with her parents, is movie away from the town she grew up in. Chihiro isn't happy about the relocation and she makes her thoughts known through whiny complaints on the car ride to her new home. Her parents try to ease her mind, but she isn't hearing any of it. When the family is nearing their new home, Chihiro's father sees what he thinks is a shortcut and decides to take it. Eventually the trio end up at the mouth of a tunnel, within eyesight of their new home. Chihiro's parents, curious about where the tunnel leads, decide to do a little investigating. Chihiro is afraid of what the tunnel might lead to and tries her best to get her parents back in the car. They forge on, however, with Chihiro clinging to her mother's side, still skeptical about the excursion. At the other end of the tunnel, Chihiro's father identifies what he finds as an abandoned amusement park and nearly dismisses going further. That is until his nostrils get a whiff of some good eatin' and the parents decide that they must taste what they're smelling. When the family finds the source of the food, the parents sit down and begin to chow down, with Chihiro still urging them to return to the car, still afraid of her unknown surroundings. When Chihiro wanders off, she comes across a boy, Haku, who tells her that nighttime is near and she must get out of here. When Chihiro returns to her parents, she finds that they've gorged themselves so much that they've turned into pigs. Now, Chihiro finds herself in a whole new world, like Alice down the rabbit hole and it's up to her to save her parents and survive in this spirit world.

You see, this has never really been the type of movie for me. I've always enjoyed a healthy dose of reality with my movies. So when a film starts exploring mystical, fantastical and supernatural elements, my brain starts to shut it out. I'm just not your guy if your topic of choice is dragons, spirits, witches, talking frogs, six armed boiler dwellers, etc. Well, that is unless the movie with the dragons, witches and spirits is really good, then I can take it. You see, I think I'm quite open minded when it comes to film. If you give me something that's really well done, I can enjoy it. With that being said, I actually really liked "Spirited Away". I'm not sure how it's going to fair in the long run (my opinion could rise or lower), but for now, chalk up a victory for Japanese animation in the battle it waged on my personal tastes. First and foremost, I'd have to say the victory came through Miyazaki's use of glamorous animation. Whether it was an impending rainfall or Chihiro and her pal "No Face" riding a bus through a city of lights, it was breath taking to watch the colors and realize that it all started as a blank computer screen, the 21st century's equivalent to a piece of canvas.

Beyond that, Miyazaki forced you to care about his character Chihiro and threw us into such an imaginative world, that you couldn't help but feel like a child again, at least for the duration of the movie. See that was another problem of mine: I went into "Spirited Away" with the mindset that animated films just weren't for me anymore and as a 27 year old man, I just wasn't going to be able to lose myself in a child's world. What rubbish! That was my closed minded side rearing it's ugly head and thankfully Miyazaki restored my faith in animation and makes me excited to see more of his films and made me realize that just because something is aimed toward children, doesn't mean adults can't take something away, something totally different perhaps. "Spirited Away" more than likely won't be landing a top five spot on my next TOP 20, but I really did enjoy it...a lot more than I thought I would.

RATING: 7.5/10 For now an '8' seems a smidgen too high, but perhaps in time it will grow on me.

MOVIES WATCHED: 420
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 581

Note: I'm sure by now regular visitors of my blog have noticed the banner in the upper right hand corner advertising "Seven Shadows Week". Soon you will know all the details, but for now I may be away from the blog while I watch the seven movies that will make up the "Seven Shadows Week" festivities. I'll be watching the films and writing the reviews, but the reviews will not be posted until all of my reviews are written. That way, we'll be able to keep the entire week contained to just that - a week. So if my posts slow down now, you'll know why. I'm sure as I await the arrival of the movies from Netflix, I'll pop in here and there to review some other movies, but over the course of the next week or so, I may be scarce.

March 30, 2012 10:46pm