Spirited Away
by Hayao Miyazaki
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DVD details
Director: Hayao MiyazakiDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 125 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Walt Disney Video
DVD Reviews of Spirited Away
DVD Review: Not my favorite Miyazaki movie
Summary: 2 Stars
I've seen four Miyazaki movies: My Neighbor Totoro (weird but cute), Kiki's Delivery Service (adorable!), Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (excellent movie!), and most recently, Spirited Away. It seems the aforementionaed film has recieved huge amounts of critical acclaim and was a success at the box office. I seem to be in the minority here, because I was teetering on the edge between giving it two or three stars.
Whoever said Spirited Away was "a triumph in art, but also a failure in storytelling" took the words right out of my mouth. I think it was a very imaginative film--- perhaps a bit too much so, as the creators seem to be focusing too much on being imaginative and too little on providing an engaging, entertaining story for audiences. I found the plot to be rather flimsy; many of the events seem to be totally random, and there are simply too many subplots and that sort of thing for the film to really be enjoyable. In some contexts, such as in Alice in Wonderland, that would be okay-- but this movie, in direct contrast to Alice in Wonderland, takes its bizarre self very, very seriously. I don't recall there being much in the way of humor either, though the Stink Spirit scene was pretty funny.
On the plus side, the animation was exceedingly beautiful and loaded with background detail. Unlike most anime, which are so cheap-looking they're painful to watch, Spirited Away features some of the best animation I've seen in any 2-D animated film.
In short, Spirited Away is interesting in its own, 2-and-a-half-hour-long way, but I would only reccomend it to intellectuals and Miyazaki completists.
DVD Review: One of Miyazaki's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Miyazaki's films always bring me back to being a kid again and enjoying that never ending exilleration of experiencing something new and exciting and frightful all at the same time. I love this film, the animation is the best I've seen from the Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki's films are always enchanting, always visually and emotionally stimulating. Spirited Away, you will love it.DVD Review: One of the best anime films out there
Summary: 5 Stars
You don't have to love anime to appreciate this film, but it helps! I consider myself a picky anime lover; not all will do but a few will blow me away, and this is one of those few. Spirited Away has a great overall moral to it's story: growing up and becoming selfless. In the beginning, our protagonist, Chiyo, is your typical teen. But when forces beyond her control leave her to fight to save her parents, she surprisingly steps up to bat. With each trial and tribulation, Chiyo discovers that perhaps there are more important things in life, a bigger picture if you will. Now, this is done in Miyazaki's crazy way of storytelling, but if you're open culturally, this film's for you. DVD Review: Spirited Away
Summary: 4 Stars
I am not big on many of the Animation movies with their spin on what I consider overacting heroes, however from time to time I find those films that rise above any cultural difference and truly inspire and illuminate something special (e.g. Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Princess Moanoke). This movie along with being nicely animated had an interesting way of telling the story. A family goes on a picnic and enters a strange world through a path into a walking tunnel. The lessons the young girl learns reminded me of another great story (Wizard of Oz). I don't mean it reminded me of it because they are alike, but because they have great and unusual settings and characters showing you very different perspectives. I think most the family will find this animated story entertaining and educational. Great quality DVD with plenty of replayability. If you enjoyed this catch Kiki's Delivery Service.
CA Luster
DVD Review: A Truly *Wonderful* and *Magical* Movie!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love the movie SPIRITED AWAY by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. It's a breath taking anime film about a young girl, Chihiro, who is literally "spirited away" to a nether world full of magical beings and fantastic possibilities. She must stay and work at a bathhouse for spirits because a witch has turned her parents into pigs. With courage, hope, love, and the help of a boy named Haku, Chihiro must find a way to outsmart the witch and rescue herself and her parents from this realm and return to the human world.
Just like another reviewer pointed out, beneath the surface this film is also about not judging people at face value because there's good and bad in all of the characters, and in us. Chihiro seems to understand that and therefore has compassion for even the most frightening and evil spirits/characters that pop up in the movie and helps them. And even though she might be afraid of them, she doesn't judge them. Perhaps that's the real message of the film and why people find it so endearing...
The English dub is fantastic and Daveigh Chase as "Chihiro," Jason Marsden as "Haku," and the fabulous Suzanne Pleshette as evil witch "Yubaba" are terrific in their respective roles. But for those purists out there the original Japanese language track in 5.1 surround sound is available.
=========== DVD 1 ===========
** Spirited Away Movie ** (02:04:28-Minutes)
= Intro by John Lasseter (Pixar)/Widescreen with English or Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround and French (not in 5.1). English subtitles and captions for the hearing impaired are also available options.
BONUS FEATURES
** Introduction by John Lasseter (Pixar) ** (01:11-Minutes)
= talks about his first viewing of the film and how it is his favorite.
** The Art O Spirited Away ** (15:12-Minutes)
= featurette hosted by Jason Marsden (voice of "Haku"). It also shows Miyazaki and Lasseter as well as some of the actors and the people behind-the-scenes English version of this film, talking about the movie.
Sneak Peeks, Scene Selection and Set Up available.
=========== DVD 2 ========
** Behind The Microphone ** (5:40-Minutes)
= featurette showing the English dub in the studio with Marsden, Pleshette, Chase and others.
** Storyboard With Sound ** (10:38)
= storyboards for a scene with the dialogue intact. You can listen to either the Japanese or English language track.
** Nippon Television Special ** (41:51)
= Japanese TV special on the making of "Spirited Away." Japanese with English subtitles showing the concept, storyboards, research, animation, creative meetings etc. that went into this movie. The crew works around the clock to meet deadlines, sleeping and eating at their desks. It also shows the voice actors for the Japanese language track.
** Japanese Trailers & Teasers ** (28:58)
= 23 different trailers and teasers for the film. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Great film and fantastic DVD set and I highly recommend it. And for other Miyazaki films may I suggest Kiki's Delivery Service and/or Howl's Moving Castle, both favorites of mine (although I didn't like the Kristen Dunst's voice over on "Kiki's...").
Description of Spirited Away
From one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animated cinema comes the most acclaimed film of 2002. Hayao Miyazaki's latest triumph, filled with astonishing animation and epic adventure, is a dazzling masterpiece for the ages. It's a "wonderfully welcoming work of art that's as funny and entertaining as it is brilliant, beautiful, and deep" (Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal). SPIRITED AWAY is a wondrous fantasy about a young girl, Chihiro, trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and return her family to the outside world. An unforgettable story brimming with creativity, SPIRITED AWAY will take you on a journey beyond your imagination. "To enter the world of Hayao Miyazaki is to experience a kind of lighthearted enchantment that is unique to the world of animation" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). It's a fantastic tale the whole family will want to experience over and over again.The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history (more than $234 million), Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro Kamikakushi) is a dazzling film that reasserts the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Lewis Carroll's Alice, Chihiro (voice by Daveigh Chase--Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch) plunges into an alternate reality. On the way to their new home, the petulant adolescent and her parents find what they think is a deserted amusement park. Her parents stuff themselves until they turn into pigs, and Chihiro discovers they're trapped in a resort for traditional Japanese gods and spirits. An oddly familiar boy named Haku (Jason Marsden) instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the greedy witch who rules the spa. As she works, Chihiro's untapped qualities keep her from being corrupted by the greed that pervades Yubaba's mini-empire. In a series of fantastic adventures, she purges a river god suffering from human pollution, rescues the mysterious No-Face, and befriends Yubaba's kindly twin, Zeniba (Pleshette again). The resolve, bravery, and love Chihiro discovers within herself enable her to aid Haku and save her parents. The result is a moving and magical journey, told with consummate skill by one of the masters of contemporary animation. MPAA Rated: PG ("Some scary moments") --Charles Solomon
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