I must admit that "Spirited Away"
is the best film that has come out so far this year, and with
how the rest of the year looks, it's probably going to stay that
way.
True, I have not seen "The Two
Towers" yet, and I must admit that "Road
to Perdition" (negative review) is high on the list of best
films this year....but neither of them have (or will have in Two
Tower's case) the beauty and elegance that Spirited Away has in
spades.
"Spirited Away" is the story of
Chihiro, a 10 year old girl who's in the unfortunate spot of
moving to a new home in a new city. However, before her family
even arrives at their new house, her father makes a wrong turn
and
winds up finding what appears to be an old, decimated theme
park. However, when her parents are transformed into pigs after
eating some unattended food, Chihiro must find a way to turn
them back, before they become dinner for the spirits that reside
in this land.
Like some of Miyazaki's previous
work ("Kiki's Delivery Service," "My Neighbor Totoro," and
"Princess Mononoke" quickly come to mind), there are no
clear-cut 'good' or 'evil' characters. This is a rare thing to
find in
most animated films (and especially in American cinema). The
characters are out for their own self interests and are not
easily defined in the roles stated. Yubaba is not a villain,
she is a profiteer. She wants to get the money from the spirits
who come to the bath house to relax. The No Face monster is a
lonely soul, who, when over stimulated becomes a obsessive
compulsive eater (of anything or anyone that gets in it's way).
I found this to be a refreshing use of character, especially
considering how many films we see where the villain is nothing
more than the archetypal baddie who is "bad for the sake of
being bad."
Normally, I find myself wary of
American dubbing. Admittedly, sometimes the dubbing is better
than the original Japanese dialogue (Miyazaki's Castle of
Cogliostro is a good example of 'improved' dubbing), but more
often than not, the dubbing is sub-standard (take Princess
Mononoke's English version, all the minor roles are more
interesting to listen to than the main characters and their
Hollywood voice credits).
However, John Lasseter's oversight
of the American translation of Spirited Away was
fantastic. There
are absolutely no slackers in the cast, Lasseter made sure to
get quality voice actors to push the film rather than go with
the big names and hope people are drawn that way. Personally, I
found myself loving the eight limbed boiler room master, Kamaji
(played perfectly by David Ogden Stiers).
The animation quality is top
notch. The colors are richer than anything found in any American
animated film. Disney has nothing on Studio Ghibli. The world
the Chihiro exists in is far more vibrant and alive than
anything the Disney animators could ever hope to accomplish.
There is a limited use of CG animation, sometimes it's more
noticeable than others, but it's never outlandish enough to
stand out.
This film is brilliant on so many
different levels. It's a fantastic fable in the vein of "Alice
in Wonderland." It's a remarkable drama about a girl who
continuously challenges herself and matures significantly over
the course of a few days. It's a deep story for children, but
nothing too deep that they cannot grasp the idea. There is
nothing overly frightening in the film (true, the No Face
monster may be intense for very young children, but it's nothing
too frightening for kids six and up), so parents should not have
a problem taking their kids to see this.
My only hope is that Disney sees
the revenue that this brings in and finally gets off their ass
and get around to releasing Laputa (Castle in the Sky - which
has been in hiatus for quite a while now). America needs more
exposure to Miyazaki and the beautiful worlds that he crafts.
