Well wasn't that a beautifully animated and moving film? Seriously, what a master work!
But how did you feel?
This is a beloved film so I hope we can have a lively discussion thread! Comment below and share your thoughts on Spirited Away!
No Face is my favorite part of the film, and is a great representation of the influence of the environment on a person. Which, considering that part of the inspiration of Spirited Away was to make a film for his friends daughters, who were around the age of Chihiro (10 years old), it makes sense to play into the nature vs. nurture debate. But the way in which he did it is brilliant. The film itself is obviously noteworthy as is Miyazaki's illustration style in general. The range of colors and the clarity of some scenes such as the water when Chihiro reaches the train station is extraordinary. There is such a balance between calm and chaos in every scene and character in this film.
I love this movie. I remember watching it for the first time in the cinema. We went in to watch something else, I can't remember. After the movie finished we noticed that we can simply walk into the next theatre because the tickets were checked at the entrance to the area and not to the theatre. We watched 3 movies that day! Anyway, Chihiro was the second one and I was under the spell. I like how the story shows the transformation of the weak little chihiro to the very brave, loving yet rational person that is not afraid to do the counter intuitive. The situation with the ill/foul water spirit shows how she can handle an uncomfortable situation by keeping a clear head, she even gets rewarded for it in the end. The coolest part is actually how she treats no-face after he has gone rampage. She is not afraid or disgusted by him but simply understands what is happening with him, accepts him as a comrade and simply does her thing. While everyone is lost in a mix of greed and fear, she cuts through the bullshit and draws him in her mindset instead. the only part I dislike is this weird romantic scene between Chihiro and Haku at the end. It felt like the movie would have been better without it.
The first time I watched Spirited Away, I really liked it, but I knew that I love Princess Mononoke more. This time, Spirited Away must have caught me at the right time because now I'm not so sure. I might still lean toward Princess Mononoke because it's a more exciting film for me that I could always put on, but Spirited Away is a touching masterpiece with some of the most beautiful animation I've ever seen. Whether it's the simple effect of air rushing through an opened car window or the extravagance of a dragon flying through the air, the animation is simply incredible. Great film that deserves its reputation.
Mononoke is effectively a retelling of Nausicaa in which all the ambivalent stuff is made concrete. It's also a lot gorier and violent, probably to make teen boys attach to the message better. Spirited Away is arguably Miyazaki's most evocative world. Yes, the animation is great but that's not all it has going for it. Fun story: Back when Spirited Away came out there was no Netflix. Fortunately up here in Seattle we had Scarecrow Video, which would do crazy things like rent you that 15-years-out-of-print VHS of Mr. Mom if you put a $1000 deposit on your credit card. And Scarecrow had a Region 3 DVD you could rent. I think it only had a $500 deposit. I had a Region-free DVD player, which was damn handy. However, it was a Chinese region-free while the DVD was Japanese and the video track topology didn't quite line up. So I put in the DVD and found myself watching a bunch of subtitled storyboards. But that was the thing. The storyboards of Spirited Away were engaging enough that I spent half an hour thinking "huh - I guess Miyazaki has gone conceptual" before deciding that if they hadn't switched to the stuff in the trailer by now, something must be wrong. But I was willing to buy it clear through the point where her parents turn into pigs because even the pencil sketches that Ghibli put our are evocative enough to carry the story. Miyazaki himself drew the water for Ponyo. He didn't farm it out. He figured it was important to convey the story. And the water is certainly impressive.
Oh yes, there's clearly more going on. I was just getting some quick thoughts out. There are pretty clear commentaries on capitalism, greed, a longing for simpler times, and of course the story is really a coming-of-age film as Chihiro experiences a lot of growth in the 2 hour runtime. And there's all those images and creatures coming straight out of Japanese folklore. I found a 24 page PDF on the folklore in the film last night that I plan on getting around to eventually. Probably will offer even more insight into the film. I still need to watch a lot of Miyazaki's filmography, most nostably Nausicca, Totoro, and Ponyo.
Oh, wow. Yeah, you need to get to those. Our daughter hasn't seen Frozen. She hasn't seen anything Disney. She's seen Room on the Broom, she's seen the Gruffalo, she's seen Gruffalo's Child, and she's seen: - Ponyo - Spirited Away - Arietty - Howl's Moving Castle - Kiki's Delivery Service - and Totoro. Totoro was her first, and is often her favorite. I think Spirited Away was a little much for her; she was like 2 and whacked out pretty hard on fever drugs. But Ponyo and Totoro she follows with no issue. We actually "discussed" Nausicaa before, but never actually discussed it.
Well your daughter is getting a good head start compared to me! I hadn't even heard of Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli in general until I was maybe 17 or 18. The only one I had seen up until that point was Kiki's Delivery Service, and that's because I swear it was the only one that ever played on Cartoon Network or Disney when I was a kid or at least when that's what I watched. Though I saw many advertisements for Howl's Moving Castle. What I've seen since then has been fantastic though! Glad I've finally gotten around to them.
Here it is! Hope it's interesting. I only looked at it for a bit
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