What Makes "Spirited Away" Great.

Animation pioneer Hayao Miyazaki brings all his talents to this masterwork of imagination and beauty. It's a film that reminds us of the unlimited creativity that can come from animation, esspisally that of traditional hand-drawn animation.

A young girl named Chihiro is moving along with her family to a new home. On their way, they come across a spiritual world where Chihiro finds herself trapped and her parents turned into pigs. She then works at a bathhouse for spirits headed by a witch. She meets several bizarre creatures and characters as she tries to find a way to save her parents and find a way back to the human world.

In many ways, Spirited Away is like a modern version of Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland. Miyazaki takes his time to let us breathe in this world and take in all the memorable settings and creatures. The iconic sequence when Chihiro and No-Face travel on the train has no dialogue that goes on for a while. This would be unheard of in most kid's films, but Miyazaki knows that scenes like where your characters take it all in can be just as impactful on kids as something like a Disney musical number. The amount of imagination and work that went into this film is astounding. Every setting and every character are just so full of detail. The Witch Yubaba is especially memorable. All her movements and facial tick just pop off the screen.

Of course, the journey matters as much as the world, and that's the case here. Chihiro is a great protagonist due to her development throughout. The film can be seen as a sort of coming-of-age tale for Chihiro. At the beginning of the film, she is a timid little girl upset at the idea of moving to a new place, something any parent or child can relate to. Despite all the strange things going on throughout, the film takes its time in reminding us that Chihiro is just a kid in the middle of all this. One of my favorite scenes is after she visits her parents in the pig pen with her friend Haku. Haku offers her food and as she's eating it she breaks down in tears overwhelmed by everything that's happened. As the film goes on, she becomes more mature and independent as she helps not just herself but many of the other characters in the film. By the end, she has grown up quite a bit compared to her whiny self at the beginning. In the end, when she returns to her world with her parents, they tell her it can be scary moving to a new place, and she responds " I think I can handle it".

Spirited Away is a beautiful expression of how essential the animation medium is to filmmaking. Watching this is a rewarding experience for anyone rather their kids or not.