What it’s about
On their way to a new home, anxious young Chihiro (voiced by Chase) and her parents take a detour through dense woods and discover what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. As dusk arrives, the place is transformed into an enchanted world inhabited by spirits and bizarre monsters, and Chihiro is horrified to find her folks have turned into giant hogs. Helped by a mysterious, magical young boy named Haku (Marsden), Chihiro finds work at an otherworldly spa resort run by an evil old witchbut will she everescape and save her parents?
Why we love it
A magnificent tale from perhaps the world’s greatest living animator, Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” finds a bewildered young girl plunged into an alternate world la “Alice in Wonderland.” Miyazaki’s humanistic spin on this kind of through-the-looking-glass fable makes love the most powerful spell of all. With his gallery of fantastic creaturesa sludge-heap river god, a lonely No-Face creature, an octopus-armed boiler-room attendant Miyazaki wrings magic, humor, and endless delightsfrom every scene. “Spirited Away” will captivate anyone with a sense of wonder and a love for flights of fancy.
Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette Hayao Miyazaki