Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away

[disneyberry]

what an absolutely excellent movie... definitely deserving of the Oscar it just won.

completely mesmerizing, i just saw it this afternoon, and can't wait to buy the DVD to watch it again!

the cast for the English dubbing did such a great job!
they're all Disney regulars like Daveigh Chase (Lilo), Susan Egan (Megara), David Ogden Stiers (Jumba & Cogworth), Jason Marsden (Max Goof), John Ratzenberger (Yeti from Monsters, Inc.).
and, here's something funny: the voice of the Baby is Tara Strong (Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls, and also Rikku from Final Fantasy X).

anyway, definitely a great movie. it is so unique and different. kind of an Alice in Wonderland feel at the beginning because of the strange other world.

 

[DonnaS]

I agree 100%. I saw it when it first came out and loved it.

 

[clutter]

Do you think it's ok for a 6 year old, who loved "my neighbor totoro?"

 

[disneyberry]

clutter, i didn't see My Neighbor Totoro, but i read through the synopsis and looked at some screenshots, and that movie looks to be quite cute and nothing scary about it, so i don't think it can really compare to Spirited Away.

Spirited Away is not by any means a scary movie, but there are a handful of scary scenes. nothing violent, but some things can be a little bit frightening.
some bad things happen to the main character in the beginning, but that's just how the story is set up. Chihiro becomes a hero and overcomes all the bad things that happened, so in the end, everything turns out okay.

Hayao Miyazaki did seem to write this movie with the intended audience being girls around age 10.

i would probably rate the scariness level at about the same as Snow White (the movie). of course, when i was a young child, i was extremely scared of Snow White, the ride. heh. actually, sometimes i think it still kind of scares me

 

[JESW]

Ooooh! After seeing the previews on tv I really want to see this movie!

Do the "scarey" parts make it worth a PG rating?? DD4 wants to see it and she's a pretty tough little kid. (She was watching Nightmare Before Christmas when she was 3!)

Glad you liked it!

Jill

 

[disneyberry]

Jill, i think if your DD could deal with Nightmare before Christmas, then Spirited Away should in theory be fine.
i mean there are some freaky characters in Nightmare...

btw, just a disclaimer: i am not a parent , so i do feel a bit uncomfortable answering questions about whether your young children will be scared by this movie. i did see quite a few young children in the theater yesterday when i went to see the film. and like i mentioned before, Miyazaki made the movie for 10yr old girls.
if any parents are concerned about whether the movie is appropriate for young children, i would suggest going to Disney's website to watch the various movie clips available online.

http://www.spiritedaway.net

keep in mind these clips contain quite a number of spoilers!

 

[MarkRG]

If you like those two, another I would recommend that's coming to dvd on the 15th is Castle in the Sky another Miyazaki film. I have seen it subtitled a long time ago and it is a wonderful piece of animation. Very story driven, and also ok for small kids.

 

[snoopy]

Oh, this one is on our list of must sees. Thanks so much for the link.

 

[disneyberry]

hm, that's strange. i think Disney must be making changes to their websites or something.
the section where they had movie clips isn't there today. i was looking at it last night.
oh well.

maybe it'll reappear later.

 

[Joyciemc]

I'm torn! Everyone is raving about this movie, so I really want to give it a try... but i don't like anything anime style at all. From what I've seen, this movie isn't exactly what i dislike (when only the mouths on the faces move, and the voices are really high pitched and always sound about to cry), and at least the backgrounds look beautiful. Do you think I'll like it if I keep an open mind about the animation? Am I completely wrong about what I think this movie looks like? It's just that $9 movie tickets make me VERY picky about what i go to see...

 

[DonnaS]

I haven't seen any other anime, but it seemed no different in essence than Disney animation-- it just had a different visual look. I think you'll like it.

 

[Joyciemc]

I'm almost convinced I just watched the trailer, and I think I got the wrong idea from the clip shown at the Oscars. Now I'll have to talk my bf into going.

 

[LuvTigger]

Another thumbs up from me! I really didn't know what it was about, so I went in with no expectations. And regarding the "anime" concept, I used to watch anime things like Robotech, and the animation in this is different, but I wouldn't classify it as "anime."

Regarding children, I'm not a parent either, but there were 2-3 kids in the audience (I'd guess somewhere between 4-7 years old), and they seemed to handle it okay. I did notice that one of them was asking the parents a few questions, I think because it really is fantasy, so there are some unrealistic occurances (actually, it is ALL unrealistic! But very entertaining, and "mesmerizing" is actually a great way of describing it). I think it sends a good message to kids too.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I love anime(i.e Cowboy Bebop) and want to see this

 

[disneyberry]

Originally posted by Joyciemc
I'm torn! Everyone is raving about this movie, so I really want to give it a try... but i don't like anything anime style at all. From what I've seen, this movie isn't exactly what i dislike (when only the mouths on the faces move, and the voices are really high pitched and always sound about to cry), and at least the backgrounds look beautiful. Do you think I'll like it if I keep an open mind about the animation? Am I completely wrong about what I think this movie looks like? It's just that $9 movie tickets make me VERY picky about what i go to see...

joyciemc, Spirited Away is very different from the anime style you describe (you mean like Pokemon, hehe). the English dubbing is really very good. John Lasseter of Pixar worked very hard to synchronize the animation of the lip movements w/ the American actors' voices, so you really won't notice very much difference between this movie and any other American cartoon.
granted, the animation style is not Disney, but there are other American cartoon styles like Rugrats that are very different from Disney style animation, etc.
if you reread the post i wrote above about how all the voices are done by Disney regulars... there is absolutely no worry about the high pitched cutie anime voices at all. those don't exist in this movie.
i paid $10.50 (NYC prices) to see this movie, and would gladly pay it again to watch it.
i'm not a big anime fan either, but am just starting to get into it. this movie definitely peaked my interest even more towards anime. (Cowboy Bebop and Inu-yasha are excellent)

 

[SideshowBob]

SSB has been a long time supporter of this film, and posted a couple of threads about it.

Was lucky enough to see it last year at the Toronto International Film Festival... and Hayao Miyazaki was there in the theater to answer questions later, as the premier.

Have to admit that SSB was miffed when Disney did not give this film much of a push.... even after it received RAVE (5 star type) reviews in Time and Newsweek, as I really wanted so many to see this film.

It is the highest grossing film in the history of Japan, surpassing "Titantic".

A BEAUTIFUL, magical, wonderful film.

I have the Japanese DVD version, as well as saw it two more times at the theater, once with my 8 year old DD who did just fine with it. The most violent scene is a near the begining when some "pigs" are whipped, but it is in a dreamlike kind of filming, so not very graphic.

The characters are SO VERY WELL developed, some of which SSB shall never forget.

A big "Thumbs Up" !!!