The highest grossing film in Japanese
box-office history (more than $234 million), Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited
Away (Sen To Chihiro Kamikakushi) is a dazzling film that reasserts
the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. Like Dorothy in The
Wizard of Oz and Lewis Carroll's Alice, Chihiro (voice by Daveigh
Chase--Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch) plunges into an alternate
reality. On the way to their new home, the petulant adolescent and her parents
find what they think is a deserted amusement park. Her parents stuff themselves
until they turn into pigs, and Chihiro discovers they're trapped in a resort for
traditional Japanese gods and spirits. An oddly familiar boy named Haku (Jason
Marsden) instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the
greedy witch who rules the spa. As she works, Chihiro's untapped qualities keep
her from being corrupted by the greed that pervades Yubaba's mini-empire. In a
series of fantastic adventures, she purges a river god suffering from human
pollution, rescues the mysterious No-Face, and befriends Yubaba's kindly twin,
Zeniba (Pleshette again). The resolve, bravery, and love Chihiro discovers
within herself enable her to aid Haku and save her parents. The result is a
moving and magical journey, told with consummate skill by one of the masters of
contemporary animation. MPAA Rated: PG ("Some scary moments") --Charles
Solomon
From one of the most celebrated filmmakers
in the history of animated cinema comes the most acclaimed film of 2002. Hayao
Miyazaki's latest triumph, filled with astonishing animation and epic adventure,
is a dazzling masterpiece for the ages. It's a "wonderfully welcoming work of
art that's as funny and entertaining as it is brilliant, beautiful, and deep"
(Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal). SPIRITED AWAY is a wondrous fantasy
about a young girl, Chihiro, trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her
parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she
never knew she had to free herself and return her family to the outside world.
An unforgettable story brimming with creativity, SPIRITED AWAY will take you on
a journey beyond your imagination. "To enter the world of Hayao Miyazaki is to
experience a kind of lighthearted enchantment that is unique to the world of
animation" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). It's a fantastic tale the whole
family will want to experience over and over again.
