Spirited Away

The plot was absolutely brilliant, it was clever and just constantly changing in a beautiful way. It was so entertaining and entirely stimulating, it didn’t feel at all like two hours had passed. The characters are also very good, each one of them just has a very interesting, very human personality. For example, Chihiro is a perfect example of a ten year-old kid, she complains a lot and has a very optimistic look on the world, causing spirits to either take a great liking to her or despise her. Haku is very different, he has been corrupted somewhat by greed and it quite literally almost destroys him, he great feeling of loneliness and lack of belonging. The spell put on him team up to make him life very difficult, but still not impossible to escape. The pacing was perfect until right about 20 minutes before the end of the film. The second Chihiro gets on the train, everything moves at a rapid pace, the meeting of Zeniba, the regaining of Haku’s name, the identifying of her parents, it all flies by. It was terribly done, but just a bit awkward compared to the rest of the film. The world building is amazing, it is beautiful and very unique and just clearly well-thought-out. It makes a great deal of sense logically and the rules, while many are unknown, seem easy to digest and are incredibly consistent through the film. I think the main theme of this movie is identity and its importance. Those who don’t have it and don’t have somewhere to belong are easily turned to sides that don’t align with what is good for them, Haku loses his home and is manipulated by Yubaba and loses his sense of kindness, which eh showed to Chihiro when she lost her shoe. No Face too, he is portrayed as a kind, helpful deity until he enters the bathhouse itself, surrounded by greed and corruption, he, with no real identity of anyone to keep him steered in the right direction, is too swept up by it all. Chihiro has family ties and relationships with her friends as well, she has people who depend on her to be a good person, which the others are severely lacking. The animation is wonderful, Ghibli’s hand-drawn charm is such a welcome addition to an already beautiful movie. There’s so much emotion in it, you can really feel that someone worked hard on it. I was surprised how emotional I got during this movie, I expected it to make me very happy, but it made me somewhat retrospective and also sad at the end. I suppose it was more of a bittersweet, Haku really has no where to go and Chihiro will carry these experiences with her with the possibility of never seeing them ever again. It’s just a very sad thought, but everything ended as well as it could have. I think this film is incredibly unique, its art style of course is exclusive to Ghibli, and the fact that it’s a kid’s movie with so much depth is also very special. The world they live in as well is so unique, its vibrant colors and vintage style make a fascinating setting of just very otherworldly, yet familiar feelings. The dialogue was also very good, it was clever and very genuine and catered to what character was speaking. The young characters sounded just their age, teetering on a beautiful and poetic line but still getting the message across perfectly. Overall, this was fantastic, it was just truly enjoyable and so much fun. It has so much to unpack and yet can also be taken just at face-value as well.  Plot - 10 Characters - 9 Pacing - 8 Worldbuilding - 10 Themes - 10 Animation or Cinematography - 10 Emotional Impact - 9 Uniqueness - 10 Dialogue - 9 Overall Enjoyment - 10 Total: 95%