Hello everyone, it is the Classic Film Kid here, and a few months ago Netflix UK released some classic Studio Ghibli films onto their streaming platform for me to binge during this time. Isn’t that nice of them? I already owned Spirited Away on Blu-Ray anyway, but I decided to give it another watch when I saw it in my Netflix recommendations, and my God it is just as good if not better than I remembered. So let’s take a look at it. Studio Ghibli is probably the most revered and popular animation studio to come out of Japan, with a wide range of critically-acclaimed animated films under their belt. I’ve always adored every Ghibli film I’ve seen, even though I’ve probably only watched roughly a quarter of their work.
You can tell immediately when watching an animated film if it is a product of Studio Ghibli – the stunning animation, elements of fantasy and folklore, and an impressive amount of depth and maturity. Spirited Away is all of those things combined and perfected. It’s considered to be one of the best Studio Ghibli movies, if not the best, and watching it again just made me remember how genuinely fantastic and awe-inspiring it is. It gives me great pleasure in saying that even though it isn’t even twenty years old yet, this is a bonafide animation classic and essential viewing if you’re even remotely interested in animation as a film medium.
This film follows a young girl named Chihiro, who is on a journey to her new home with her parents. On a brief stop off to an abandoned district, things drastically take a turn to the absurd when her mother and father turn into giant pigs and she has to work at a fantastical resort for spirits and beasts of Japanese folklore to lift the curse on her parents and the land. Surprisingly, I’ve only seen this film about three or four times but it’s always important to not overload yourself with these films as they always contain so many layers and nuance, and this is especially true of Spirited Away – there is no stone left unturned, it explores every rich detail of the world that it’s created.
The film is a pretty long two hours, but it uses every second, fleshing out the characters and the resort itself. We feel as if we get a full look at the lives of every one of the spirits contained within the resort’s walls by the end. We’re left asking questions, but they’re not being asked because the film doesn’t bother to answer them. We’re asking questions about things that we want to know, but don’t need to as everything is wrapped up beautifully and most importantly, they leave the rest up to our imagination. They tell the story they want to tell, and leave us to make our own.
That’s the magic of Studio Ghibli – the fact that they haven’t released any sequels since their inception just reinforces their knack for strong ideas and world-building and making one standalone great story out of it, and this is one of the best examples of it. Chihiro herself (or Sen as she is called throughout the film) is such a relatable character given that she is just a regular young girl. Ghibli always has a great way of using their concepts that may be considered more mature and darker than mainstream animation would allow and presenting it in a child-friendly fantastical way and through the eyes of ten-year-old Chihiro, they do this exquisitely. It gives the audience something to relate to as reality disappears and we enter the strange and dark world of the spirits.
The actual resort itself looks stunning, a perfect example of the flawless hand-drawn animation of Hayao Miyazaki and his team. The way that they present the physical forms of these water spirits, for example, are just beautiful and really creative visual designs that sell the concept so well. It’s also the way that the studio managed to weave in social themes. I won’t spoil any plot details, but there are allegories on slave labour, pollution and so much more in this film. It’s even more layered than I originally remembered.
Now I just want to tell you of the absolute perfect way to watch this and indeed every other work by Studio Ghibli – Japanese audio, English subtitles. The English dubs for films get on my nerves no end as not only does the animation not sync up with the new audio, but it also seems rather rushed and it detracts from the atmosphere. Japanese is the only language these films are meant to be watched, as they celebrate their culture. Spirited Away uses so much Japanese folklore tales and myths and legends – putting it in standard English really feels jarring.
Right, rant over!
Some of the other highlights of this film among many are the various characters we meet. The wacky but threatening villain Yubaba, the strange river spirit No-Face, and Chihiro/Sean’s best friend at the bathhouse complex Haku are all unique in their own ways but never feel two dimensional. The extra information we leave, little hints of secret identities scattered throughout the film, means that we never once get bored of these characters or think that they’ve overstayed their welcome.
The film’s ending as well is so satisfying – I won’t get into spoilers, but if you’ve seen the iconic shot of Chihiro and No-Face on a mostly empty train, you won’t just look at it as a pretty animation shot once you’ve seen this film and understood the context behind what makes this scene so fantastic. The film’s whole theme is about fantasy and reality and never losing sight of one nor the other, and this ending absolutely encapsulates everything that made the last hour and three quarters so brilliant.
If I did have to make just one complaint about this film, I think it would be that I wish there was maybe a bit more time in the real world before we entered the fantasy. It would have helped establish Chihiro more and also the love she has for her parents, while not sacrificing much of the imaginative stories contained within the bathhouse. But really that’s just a nitpick and I still feel that Chihiro’s emotions and desires in this are very well developed, so that’s not even really a flaw. So, Spirited Away is quite simply amazing. It has a wonderful setting and highly imaginative characters brought to life with exquisite animation. It’s well-focused, it’s thought-provoking, it’s mature, it’s well crafted and it has an intriguing story. What more could you want?
Seemingly Studio Ghibli is done now but there’s reportedly one more film Hayao Miyazaki wants to make, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with that and diving more into their back catalogue because Spirited Away shows the company at their very very best. Spirited Away gets a strong 9.5 out of 10. Well, that’s this review over and done with. Look forward to a roundup review of various films and TV shows I watched in lockdown coming your way soon.
Till then, this is the Classic Film Kid signing off!
