"Spirited Away" is probably the most well known film from Studio Ghibli, and for good reason. Despite having decades of movies already released, "Spirited Away" would be the first significant theatrical release in America from the company, the first in a long partnership with Walt Disney Studios producing the English dubs ("Princess Mononoke" was released by Miramax a couple years earlier, but due to a lack of marketing it wasn't as widely known, to find a cult following after a home video release). And "Spirited Away" would win an Academy Award for best animated film, two years after the category was introduced, a special honor from the world's largest award show, and the only Japanese anime to receive the prize (after almost 20 years, only four films not made by Disney or Pixar would ever win). Since then, Studio Ghibli would practically become a household name to delight a generation of families. However, I wouldn't recommend "Spirited Away" be shown to any but the most culturally mature children; I recall my mother being excited to take me to see this film, which I had never heard of, in a theater as a surprise, only to apologize to me when the film finished ("it wasn't THAT bad, Mom...").In truth, "Spritied Away" 's creativity and Japanese aesthetic would be best appreciated by older audiences. Even then, its loose story is a common complaint among some fans, dividing audiences from calling it their favorite (due to it being their first experience of a Ghibli film), or overrated. The story is about a young girl named Chihiro, a rather spoiled child pouting in the car as her parents drive to their new home, having moved to a new town with little concern of the effect it has on Chihiro's friendships and school. After getting lost on the way, they come across an old train station, and walking through the other side they find what appears to be an abandoned resort, albiet with plenty of fresh food being put out. The parents help themselves while Chihiro begs them to go back, until the parents turn into large mindless pigs, and the park becomes overrun with ghosts and yokai of many shapes and sizes. This is a dark childhood fantasy along the lines of "Alice in Wonderland," staring a girl unable to return to her own world, and forced to work at a Japanese bath house to serve the land's many spirits and Gods while trying to free her Mom and Dad. Director Hayao Miyazaki has a pattern of not fully finishing a script when a film begins production. This is taken as an advantage here, where he mentions being inspired by a friend's daughter, and making a world about learning responsibility and worth ethics, wrapped in seemingly random rules similar to what children might chant in the playground. It would be hard to describe what happens in the story because of this... aside from the beginning and end, the events feel like neat little scenes not independent enough to be vignettes, but not complete enough to convey urgency or importance. You could cut over an hour from the film, and it would have no effect on your understanding of the plot. But to do so would be a shame, as there is some complexity to the large cast of memorable characters to appreciate, and many iconic scenes of humor, horror and wonder. Who would dare forget the mysterious and handsome boy Haku, the foul-tempered Yubaba, or the spider-boiler-man Kamaji? Chihiro might seem a brat at first, but she does grow over the course of the adventure (over a few days? a few weeks?) to mature into something greater. Story be damned, the characters and magic of their introductions are enough to carry the whole movie.More interestingly, "Spirited Away" is the first movie from Ghibli to truly appear modern in production values. Some CGI was experimented with before, but their movies still felt old and grainy due to old cel-techniques (for better and worse). Here, we get traditionally beautiful animation that looks and feels clean, a new era of a visual standard that subsequent Ghibli movies would match. Whatever your opinion on that is, it's easy to admire the well-realized and inspired Japanese setting and variety of character designs. The music score makes the experience feel majestically theatrical, and the voice acting is solidly enjoyable.
I certainly don't think "Spirited Away" is the best Studio Ghibli has made, but I can't deny how good it is, even if only as an exercise in childhood fears and imagination.