For this week, I'm taking a break from American movies. I don't want to hear from Eddie Murphy again until he goes to his room, watches \Coming to America"" six dozen times and remembers what he's good at. Meanwhile, I have little interest in another ""Santa Claus"" movie. So instead, I went with the Japanese kids sensation, ""Spirited Away,"" and couldn't be happier that I did.
""Spirited Away"" is the animated story of Chihiro, a little girl who gets lost with her parents in a mysterious land while on their way to a new home. When Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs, Chihiro finds herself alone and forced to work in a sort of hotel and spa for mystical creatures and spirits in order to survive and not be changed into an animal herself. The story follows as Chihiro is befriended by a young man and a female coworker, who help her as she deals with the trials and tribulations of adjusting to the frightening new world, struggling to protect herself and trying to save her parents.
Unfortunately, as I'm guessing is the case with most of my readers, I am not really qualified to discuss the movie within the context of Japanese cinema. Fortunately, the movie is translated for an English-speaking audience so seamlessly that what we're left with is just a world-class animated movie.
While the animation does bear occasional resemblances to what comes to mind when most of us think of Japanese Animation, ""Spirited Away"" is nothing like the shelves of thinly veiled pornography in the Anime section of Four Star. The animation in ""Spirited Away"" is, at times, truly breathtaking. There are moments of the movie when it feels like the story is being told almost in watercolor. The animation is a careful balance of traditional, hand-drawn animation and computer imaging, allowing it to buck the limitations of the former, but still transcending the cold sterility of the latter.
But discussing the captivating backgrounds and landscapes is only beginning to discuss the wealth of visual power possessed by ""Spirited Away."" The incessant parade of funny and wonderful creatures affected me in a way I have not experienced since my earliest memories of the Muppets. From the little frog man to the disembodied green heads that grunt in time as they bounce up and down, the thousands of passing figures alone make the movie endlessly entertaining.
Thanks additionally to the story and the sympathetic treatment of the protagonist, the movie possesses tremendous charm. The story is mystical and sweet and dealt with in as honest a way as such an outlandish story possibly could be. Chihiro is crafted more realistically than any young child character I have ever seen in any movie, animated or otherwise. The animators were absolutely brilliant at capturing the body language that accompanies the many emotions of a young girl. The words, the movement, the voice intonation'it was all there with splendid realism. Meanwhile, the way the girl interacts with the many creatures'especially the small insect-like ones she befriended'is delightful.
""Spirited Away"" is not flawless. It runs a little long and does not fit any audience perfectly. I think it might be a little much for young children to handle and might seem beneath the tastes of older audiences, but for my money, it's a great time. ""Spirited Away"" is the perfect movie for a college crowd looking for an escape from the approaching adult world. It's the cinematic equivalent of a chocolate chip muffin from Jamie's on State Street: Not for everyone, but for the right person in the right mood, it can really make your day.
