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Spirited Away [2003]

Directors: Hayao Miyazaki, Kirk Wise
Actors: Rumi Hiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi
Studio: Optimum
Category: DVD

List Price: ~~Ł19.99~~
Buy New: Ł5.94
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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

158 reviews
Sales Rank: 2312

Format: Animated, Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 116
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.6

EAN: 5060034570851
ASIN: B000087JI1

Theatrical Release Date: June 19, 2003
Release Date: March 29, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New - Swift dispatch from UK mainland

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history, 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 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 instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba, 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. 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. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews: Read 153 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

I Liked It, But Not As Much As I Thought I Would August 27, 2008
There are plenty of reviews on here saying how great this film is and explaining it's story so I won't do any of that here. I watched this film dubbed in English, so it may have lost some of the magic that certain films only have in their original language, but that still couldn't take away from the actual story in front of me which, if I'm honest, I didn't think was great enough to deserve all these 5 stars. Once you get passed the sheer absurdness of the whole thing, the film is enjoyable and very funny, but that's about it, I wasn't left with any feeling of enlightenement, or that i'd just witnessed one of the greatest films ever made. It's a cute film but that's it really. I'd like to see it again, because I really do wonder whether I've missed something that all these reviewers seem to have seen, but I can't really recomend this film as one of the greatest I've ever seen, because it just isn't. Good for fans of anime. For everyone else, approach with caution.

5 out of 5 stars

Extraordinary, beautiful, haunting and unforgettable August 27, 2008
My young nephews and nieces settled me down with them over the August Bank Holidays to watch `Spirited Away', which I duly did to humour them, not having ever watched an Anime film before. As the film rolled I became increasingly transfixed and mesmerised.

This was no cutesy Disney cartoon but a deeply complex and beautifully intricately woven web of extraordinarily beautiful images with deep, dramatic undertones, resonances and subtexts. The image of `No Face' in particular stays in my mind and decorates my dreams (in the nicest way possible), such was its vividness and dramatic reverberation, as does the journey of the train through the swampy everglades by night.

I recommend this film unreservedly to all, adults and children alike, and truly envy all those who will be watching it for the very first time. The quality of the imagery is unsurpassed and the storyline utterly compelling. The film received many awards, including the second Oscar ever awarded for Best Animated Feature, the first Anime film to win an Academy Award, also winning the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival. Oh, you lucky, lucky people, to be watching this extraordinary film for the first time!

5 out of 5 stars

Took my breathe away let alone my spirit June 30, 2008
Spirited away is one of Hayao Miyazaki's masterpeices i havent yet seen any others of his work, however i am planning to buy Howls moving castle and Princess Mononoke for my birthday (i cant wait). Spirited away is a witty, funny, magical and ammusing tale about a young girl who is moving from her home town leaving her friends behind her, she is upset and just wants to get to the new house and stay in her room but as you have probably guessed that isnt what happens instead she is whisked off to a magical world where humans can become pigs and there are ghost like creatures with white masks (i know there is a bit of a difference between the two), she enters this magical world when her Father is over excited about seeing the new house and puts his foot down on the accelerater and takes a idiotic decision of taking a short cut that he had just thought of, anyway he drives past lots of wood and sees lots of small statues when he reaches two in his way right in front of a large dark tunnel. As yuo can guess the family go into the tunnes with the disagreement of the young girl, once on the other side they are in another dimention completely, the girls mother and father smell food and go to find it they reach stalls where there is fresh hot food there and they gorge themselves whilst the girl stays back. As i said earlier people can become pigs, and thats right you guessed it her parents ate like pigs so they became pigs. now not to give too much of the story away she then tries to save her parents from the evil witch Ubaba, whilst doing this she works for Ubaba in her bath company, there she meets an assortment of friends including a dragon that helps her through her journey. this movie has a great storyline and fantastic scores. Spirited away was a different type of movie for me i had never seen anything like it and i loved the change. This movie introduced me to Anime and i intend to continue to follow Hayao Miyazaki's future career. One of the best animation films i have ever seen worth every penny. I would suggest this to anyone, it is that good and when i made a top ten list for my frieds i put it at number 2. Worthy of five stars.

5 out of 5 stars

Probably the best film I've ever seen February 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I just loved this film so much, watching it felt like a dream. I'm always sceptical about films with so much hype but this lived up to it and more: The story is beautiful, the animation is superb and the setting and characters ooze with charm. After watching this I am gradually checking out the Ghibli back catalogue and am yet to be disappointed by any of them. Howl's moving castle would have to be my favouite so far (After Spirited away of course!)

5 out of 5 stars

One of the best animated movies ever January 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I first saw this on a UK satellite channel in the middle of the day while channel surfing; and for the first time ever I sat all the way through something I'd accidentally found. A spectacular film, Spirited Away filled me, a cynical 20-year-old, with wonder throughout.

The story is wonderful and Chihiro is easy to relate to - female viewers will remember being like Chihiro and male viewers will remember girls who were.

If I had to pick a negative point, I'd say the ending with the "granny" character seems a little contrived. This character comes out of nowhere and makes everything all better, and is a little twee, but it's not a major point.

The animation is great, with none of the awful 2-frames-per-second, siezure-inducing, brightly coloured Pokemon-style dross that most people think of when you say "anime" to them. This version is the Japanese version with English subtitles, which obviously has excellent voice acting, insofar as I can tell as I don't speak Japanese; I have the English dubbed version too and the voice acting is good in that too, especially Chihiro. For once, a good English dub!

A great film for newcomers to the genre and hardcore anime fans alike.