And so Chihiro embarks on a journey beneath and ultimately into the bathhouse, struggling to adapt to her new surroundings, survive Yubaba and other spirit world threats, save her parents, and find a way home. But if she can convince the bathhouse's boiler attendant, Kamaji (Bunta Sugawara, David Ogden Stiers), to give her a job, she'll be spared. Haku offers a warning: if she's discovered, Yubaba will turn her into a pig as well. With her parents transformed into pigs, Chihiro is frightened and alone her only ally a stranger, a young man named Haku (Miyu Irino, Jason Marsden), who races to save her life. The Wind Rises (2013) may have served as Miyazaki's powerfully poignant farewell to animation, but it's Spirited Away that remains his quintessential masterwork.Īfter stumbling upon an abandoned amusement park with her mother and father, ten-year-old Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi, Daveigh Chase) finds herself trapped in a magical world where a witch named Yubaba (Mari Natsuki, Suzanne Pleshette) runs a bathhouse for an array of supernatural patrons.
Fewer still have done so through such a believable, endearing young protagonist exploring such an inexhaustibly fascinating fantasy realm. Few films have captured childhood fear, anxiety, ingenuity and adaptability more thoughtfully and sincerely. Children will be awestruck by the magic of the spirit world and the wonder of its strange denizens and entranced by an at-times overwhelming sense of discovery, but adults will be drawn into the tale as well, and more deeply than their sons and daughters. It's also not a film to be taken lightly. Winner of the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 75th Academy Awards and recipient of the Berlin International Film Festival's highest honor, the Golden Bear, Miyazaki's breathtaking animated fantasy adventure is arguably his best, and certainly one of his most profoundly satisfying.
And if the quality of Disney's release and the timelessness of the film itself are any indication, it's been worth the wait. Spirited Away (2001) is arriving later than many had hoped ( much later), but the waiting is finally over. Fortunately, it won't be long until every Miyazaki masterpiece - obscure, award-winning and beloved alike - along with every Studio Ghibli production, will be available in high definition. The reality that there will only be a finite number of Hayao Miyazaki films is beginning to sink in. "Once you meet someone, you never really forget them."
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