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By PAUL BRENNER
The world of master animator Hayao Miyazaki is infused with spirits: "In my grandparents' time, it
was believed that gods and spirits existed everywhere -- in trees, rivers, insects, wells, anything. My generation does
not believe in this, but I like the idea that we should treasure everything because...there is a kind of life to
everything." In "Spirited Away" -- released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in a two disc set -- Miyazaki's pantheism
becomes the framework for an exhilarating phantasmagoria concerning an irritating ten-year-girl, Chihiro, whose parents
come upon an old, abandoned amusement park on their way to a new home. After her parents gorge themselves on platters
piled high with food, they are transformed into big, fat pigs and Chihiro discovers herself in a Japanese "Alice's
Adventures Through the Looking Glass" but Wonderland is a magnificent bathhouse where gods and spirits travel to restore
themselves. In order to save her parents, Chihiro convinces the evil bathhouse proprietor, Yubaba, to permit her to work
at the bathhouse. Once there she must figure out a way to get her parents back into human form. "Spirited Away" is an
embarrassment of riches, every frame filled with fantastic transformations and subtle nuances -- as one example of
Miyazaki's care, Chihiro doesn't just slip her feet into her sneakers and run off but taps them on the floor to fit her
feet into them before she goes. There is an array of outlandish Miyazaki creations, from tiny armies of dust mites,
disembodied heads, a nasty, oversized baby, to a creepy "Stink God" (actually a river god loaded down with pollution,
debris, and sludge). And through it all, Chihiro grows from a self-absorbed child to a responsible young woman, learning
that spirits fade away unless you make contact with your soul.
John Lasseter of Pixar introduces that film and the special features include a Disney promo for the film, a short
documentary about the English dubbing of the film, a storyboard-to-scene comparison, eight trailers for other Disney and
Miyazaki films and twenty-two Japanese trailers for "Spirited Away." Best of all is a Japanese television special on the
making of the film. The DVD also features the original Japanese language track and a French language version. |
