Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi [Spirited Away] (2001)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

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Exemplary animation from Hayao Miyazaki that leaves the declining likes of Pixar and the now-mediocre Walt Disney in the shade. The technical inadequacies are more than made up for by the sheer bravura piece of entertainment that this is. A cartoon is perhaps too good for the kids and can easily be shared by their parents without feeling that they have to sit through it as a chore.

Brilliantly imaginative - perhaps too imaginative - rendition of the classical tale of a child lost from its parents who have been turned into pigs in a world of spirits. She endeavors to rescue them and discovers a great deal about the meaning of personal identity and self-hood. Her character is spunky and feisty, as she should be as she battles all sorts of strange and eccentric characters in an otherworldly dimension of spirits to overcome her fears and help her grow to adult maturity.

The Japanese just do this sort of thing so much better than anyone else does - beautiful and emotionally affecting.

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