Some of you at this point must be saying "What? You've never seen Spirited Away? It's like the best movie, certainly the best Ghibli movie, EVER!" I know, I know. I love animation a lot, but unfortunately Studio Ghibli is a bit of a blind spot for me. I don't really care for anime, but honestly Ghibli transcends that bias. I just never have a chance to catch them when they come to theaters. I'm trying to do better, I watched The Boy an the Heron when it came out, otherwise before this review I've only seen My Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo. I enjoyed all of those, although I was pretty much the perfect age for Ponyo when it came out in America.
What's The Movie About?
Whenever I ask anyone about Spirited Away, they always just told me to go see it. I assumed for the longest time that the plot of Spirited Away was just something no one wanted to spoil, like it was so surprising or full of twists that an synopsis would ruin the experience. Bullshit, watch this:
Spirited Away is about a little girl who accidently ends up in the spirit world, has her parents turn to pigs, and has to work in a bathhouse from spirits while devising a way to escape her situation. Boom. That easy, nothing major spoiled.
What I Like.
Well, first off, it's a Studio Ghibli film, so the animation is spectacular. It's always full of just little touches to movement that brings a realism and attention to detail. I really like how character's run in Ghibli movies, the sudden speed and energy that is a drastic change to the deliberate movement present in most scenes. The story is alright, but the backdrop of Japanese mythology is great. I love that all the spirits have interesting designs and a depth to even the simplest designs that makes the spirit world interesting. I really like the design of the bathhouse. Mundane locations that appear infinite but not repetitive are really interesting to me, I dunno. The narrative of the movie wasn't the best thing I've seen, but it was expertly paced and almost everything was set up and paid off masterfully (Almost...) I weirdly got pretty invested in the side characters too.
What I Didn't Like.
I really did not like for the romance between Sen and Haku. When it was first brought up, I honestly thought all the characters were either making fun of the main character or were senile, but no, I guess the third grader is in love with the ancient spirit of a river she almost drowned in. (At least they didn't kiss.) Speaking of which, that little tidbit of the of the character's backstory came completely out of nowhere. That a real shame considering how most of the rest of the story is set up so well. I feel a lot of the Sen/Chihiro character is bland, and almost Mary-Sue-y in parts. I mean, it's not egregious, she spends a good amount of the movie falling over or smacking her face on things. But it does feel like for 3/4ths of the movie all her problems are solved because a spirit gives her something or because of luck. And while I think all the Japanese mythology is a cool backdrop to the movie, if you're like me and don't know hardly anything about it, you'll be very confused about certain things. Am I supposed to know what No Face is? I looked it up and all I found was that he was a metaphor for the main character's loneliness, but the characters in the movie talk like the audience is supposed to know what kind of spirit a No Face is.
Final Summation.
Every person who told me this is the best movie ever is a weeb. Maybe the onus is on me, I tend to be overly critical of anything that people tell me is "the best thing ever". Most of the time it's because the "best thing ever" isn't actually good (cough cough Dark Knight cough), but other times I feel like I go out of my way to find issues with something that is perfectly fine. Good even. But is it not the duty of a media critic to find issues are determine whether the media is entertaining enough to overcome those issues?
I'm overthinking this. Is Spirited Away good? Yes, obviously. Is it great? Uh... Y-yeah, I'd be okay with saying that. Is it the best movie ever? God no. I wouldn't say it's the best Japanese movie ever, or even the best Miyazaki movie I've ever seen. But it is worth your time to watch if it is something that interests you. Just don't let a white person who desperately wants to be Japanese convince you that missing out on watching this movie is like missing the birth of your child or something.
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