Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Take your daughter to see this movie!
Or your niece, or your sister, or your granddaughter, or your mother or -- well, you get the idea. I first saw this film in the summer of 2001 in Japan. I went with my wife, our two nieces, and my mother-in-law. My wife and mother-in-law were in tears when it ended and the two younger girls (10 and 7 at the time) were completely spellbound. We talked about it every day for two weeks. Miyazaki always has very strong girl heroes in his stories, and Chihiro is no exception. She's smart and brave and determined. She overcomes many obstacles, both external and internal, in her efforts to rescue her parents and reclaim her name. And she does it without ever becoming smart-alecky or copping "attitude". She is a very real little girl (despite her very unreal situation). One I think any girl, or woman, would identify with and admire. Brilliant film. Go. See.
Rating:  - Disney stomped on this one...
This is the Disney-ized USA release of the original Japanese version. For comparison I have viewed a probably gray-market DVD of the original Japanese version with English subtitles.Every time I watch the original, it transports me to a refreshingly different, non-Western, faraway mind-state; quite unexpected at first, but eerily enjoyable. The artwork is lush and layered with detail that emerges only with repeated viewings. BUT... After a second viewing of the US theatrical release, I found myself increasingly disliking Disney's treatment. Chihiro's blossoming strength and courage (the whole point of the movie!) becomes inexplicable, for Disney has her now constantly mooning over Haku, and being mother-henned by Lin. Entire plot elements and dialog are unnecessarily messed with, and cheap shots, insults and inappropriate humor are added. Disney is determined that Chihiro/Sen stay a dependent kid in the Bathhouse, rather than become a peer to her coworkers, and who can hold her own in a strange world. As for Disney's releasing it as "Miyazaki's Spirited Away", are Uncle Walt's kids proclaiming their pride in presenting a work by animation's true Grand Master, or are they hastily disclaiming responsibility for such an alien, un-Disney oddity? I think it would be a tragic mistake for Disney to step on any more Miyazaki works as badly as they did this one. Perhaps Miyazaki-san might reconsider his deal with Disney... I'd encourage viewers to gain access to the Japanese original with directly translated subtitles (not the "dubtitles" that no doubt will accompany the US/Disney DVD), and compare for themselves. They just aren't the same story. I regret that I had to come back to change my review and downrate it. I just really hate what happened to Miyazaki's story.
Rating:  - Would have given if 5 if it weren't for the terrible US dub
I really enjoyed this movie. I won't go into the story or plot as others here have done it so well. With the exception of Princess Mononoke this is the best animated movie I've ever seen. Aside from the most beautifully drawn animation and a great imagination, this movie is free of the schmaltz, sentimentality and ram down your throat morality that most US animated movies have. The morality is there in buckets but it's so subtle that it sneaks up on you from behind. There are no good or evil characters in this movie. Most have a good and bad side to them. To me this is a far better way of explaining to kids the real world out there than the black & white mentality that most US movies portray. Most kids' movies I've seen talk down to kids. Miyazaki's movies tell stories that kids understand at their own level, whether they're 10, 15, 25 or 80. Whilst I'm in total praise of the Japanese movie, the US DVD does have its faults. The American dubbing is truly awful to my English ears and I can only watch it in its Japanese/English subtitled version. They tried far too hard to make it sound 'natural' to American kids but everything about the movie screams 'Japanese' so why bother to go to all that effort! Another minus was that I had two copies of the DVD version seriously skip on two different players. If I were giving stars for the original Japanese movie, I have to give it 5. The DVD however could have been a lot better. The US dubbed version knocks at least a star off it and two dodgy DVD's out of three isn't good for the physical media.
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