Movie review

I don't always find it necessary to share my movie viewing here... more often than not, it's because I don't actually watch that many movies. I rarely have time. But I made time for this one, and I am so glad I did.

I put "Spirited Away" on my Netflix queue, and because the past month has been so busy, I haven't even gotten around to watching it until tonight.

WOW.

"Spirited Away" is an animated feature film by renowned Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki that came out in the US in 2001. It was exquisitely beautiful, full of fine detail not often found in common anime fare. Miyazaki seems to understand the mind of a child in ways that lend poignant realism to two-dimensional cartoon characters. You're sucked in fairly quickly, and you can't take your eyes off it. In many ways, Chihiro reminds me of the immortal Alice, moving through a dreamlike place where things are not as they seem and where normalcy is turned on its head.

This pure fantasy is worth your time, if not just for the fantastical and original storyline, for the artistic merit alone. Every cel must be a work of art all its own.

Kids will get it, as will adults. It's not so removed from our culture that it doesn't make sense (a problem seen in some Asian imports); it weaves a seamless fabric of Asian themes built into universal conflicts and resolutions.

This one gets all my thumbs pointing upwards, and any other way of indicating my hearty approval. Go watch it if you haven't yet.