Type: Movie
Rating: Any Age
Runtime: 125 min
Directed By Miyazaki Hayao
Produced By Studio Ghibli
Year Produced: 2001
The To Aru Kagaku no Home Theater Miyazaki Marathon... and then some... continues, despite public protest!
This is a "festival" where I sit down at spend about a week and a half watching all of the Miyazaki movies that I want to. I didn't mention this last time, but I don't have any particular interest in Ponyo.
What's still to come are:
Tuesday - Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
I've already reviewed Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Whisper of the Heart, and Princess Mononoke, so if you're interested in that, then check it out... back there.
Chihiro is moving. Or more accurately, she's being forced to move. Her parents have bundled her and all of her stuff into their car and set out for their new home. The only thing that she has a reminder of her old life is a bouquet of flowers and a farewell card.
On the way to their new house, Chihiro's father takes a wrong turn, but, being a man (We big and strong. Don't need directions or manuals, just meat and salt), he follows the path that he's taken... until he almost rams into a tunnel.
Chihiro's parents get out of the car and investigate the tunnel, finding that it is made of plaster. They decide to delve further into the area, but Chihiro isn't as enthralled with the idea, and tries to get them to get back in the car and go, but they decide to explore anyway. Chihiro, with her only company being the creepy statuette, decides that anythings better than staying in the car alone, and follows them.
On the other side, Chihiro's dad points out that the area probably used to be an amusement park, one of the many that were built all around Japan during the early 90's but all of which eventually went under. With that being said, the parents continue on, with Chihiro still trying to get them to go back, but eventually following.
Chihiro's dad, who's got a nose like a hound, smells something delicious on the air and eventually leads the family to an outdoor restaurant that's loaded with food convieniantly laid out in huge bowls. The parents dig in, the dad saying one of my all-time favorite lines;
"Don't worry, you've got Daddy here! He's got credit cards and cash!"
I like the English version of this line better, though.
Chihiro goes exploring around the area, and eventually finds a mammoth Bath House that also seems to be running.
Note the chimney.
Underneath her, Chihiro hears the sound of a train, and watches as it comes out of a tunnel. She runs over to the other side of a bridge to see where it's going, but notices somethings different about her surroundings.
Uh, hello?
The young man freaks out, telling Chihiro to leave immediatly, and when lamps suddenly start to turn on randomly, he pushes her away, shouting at her to go right now.
You can probably find this image just about anywhere, so I decided to conform. It's also an awesome picture, just a little overused.
As Chihiro is running, a bunch of... weird shadow sludge things start to open the doors of the shops and come out of the cracks, intent on buying things.
Sure now that thing's aren't exactly going great, Chihiro searches for and finds her parents. Or...
Oink?
Two pigs wearing human clothes.
Chihiro runs back towards the stairs that she and her parents had come from, but when she gets to the bottom, she ends up waist-deep in water. Chihiro clambers back to shore and looks out over the instant ocean.
I'm pretty sure that's where she came from.
Convinced that she's experiencing some kind of dream, Chihiro tries to wake herself up, but to no avail. Actually, it works to her detriment, and she starts to fade away.
Chihiro dashes away from a boat-full (literally) of spirits and runs to hide in a quiet place.
After a while, the young man who helped her back on the bridge comes and finds her, telling Chihiro that she needs to eat something from this world in order to remain in it, so he gives her a mint or a jellybean or something, and Chihiro gets better.
With no other choice but to stay in this new world until she can find her parents and arrange a way for them all to get out, Chihiro asks the young man what she needs to do.
In this film, Miyazaki's more whimsical. As far as I can tell, this movie wasn't made so the viewers would have psychologically taxing questions about the planet or human nature, but rather for them to just enjoy. It is pretty surreal, and my dad's only recollection of it was that it was creepy, but that's okay because I liked it.
Oh, and do you remember the soot gremlins from My Neighbor Totoro?
Well they've found a new home. Kamaji says that they're from the soot in his "office", but I'm not fooled.
Leaving...
In search of their new home.
... and then they have a party.
... and unless you've watched the movie already, you're totally lost right now. "Kamaji?"
The music was kind of like Princess Mononoke, though I didn't find myself humming it later. It was nice and kind of catchy, and it flowed well. Actually, if you were looking (and if I had mentioned it earlier), you might notice that Miyazaki's been working with the same guy on music for... ever. Hisaishi Joe and Miyazaki have worked together on every movie that I've reviewed, and even on Howl's Moving Castle, which is tomorrow.
I also listened to this anime in English first. I watched the Japanese versions, and I wasn't totally won over by it.
A general rule of thumb is that the Japanese is good, and the English version is lucky to reach the quality of Japanese voice acting. What I'm talking about here isn't so much the quality of the acting, both sides did well, but more my own preferences, which would have made for a strange mixture.
I liked the Japanese Chihiro way better than the English one (Daveigh Chase), but I liked most of the other English actors (especially the father as I already stated).
The weirdest thing about it was that I think that the English dialog/script was better (although Haku's spell sounded kind of corny. It didn't sound corny in the Japanese version because... I don't speak Japanese too well, so I can't compare it).
With more physical gags than his other works, Spirited Away is still considered one of the best movies today... I know, right? It's aways gratifying to see a relatively lesser-known form of art gain such recognition.
Think of it...
Citizen Kane
Gone with the Wind
A Streetcar Named Desire
Princess Mononoke
and...
Spirited Away
Bitchin.
Coming up next (and last)!
Day 9: Howl's Moving Castle!
