After 1997's Mononoke Hime, Miyazaki was considering retiring from animation. An encounter with a friend's young daughter persuaded him that he had more stories to tell. He wrote a piece for this girl called Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away). With this film, Ghibli finally earned themselves worldwide recognition as Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi won the 2003 oscar for best animated film beating Ice Age and Lilo & Stitch. This earned the film a longer run in US cinemas and even a UK cinemas release in the late summer of 2003. The film follows the adventures of a sullen 10 year old girl called Chihiro. She is spoilt and bored by life. As her family are moving house her parents car comes across a strange tunnel in the woods. Her parents decide to investigate and take Chihiro with them. As her parents settle down to eat at what they assume is a restaurant, Chihiro goes exploring. A mysterious boy warns her that she should not have come and urges her to get out. Frightened, she runs back to where her parents are only to find they have turned into pigs. As darkness falls, strange spirits arrive in the town and head towards the large bath house. Chihiro is helped by the mysterious boy who tells her that this world is ruled by Yubaba, the sorceress who runs the bath house. If she is to survive and save her parents she must persuade Yubaba to let her work at the baths. The deal involves Yubaba taking Chihiro's name, or more precisely taking some of the kanji from it leaving her name as Sen. Once someone forgets their real name they are forever trapped in the spirit world. As Sen struggles to fit in and find courage in the strange world, all manner of spirits and gods arrive at the bath house demanding service. Sen is taken under the wings of Kamaji - the multiarmed man who provides power for the baths, Lin - another bath house worker and Hakku - the boy who tries to guide her through the pitfalls of the land. She also attracts the interest of Noface, a strange ghost like creature that takes a liking to her.
If Grave of the fireflies was the Ghibli film least likely to be seen, Spirited Away is the film most people will be familiar with. The story is straightforward but the attention to detail, as always is superb. Little touches such as Sen tapping her foot on the floor after she puts her shoes on, the characterisation of the soot spirits in the basement and interactions of background characters help immerse the viewer into the world. The characters too are wonderfully eclectic; Yubaba's gigantic baby, the mysterious bearded heads (whose presence is never really explained) and of course, Noface. Noface exists as a being that seems to feed off greed and corruption. After he is allowed into the baths by Sen he starts to corrupt the workers by offering them gold, but immediately snatches them up. As his corrupting influence spreads so he gets ever larger. After being "cured" by Sen he follows her on trip to find Yubaba's sister, Zeniba, in order to help Hakku. As he gets further away from the bathhouse, he once again becomes passive and calm.
Chihiro starts off grumpy and ill-mannered, but must learn to grow up and deal with life in a very short space of time. By the end of the film, she is repectful and self-assured due to her time in the spirit world; Miyazaki's take on modern Japanese youth. Even the character of Zeniba's lamp - a flick of the hat to Pixar's Luxor Jr - displays great character in the short screen time it gets.
Spirited Away is one of the first Ghibli films to use computers. Thankfully, their presence is limited to a few scenes and largely goes unnoticed. Once again, Joe Hisaishi provides the score and really outdoes himself producing one of the most memorable scores amongst the Ghiblis. The requiem theme will instantly be familiar to anyone who owns an R3 Ghibli as it is used on the trailers. The music helps make the most of some otherwise silent passages of the film. Where as Laputa benefitted from frequent silences, Sen's train journey to the sixth station wouldn't be as magical without the Hisaishi score underneath it.
Of course we know what the outcome of the film will be, but it's a real adventure getting there taking us down many unexpected pathways - the river God's bath, the attack by Zeniba's paper warriors and Noface's rampage through the bath house. Miyazaki's great trick is drawing us into this fantasy world. Just like Chihiro, we never stop to ask what is going on, because it's irrelevant - it is going on and we just have to accept it and adapt to it. This is a wonderful fable - an Alice in Wonderland esque story combined with rich sumptuous visuals and a beautiful score. Simply put, beyond all the messages and morality this is simply a fantastic story told by one of the world's best.
The DVD of Spirited Away is normally available for £5 or less at HMV so you really don't have any excuse not to see this film. If you are willing to spend a bit more, the US R1 version offers a better transfer and is the one to go for.
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