|
Actors: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Takeshi Naitou
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Spirited Away |
|---|
Chihiro and her family are moving to a new place, but they get a little lost on the way there and end up visiting what Chihiro's mother and father think must be an abandoned theme park. However, the "theme park" is actually a place for spirits to go to rest and relax, and, when the sun sets, Chihiro is trapped there and her parents, who ate food meant for the spirits, were changed into pigs. Chihiro works at a bath house while she and Haku, a mysterious boy who seems to have met her before, try to figure out a way to change her parents back before they grow fat enough to be eaten. Chihiro becomes more sure of herself and learns about love and friendship.
--Melissa Cookson, Resident Scholar
|
Chihiro is a 10-year-old rebelious girl who is about to move to a new home. When her parents stop at an abandoned amusement park, they start to eat a food steaming on a counter. When they turn into pigs, a boy named Haku tells him to get a job at a bath house. There, gods and monsters bathe and relax. The owner, a witch called Yubaba gives her the job, and soon takes Chihiro's name, and changes it to Sen. She then has a bunch of adventures, including cleaning a water god, and cleaning a big bath. She then finds out that Haku turns into a dragon, whenever Yubaba tells him to do a bad deed. Now, Sen must find out to turn him back to normal.
--Estefan Ellison, Resident Scholar
|
Chihiro, a smart but petulant 10-year-old Japanese girl, is not happy that her parents are moving the family to the country. Her father takes a wrong turn, and drives through the woods to what appears to be an abandoned theme park. Among the deserted buildings they find a deserted food stand loaded with prepared food, and Chihiro's parents chow down. But they turn into pigs, and Chihiro learns that they have stumbled on an immense bathhouse/spa where the spirits retire every night to eat and rest. She meets a smart servant boy named Haku who also turns out to be a dragon, and the tyrannical manager of the operation, an old woman named Yubaba. Chihiro loses her name, becomes an indentured servant, and must undergo a variety of adventures in order to rescue her parents and return them to their accustomed forms. This 2001 animated feature by the master anime writer and director Hayao Miyazaki (who also did "Princess Mononoke"), is a wondrous Japanese Alice in Wonderland. Many characters and events are unfamiliar and even unexplained, but the movie is a delight for the senses. It was the very first film to gross more than $200 million worldwide before opening in the U.S. in 2002; Chase, Marsden, Pleshette and others (including Lauren Holly as the mother and David Ogden Stiers as Kamaji) did voices for the dubbed American version.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
|
This movie is about a girl, Chihiro, who lives in this world like an average girl. She walks into a big building with her parents and finds herself in a whole new world. She explores a little and then meets a boy named Haku. Strange things seem to happen after the sun goes down. Spirits and gods wake up and fill the little town. She finds that her parents had turned into pigs and are no longer humans. She is now all alone. She must get a job to live in this strange world, and to do that, she had to give up her real name. If she cannot remember her name, she cannot get out of this place. With the help of her friends, she finally returns to the real world with her parents back to normal.
--Amy chan, Resident Scholar
|
SPIRITED AWAY ( Sen and the Mysterious Disappearance of Chihiro ) is a japanese cartoon written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 2001. Golden Berlin Bear ( ! ) at the Berlin International Film Festival. Japanese Academy Award of the Best Japanese Film in 2001.
Chihiro, a 10 years old japanese girl, and her parents are just moving into the japanese country and they accidentally drive into a spirit city. Chihiro's parents are soon turned into pigs and Chihiro, helped by Haku, a young boy also trapped in the city, must meet Yubaba, the witch that rules this strange world filled with ghosts and sinister creatures. Yubaba steals a part of Chihiro's name and calls her Sen so that the little girl cannot leave the city anymore. At first frightened, Chihiro will learn to fight and will finally save Haku, transformed into a flying dragon by Yubaba, Haku whose real name is Ohaku, the God of the river of the same name.
Quite a masterpiece. For children AND for adults.
--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
|
| Analysis of Spirited Away |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzle - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
**Fantasy or Science Fiction?**
- fantasy story on present day Earth
Coming of age
Yes
he'll/she'll become:
- an adult (general)
Character operated on/altered?
Yes
Kind of alteration:
- magically turned into an animal or monster
If a cartoon...
- animated cartoon
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a kid
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (woman) medium/shoulderlng, straight
Body type
- skinny (woman)
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- very skinny (man)
How much in movie?
- 40%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 60's-90's
- long-lived adults
Profession/status:
- mage/magician
Has special powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist:
- can change shapes
- telekinesis
- can fly
- can cast all sorts of spells
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Hair color
- white/grey
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavy
Body type
- fat (female)
Ethnicity
- Japanese
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
- mean, arrogant
Setting
Earth setting:
- 20th century (1970's to Present)
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Big cities?
Yes
Misc settings
- mansion
Kind of city
- Beautiful sparkling advanced city
Small town?
Yes
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Tone of movie
- upbeat
- spiritual
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- Japanese
Subtitles?
- Yes
Any profanity?
- None
Kinds of F/X
- Things that change shape/morph
- nasty human transformations
- exotic big cities
- exotic alien landscape
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Orchestra/classical
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
