As the rest of the Western world was amazed by the throngs of CGI animation, and the inside Disney jokes, Japanese audiences were given a chance to see what real animation was like. This movie was the first foreign film which grossed over 200 million dollars before it came over the US shores. It had beaten Pixar's Ice Age and Disney's Lilo and Stitch to get Best Animated Feature. Yet with all these facts and figures shown to us, does this movie live up to its hype. In a one word answer, YES!
However there is no point of handing out the superlatives to a movie, without explaining what the movie is all about. In a nutshell, the movie is about a ten year old girl who is travels to a strange yet enchanting world, after her parents were morphed into pigs. This change of shape was produced by the evil witch, Yubaba, an nasty sorceress who rules over this paralell universe. To avoid detection, the ten year old girl, Chihiro has to work for Yubaba in her bath house. This is where she meets all kind of strange and wonderful characters, like the half man half spider Kamaiji, the mysterious little boy, Haku and many other characters. Though Chihiro had met all these people, her only wish is to go home and turn her parents back to their normal human selves.
Watching this movie, has made me wonder why is this feature shown in very small arthouse cinemas and it is on pirate DVDs, when it should be easily shown on the multiplex cinemas. This is a truly amazing movie, whereby the whole story, transports oneself to their earlier childhood. I know that happened to me. Also the movie's animation was totally amazing, in ways that Pixar and Dreamworks would just die for. A good example of this is the flower scene.
In conclusion, everyone should watch this movie, whether young or old, japanese or any other nationality, because at the end of the day, this will show you emotions that any other animations will not give you the chance to show.
However there is no point of handing out the superlatives to a movie, without explaining what the movie is all about. In a nutshell, the movie is about a ten year old girl who is travels to a strange yet enchanting world, after her parents were morphed into pigs. This change of shape was produced by the evil witch, Yubaba, an nasty sorceress who rules over this paralell universe. To avoid detection, the ten year old girl, Chihiro has to work for Yubaba in her bath house. This is where she meets all kind of strange and wonderful characters, like the half man half spider Kamaiji, the mysterious little boy, Haku and many other characters. Though Chihiro had met all these people, her only wish is to go home and turn her parents back to their normal human selves.
Watching this movie, has made me wonder why is this feature shown in very small arthouse cinemas and it is on pirate DVDs, when it should be easily shown on the multiplex cinemas. This is a truly amazing movie, whereby the whole story, transports oneself to their earlier childhood. I know that happened to me. Also the movie's animation was totally amazing, in ways that Pixar and Dreamworks would just die for. A good example of this is the flower scene.
In conclusion, everyone should watch this movie, whether young or old, japanese or any other nationality, because at the end of the day, this will show you emotions that any other animations will not give you the chance to show.