Love conquers all.

I waited patiently for this, really I did. I resisted the urge to download the film and watch it free of charge, and I managed to resist that despite the fact that for nearly an entire year I was hearing none stop compliments about Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Hearing about how it was one of the best animated movies ever made, about how it transcended the expected boundaries of an animated film to become one of the most absorbing films ever. I even saw his previous film Princess Mononoke and immediately placed it among the top animated films of all time, and I was still hearing that Spirited Away was better than Princess Mononoke. Despite getting all of that, none stop, for the last 12 months I have resisted the urge to download Miyazaki's Spirited Away and watch it illegally for free. Which is why the next part of this review is going to be taken up by a brief, yet packed full of vehemence, rant!

OK, so I'm hoping that by now you understand what I was going through with my 12 month wait for Spirited Away. My mind full of worries that they wouldn't even release the film in UK cinema's and it would turn out to be another direct to DVD anime release like Metropolis. So you can imagine how elated I was feeling when I finally picked up a TV guide, and under the cinema releases there in front of my face was, Spirited Away. So I waited for that week to begin, couldn't wait to finally see Spirited Away; and as the time drew closer I went on-line to look up Spirited Away in my regular UK cinema tracker. The first thing it asks me is do I want Spirited Away, or Spirited Away (Subtitled) so of course I chose subtitled. End of story, right? Wrong!!! The next thing it tells me is that the nearest cinema to my area code showing Spirited Away (subtitled) was in Edinburgh High Street, 200 miles from my area code. Not only was this not my local cinema, but it was also located in a different country entirely, and since I had no money and no car, I was willing to guess that my dad wouldn't be willing to drop me off. As a result I was forced to watch the film dubbed into English. I hate watching foreign films dubbed into English, dubbing is the route of all evil in the universe. Even then there was still only 1 cinema in my home town showing the film, and I don't want to get into the things I saw on broad street at night.

Now with that little bit of closure out of the way I can finally move on with my life and admit that I still wasn't disappointed by spirited Away. For once that highly despised English dub wasn't, too, bad. The distributors have gone to great lengths in order to preserve not only Miyazaki's original script, but also the feel of the film. The English Dub has been chosen in such a way as to be in near perfect sync with a film designed to be spoken in Japanese, and still keep the dialogue natural and believable. Chihiro's voice has been provided in this transfer using the vocal talents of young Daveigh Chase, whom you may remember as the voice of Lilo in Disney's smash hit Lilo and Stitch. She brings the role a similar sense of nervous independence, but does so in a much more mature, less cute way. Her companion Haku has been voiced by Jason Marsden from Disney's Tarzan, and he brings a weary, calm and experienced tone to the character who will guide Chihiro on her journey through the spirit world. Most interesting of all though is Susan Egan (Hercules) who voices Chihiro's friend and employer Lin. Her sense of desperation, bordering on the frustration, at Chihiro's lack of experience in the work field, combined with her calm mother like nature toward her come across in a natural and believable way. Other voices worthy of note include Suzanne Pleshette (The Lion King 2), John Ratzenberger (Toy Story) and Tara Strong (Rugrats Go Wild).

If you can see it in it's original language then that is the version I recommend. Yet whichever version you decide to watch, one thing will not change; and that is the fact that Spirited Away is an absolute work of art. Miyazaki seems to have let the entire CGI generation pass him by in order to produce a traditional cell shaded animation of incredible beauty and visceral power. He has filled his entire world with an abundance of quirky characters based around, I assume, different Japanese mythologies. Some characters, such as Yubaba, leave you feeling uneasy even when they're being relatively friendly. Others like Lin leave you feeling hopeful and give out a sense of relief, but most of the characters leave you unsure what to think of them. That they seem perfectly nice, but you can't shake the feeling that they will turn on Chihiro at any moment. By far the most memorable in this regard was a character known only as faceless, a mysterious spirit who wonders around outside the bath house wearing a black cloak and an ancient Japanese mask. The simplistic look of this creature is simply amazing at hiding it's true personality, and whilst it seems like a friend to Chihiro you can never quite shake off the reminder as to why your parents always taught you never to accept gifts from strangers.

Not just in the characters though but throughout the entire film Miyazaki has painted a bold canvas of vibrant colors. At the start of the film when Chihiro looks out to a field of shrines you know what to expect. The symmetry of these thousands and thousands of shrines produces one of he films better scenery shots, and when a giant statue head suddenly breaks that symmetry it makes for an unwelcome, and unnerving intrusion. Most of the film takes place within the confines of the bath house though. A vast building with multiple stories featuring a different look and tone to each of them. Ranging from the dank and soot filled basement, right the way through to the cleaner environment of the baths themselves every location has been designed to perfectly fit it's setting and look stunning at the same time.

However a lot of people have been disappointed with Miyazaki's follow-up to Princess Mononoke, because it doesn't appear to have any real themes to grab people. The thing is that there is, the themes are not as obvious as they were in Mononoke, but they are undoubtedly there. The story is sort of a grown up combination of Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard Of Oz, and sees a young girl named Chihiro being forced to move house, and being initially afraid. After they get lost taking a shortcut, the parents decide to enjoy the scenery and enter an open air restaurant. With no one around they decide their best bet is to enjoy the food, and pay when someone arrives, but Chihiro, being nervous, decides to take a walk while her parents pig out. However as night starts to fall faceless Spirits start to appear in all the shops, and by the time Chihiro gets back to her parents they have been miraculously transformed into actual pigs. With no way of getting back over the river which has suddenly sprung to life, Chihiro must get a job at the local bathhouse that will offer her protection from the witch Yubaba who also owns the bathhouse. Throughout this story though Miyazaki deals with the subject of love conquers all. He explores the darker aspects of people's personalities, whilst remembering that love can draw the best out of people.

Chihiro's parents are largely ignorant of her feelings, and even seem annoyed at her concerns. Yet Chihiro refuses to give up on them when they are changed, and risks her own life on multiple occasions just to see them. Her guardian Haku on the other hand is being controlled by Yubaba, so that on a number of occasions he will turn into a fearsome dragon with his humanity repressed beyond recognition. Yet instead of running from him, Chihiro keeps advancing forward, trying to help him until the love she feels draws out the real Haku. There were other themes in the film, such as Chihiro's growth from the young girl afraid of moving home, to the young woman who is able to save not just herself but everyone else important to her. Miyazaki has produced an incredibly layered film with a little something for everyone, but the love conquers all was the message that I picked up on the most clearly.

If I had any complaint though, it's just a minor gripe. In fact it could possibly be a fault with the translation, but throughout the film Chihiro seems to have some kind of sixth sense for helping people. At times she will find things, and without knowing anything about them, will conclude how they could be useful. At one point she even finds a smelly ball of sludge and concludes that it will obviously heal her friend, and he did suddenly have a miraculous recovery. Like I said though it is only a very small point and one that I personally don't really care about. I'm glad I saw Spirited Away on a big screen because it's the best film of last year, as well as one of the greatest films ever made.