Having said that, I will say that I enjoyed My Neighbour Totoro a little bit more. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2022) Review: Tearing the Face Off of a Horror Franchise What's not to like?Īs you might have gathered, I'm a massive fan of this film which might possibly be Studio Ghibli's best picture to date. The use of a bathhouse as the predominant setting sprung from Miyazaki's use of one in his hometown where a small door was next to the bath and Miyazaki wondered what was behind it. Miyazaki expressly made the heroine a character that young girls could look up to and be inspired by. Miyazaki was considering retirement after Princess Mononoke but was inspired by a friend's sullen 10-year-old daughter.The character's names in the film reflect their personalities - Boh means 'little boy' or 'son', Kamaji means 'old boiler man', Yubaba means 'bathhouse witch' and Chihiro means 'a thousand fathoms or searches'.They are seen working in Kamaji's boiler-room and apparently have a fondness for Konpeitō, traditional Japanese star-shaped candy which I can testify are very tasty indeed! The film marks the second appearance in a Studio Ghibli film of the susuwatari or 'soot sprites' after their appearance in My Neighbour Totoro.Miyazaki is a friend of Pixar animator John Lasseter, who was largely responsible for getting the film translated into English by Disney for Western audiences. This is a reference to Pixar's famous logo, even down to the sound effect used in the film. At one point in the movie, Chihiro is lead down a path through a forest by a bouncing street lamp.And if that isn't the mark of a great film then I don't know what is. What I will say is despite the chaos of the world we are currently in, I was completely immersed in this lavish and lush spectacle to such an extent that I forgot about global pandemics and my own period of self-isolation and quarantine. The film is also the first Ghibli film I've watched both with subtitles (my prefered option) and with an English dub and while the dub struggles to full explain everything that's going on at times, the Japanese version offered a smidge more context which probably went over my head.
There is no doubt in my mind that Spirited Away is one of the greatest animated fantasy films of all time, a sweeping exploration of a dreamy plane of reality that it is equal to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. It reminds me of another Ghibli classic Princess Mononokewhich is still viable children's entertainment but with a required amount of parental attention, just for a few moments. The film is also darker in tone than Totoro with many sights feeling disturbing to younger viewers such as Yubaba and her enormous head, the giant baby concealing his development from his mother or the repugnant stink spirit requiring the mother of all bath times. Many of the film's characters are based on Shinto folklore and to anyone unused to this, the film overpowers you with its depth and sheer originality. The film feels like a wander through the mind of MIyazaki himself, a world which feels quite alien and especially to western audiences. It's like wandering through the cantina at Mos Eisley in Star Wars for the very first time, leaving you bewildered but intrigued at the same time. And once the story begins, the film suddenly becomes home to such a wide and varied cast of background characters and creatures the likes of which we have never seen before. There's no need for this to be in the film but of course, it helps make the film feel grounded in some sort of reality despite the fantastical nature of the narrative. It's the little things that impress the most - as Chihiro and her parents are driven to their new home, the car stops at a junction before they turn in themselves which allows the other traffic to pass. The animation - all of it hand illustrated, remember - fills the screen with colour and detail that stuns you into submission. But Spirited Away is another league ahead in every conceivable facet. Having recently watched Studio Ghibli's sublime My Neighbour Totoro, I was struck at the quality of that film - both in terms of the visual splendor and the imaginative narrative. Like all of Miyazaki's work, the film fills the screen with colour, movement, detail and imagination - this is a fantastic trip through a unique mind.
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