Spirited Away
Saw Spirited Away on DVD last night. It opened with Pixar’s John Lasseter introducing the movie to viewers. Although distributed by Disney, this Japanese production doesn’t fit the typical Disney mold (no song and dance numbers by cute furry creatures). There were creatures but they were other-worldly creatures too frightening for children to watch. At least in the beginning I thought. I saw this movie with my two sons, ages 6 and 2 1/2, and I expected them to watch certain scenes from behind the couch but they just took it in stride. They seemed to fully grasp that this was pure fantasy, enjoying every minute of this delightful albeit unusual movie. It reminded me of the time I watched as a kid the animated adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (of which Spirited Away shares some similarities). Although frightened at times, I was riveted to the screen, swept by the exhilarating finale as Aslan defeats the evil Snow Queen and reclaims Narnia as his kingdom.
Tags: animation, anime, disney, dvd, film, Narnia, pixar, spiritedaway
April 18th, 2003 at 6:10 pm
‘princes mononoke’ is by the same guy. it’s equally entertaining.
April 19th, 2003 at 1:51 pm
yeah, saw that. pretty cool. not for young kids though.
miyazaki definitely has that shintoism thing going on in his films.