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Spirited Away (2001)

★★★★½ — Spirited Away (2001)

Hayao Miyazaki had already established Studio Ghibli as Japan's foremost animation house through films like My Neighbour Totoro (1988) and Princess Mononoke (1997), but Spirited Away represented something of a personal project, reportedly inspired by the daughter of a family friend and conceived as a film specifically for ten-year-old girls, an audience Miyazaki felt was underserved by cinema. Released in Japan in July 2001, it became the highest-grossing film in Japanese box office history at the time, eventually earning over $274 million worldwide. It picked up the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, the first (and still only) hand-drawn animated film to win the prize, and shared the Golden Bear at Berlin that same year with Roman Polanski's The Pianist.

This isn't a movie. It's moving artwork. Spirited Away is pure magic. Possibly the best Studio Ghibli film ever made. Maybe even the best animated film ever made (saying that 24 years on at the time of writing is wild). My Neighbour Totoro might just edge it out for me, but this is still must-see cinema. Miyazaki creates a world so rich, so immersive, that it lingers in your mind long after the credits roll. The hand-drawn animation is flawless, the characters unforgettable, and Joe Hisaishi’s score is a thing of beauty. It’s a film about change, courage, and growing up, wrapped in an eerie yet enchanting dreamscape. I watched this with my daughter, and years later, she still remembers it. That’s the mark of a truly timeless film.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Year: 2001 | Watched: 2007-02-14

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Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK

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