ReviewBonfire

Spirited Away

This was the only Ghibli film from my childhood that I saw several times and had some memory of, even a positive one.
I don't regret watching it again, but I lost my nostalgia glasses, which made the experience completely different.

Spirited Away is an interesting movie, which offers the viewer an imaginative and ominous portrayal of a magical world that a little girl accidentally gets lost in. The visual and narrative perspective was very appealing and impressive enough to be convincing.

My biggest problem with the film was, that it left me feeling like it didn't know what it was trying to be. First of all, I thought it was going to be a passive narrative of the protagonist's experiences, but no it wasn't. Then I thought it was going to have a story centered around the magical world, but there was nothing there either.
Instead, it took a piece of everything and threw it into the witch's cauldron, resulting in a half-finished product in every regard.

I found the last 20 minutes of the film particularly disappointing, which seemed immensely forced and rushed. The arc around Haku's rescue, the twin witches, and the monster with no face was all kind of slapped down. It felt more like clicking through a sidequest before getting to the actual plot, which never existed.

[Story 4]

Almost nothing happens in the movie. The protagonist Chihiro gets trapped in this magical world and has to find a place and maintain her stay there with work, at the same time trying to save her parents. Although at the beginning it seemed relatively dark and threatening, developed like in a Disney ham. All at first mysterious and suspicious demons[Gods] became her friends or started to respect her. Happened of course all offscreen and after some montages.

The plot line about the No-Face being was interesting, but ended on a slow line and didn't even seem relevant to the plot.
The second witch sister should NEVER have ended up in the film, her whole existence felt like meaningless filler. Much more should have been made of the main witch, who was an understated antagonist for Chihiro and their relationship was very interesting.

Also, the ending was disappointing, this contract game about finding her parents had no appeal or atmosphere. As someone who constantly complains about flawed shounen logic, I'm left breathless here.

[Characters 6]

A lot of interesting approaches were made, but nothing was done with them until the end. But at least the approach was there and it held up well until the semi-final.
Chihiro was more or less a spoiled girl who got upset because of irrelevant problems. Developed into a more mature and determined person as the show progressed. Her personality was that of a typical child, nothing worth mentioning.

No-Face had the most interesting character and at least an apparent "relevance" to the plot, which turned out to be false. While I liked his screen time, I did not like the outcome at the end.

The witch was by far the best character in the film, her personality, neutrality, and cruelty distinguished her very well. Despite everything, she was fair and rewarded performances. Her relationship with Chihiro was very interesting at first, unfortunately, it became more and more irrelevant by the end.

Most of the secondary characters are as you would imagine them to be, minor but at least they added the appropriate spice to some scenes.

I really can't say much about Haku, he had so massively little screen time. And the last scene where she found out his name was more funny than emotional. What the hell was that supposed to be? A Gintama gag?

[Animations 10/ Music 8]

Regarding the animations and music, this movie is indeed a masterpiece, just for that, it would have been worth it.
The scene changes, the fluid choreography, and all the beautiful perspectives including detail were incredible.
I also found the music to be very beautiful and well placed, punctuating the scenes nicely.

[Conclusion 5]

Spirited Away is an interesting film, but that's where it ends. It felt more like a prologue than a real plot. But for the fact that this was supposed to be just a short narrative, the protagonist possessed way too much influence in this world. She practically became the mommy to everything and dominated practically everything and everyone.
Even though the beginning was exciting and the middle part was satisfying, the ending didn't manage to pull anything together.
Honestly, I felt discreetly insulted that the whole setup was just hot air and that the character relationships had no important use nor results at the end.

It's a watchable film, especially if you grew up with the associated nostalgia.
For someone who is a newcomer, this movie might seem less convincing.

[Enjoyment 6]