Spirited Away: Review By George Oldale

Spirited Away is an animated Japanese film made by the one and only, Hayao Miyazaki. It's a film where it's half-scary and half-happy. I've seen a lot of Japanese films and I call this weird but in a good way.

On the way to their new home, a 10-year-old girl Chihiro and her parents take a wrong turn and drive in front of a giant stone wall with a tunnel. Chihiro's curious parents ventures into the tunnel and find a meadow. However, they find a restaurant in a slightly-abandoned village. While the parents make pigs out of themselves (literally), Chihiro sees a abandoned bathhouse.

Chihiro then takes a turn to the worse; the village is inhabited by spirits, her parents are turned into pigs and she can't get back to her home. Fortunately, a young man called Haku helps Chihiro and tells her to work at the bathhouse in order to stop her parents from being eaten. Jeez, she's only 10!

Spirited Away is quite entertaining and I adored this film just like My Neighbor Totoro. They're both funny and extraordinary. I remember watching this in secondary school in History class and I gasped at the bit when Chihiro sees the yeti-like Radish Spirit. After he asks if he can go up the elevator, I said, "What the hell is that? A yeti?".

Like I said that I seen a lot of anime films, this one is cool but can be plain scary! That very scene when the faceless spirit, No-Face, ate a frog worker whole! That gave me the shivers! I do find the characters, Yubaba and the big baby, Bo, a bit frightening for younger audiences. However, I do like Zeniba and Kumaji as they got a soft side for Chihiro.