Spirited away (Special edition) [DVD]

Often referred to as the Japanese Walt Disney, it is soon obvious while watching master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited away” that the Disney reference point is mostly inadequate in understanding what you’re about to experience. Part mythic odyssey, part children’s fable, “Spirited away” is a wonderful and awe inspiring fantasy film that takes place in the most unexpected of places, a Japanese bathhouse for the gods. At the centre of this surreal world is Chihiro; a feisty ten year old girl who lands in this strange world when her parents decide to stop for a break at a seemingly abandoned amusement park on the way to their new home. In a classic fairytale touch, the parents greedily succumb to mystical temptations (in the form of a banquet of food which appropriately turns them into pigs), leaving the helpless Chihiro to fend for herself. With the onset of night, the amusement park transforms into a meeting place for spirits, demons and gods, which is ruled over by the crazed Yubaba. Chihiro must now find her place, learn the rules and earn her keep in this twilight world of stink gods, giant babies, witches and dragons. Like Miyazaki’s previous animation feature “Princess Mononoke”, “Spirited away” offers complex notions of good and evil, right and wrong, which is ultimately the main departure point between Miyazaki’s multilayered world and Walt Disney’s reassuring land of monochrome sentiment.