Spirited Away

So out of all the Studio Ghibli movies out there, this one might actually be the most famous and best recieved of all time, Spirited Away. It's hard to even begin to describe how absolutely beloved this movie is. It's been praised as one of the best anime, and just animated movies of all time, some have even said it is the best animated movie of all time. That's insane and it felt so weird when I finally got to watch it after all the build up of hearing about it for so long. And I can confirm that the film absoutely lives up to the hype. While I personally don't exactly love it the same way everyone else does and I still personally feel like something like Kiki's Delivery Service or another Ghibli movie we're gonna get into later might be my favourite Ghibli movie, this film is still absolutely incredible and a real work of art. Everything you've more than likely heard about this film from how famous it is is completely true and it totally deserves all the praise it gets and I love how a film like this has been praised by so many people and it's incredible that Hayao Miyazaki made this. The story is about a girl named Chihiro who's moving to a new place with her parents, but, on the way there, they find some old amusement park but eventually find out that it spiritual bathhouse. Chihiro finds out that all kinds of spirits come to relax here and the way back the way they came has been flooded and her parents have been turned into pigs. She also meets a boy there named Haku who helps her and says she needs to get a job there so she speaks to the manager of the bathhouse named Yubaba and gets the job and she even changes her name from Chihiro to Sen and the rest of the film is all sorts of different things happening there while Sen meets new characters and even makes some other friends like Lin and Kamaji and she's trying to find out how to get her parents back to normal and how to get out of there. So, yeah, that sounds like a totally insane premise for a movie, but, thankfully, since it's a Ghibli movie, especially one made by Miyazaki, it's done masterfully. I love how a lot of these different events play out because we see Sen doing different things in this place and how she's trying to survive and the different kinda events that happen around that is what helps make the film really fun to watch and a blast. I like all the different characters she meets like Kamaji and Lin and how they're more friendly and helpful, but other characters are cool too like No-Face, who's easily one of the most iconic Ghibli characters of all time, are really cool too and the whole film has characters with unique designs and it's really insane how creative so much of the film is. And, like I said, I just love the different scenarios that happen around the film that helps make it so fun to watch like when that Stink Spirit comes to the bathhouse and Sen is able to help it and I love when that actually leads to it giving Sen something that comes into play later on in the film and how each thing connects to another is just so fun and enjoyable to watch. Sen herself as well is really likeable too and I like how she does change through the movie to become more mature and it's an interesting way of doing it since she has to adjust to this place quickly since she's in a place that's so weird and crazy and so it's done in a great way where she learns and grows through the film. I also like how even just smaller things in the movie come into play in other ways later on too like when No-Face goes with Sen and the others on the train and that leads to him being able to start some kinda new life. But even just other smaller scenes that I may have had problems with before in other Ghibli movies are done extraordinaryly well here like when Sen just isn't doing much of anything like just sitting around or doing small jobs are done well here, especially since some parts of it comes back later in really great ways. I just love how this story progresses in clever ways. I especially love how so much of it comes together at the end with No-Face going crazy and eating everything and destroying the place until he goes back to normal and Sen is trying to save Haku by going off to see Yubaba's sister, Zeniba and I like the stuff with her too with being the opposite of Yubaba but then Haku comes back and him and Sen get a nice moment together and it's kinda revealed what his past is. I will admit, some of that is a bit confusing for me personally, but it's still done in a way that's really satisfying. Speaking of satisfying, the ending when Sen is able to beat Yubaba's test and go back to normal with her parents is also satisfying and a brilliantly done. I love when you can tell when a film is given this much love and passion and you can see the people involved really came up with the best story they could, and a lot of that has to do with the great idea they have for this bathhouse location and how it's designed. And, a lot of that is attributed to the unbelieveable animation in this and the fact that it's one of the most gorgeous hand-drawn animated films ever. How they accomplished this in 2001 is really incredible. If I'm really gonna be honest, if I had to pick one thing I wasn't a fan of here, it's that I'm not exactly a fan of the Chihiro and Haku romance. It's nice and I like their friendship, but, I dunno, the fact that they have a romance is something I didn't like that much, but, to be fair, it does make sense for the movie and it does have its purpose, it's just the one thing about the film I don't love. But aside from that, I can't believe how good this film is. It's been praised by so many people for so long and it was nice that the build up was totally worth it for me. I love how the film is told and I absolutely understand why people say this is the best Ghibli movie ever. Again, whether or not I can say it's my favourite is hard to say, but it's definitely up there. The dub in this also couldn't have been done better at all. Daveigh Chase couldn't have been better cast as Sen, she was incredible as Lilo in Lilo & Stitch and she's amazing here. And others like Jason Marsden as Haku, Suzanne Pleshette as Yubaba and Susan Egan as Lin are all flawless. So, yeah, if you've ever heard anything about this film and know how well regarded it is, they were right, this film really is one of a kind and the fact that people are still talking about it to this very day should just go to show ya why this movie is so special. So yeah, totally check this movie out yet if you haven't. It's absolutely worth your time and I'm so glad I got pushed into seeing it myself. So guys, that's my review for Spirited Away. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.