Spirited Away (Limited Edition)

Director-  Hayao Miyazaki

Cast- Various

Country of Origin-  Japan

Distributor - Shout! Factory

Number of Discs - 2

Reviewed by -Scott MacDonald

Date- 11/11/2019

Spirited Away is the film that introduced me to Hayao Miyazaki when I saw it on DVD in 2003. I had friends as a teenager discuss Princess Mononoke, which I saw in bits and pieces, but never until this film did I see a film of his from start to end, and it made me a fan for life. The film's premise involves a young girl Chihiro who is moving with her parents to a new town.  While on their way they take a stop at an abandoned amusement park, that has a food stand that is piled high with all sorts of delicacies. Chihiro's parents eat voraciously, while Chihiro refuses to touch the food, not seeing anyway to pay for the food, and worrying that she will get in trouble. Well it turns out trouble was coming. As her parents scarf down the food, they become pigs, and as night falls spirits descend on the amusement park grounds. In order to by herself time while in the spirit realm she gets herself a job at a bathhouse for spirits run by a wicked witch named Yubaba. Yubaba made her sign away her name to live and work there, and gave her new alias Sen. Her parents remain pigs, and she must work hard, while trying to find a way to free her parents and escape the bathhouse identity intact.

     Honestly, that is streamlining the film's plot to it's very essence.  There is a lot to Spirited Away from the script to the screen. The film can easily be seen as Miyazaki's own version of Alice in Wonderland with Chihiro/Sen taking the place of the Alice character and exploring the spirit realm.  The film deals in themes that have been prevalent from Miyazaki's work from the very beginning such as flight with the character of Haku shifting from a boy to a flying dragon, and environmental themes such as a polluted river spirit attending the bathhouse.

    The film as to be expected is gorgeously animated, and filled with wonderful details.  The story keeps a nice steady pace, and is never boring, keeping things both exciting and enchanting at all times. It is one of, if not the most popular film from director Hayao Miyazaki for good reason, and may be the only film of his to compete with his own My Neighbor Totoro.

    Shout Factory/G-Kids new limited deluxe edition of Spirited Away seems to have the same transfer as prior Blu-ray editions. This is fine, as the transfer was gorgeous, and represented the film very well. Audio is handled by English and Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks that sound really fantastic, with completely crisp, clear, and well-balanced audio.  Extras include feature length storyboards, a behind the microphone documentary, trailers, and TV spots. Also included in this edition is the now iconic Joe Hisaishi soundtrack on CD, and a booklet of liner notes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (of course).