Spirited Away

I was able to catch Spirited Away this weekend, just before it came out on DVD (today). What a remarkable film. I probably would have missed it entirely had my parents not impressed the need to see it upon me. Written and directed by Japanese Animation revolutionary Hayao Mizayaki, Spirited Away is truly unlike anything I've ever seen. It conjured up the same feelings in me that I felt when I first read the Harry Potter books (the movies were done so traditionally that the unsettling feeling of suspense that the books provide is sanitized), as well as when I read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. The world that Mizayaki created is truly gripping and odd, but in the best kind of way. I kind of wish I could have seen it subtitled instead of dubbed, but I do think that reading subtitles would have been a distraction from the remarkable animation.