Film Review by Francesca Plant
Spirited Away (2001)
Spirited Away is a Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki
and has themes from the Shinto religion.
The Plot
A girl called Chihiro moves away from her school friends and house and moves to
a new house on a hill in a new town. They go through woods and find an
entrance to a field. In the field is a tiny
field with a food market. The parents start eating the food without paying and say they
will pay later. They eat the spirit food and the spirits turn them into pigs.
The little girl, Chihiro runs away and meets a boy called Haku who is a spirit
and he says that she can’t stay there because the boss,
Yababa, will punish her but he also says that because he doesn’t want humans on spirit ground).
So she goes to the boiler man called Kamaji who has six arms who says “Go to Yababa
and get a job and then she won’t hurt you”. So she gets a job in the bathhouse cleaning the
dirtiest room and filling up the bath. Yababa steals her name and everyone else’s
name who works for her. Chihiro is now called Sen.
A water spirit that everyone thought was a stink spirit but just needed a bath gives her a tiny rice ball
that’s green and thinks it will bring her parents back but it doesn’t because she gave it to the boy
because he was hurt. Eventually Yubaba says “I’ll give you your parents back if you can guess which
pigs they are” but this was a trick question and she guesses it right – none of the pigs were her parents.
So then she gets her parents back but they had no knowledge of what happened. They thought she
had just gone for an adventure on the rocks and they were just waiting for her in the field.
Message of the Film
I think there are two messages in the film. The first message is don’t be greedy and the second one is to
always be yourself because Chihiro had her name stolen.
Character Summary
Chihiro - She is human and is brave, kind and generous
Haku – He is a water spirit and slightly selfish because his is Yubaba’s servant. He is two faced because
he seemed nice to Chihiro but didn’t actually care. He was actually evil because he worked for Yubaba
and she is evil.
No Face - He is an evil spirit who only like Chihiro. He brings the story together from the middle to
end of story. He is a rich spirit who can generate gold out of his hands and wants to give Chihiro
gold because she wasn’t greedy and was kind and she gives her a little bit but then she doesn’t
want any more.
Yababa – She is evil.
Were the characters believable?
Yes a little bit. Chihiro was believable because she was all sulky when she had to move house.
Yubaba wasn’t very believable because she has magical powers and telekinesis and can drag people
with her hand by beckoning people.
What was interesting about the characters and the relationship between them?
The most interesting character was Yubaba’s twin sister called Zeniba because she is nice version
of Yubaba and lived in the countryside and the ocean. She has the same powers as Yubaba but
doesn’t use them for evil only for small things to help herself with things like knitting.
What was your favourite scene?
My favourite scene was where Chihiro was eating the rice in the field and crying with the flowers
because she has to eat spirit food or she will fade away and not exist. I liked the pretty flowers and
rice in this scene and visually they looked good.
Was the film maker good at telling a story in this movie? What makes you say that?
The story kept me gripped. Most scenes had a cliff hanger.
What did you like about the animation/aesthetic?
I liked all the colours they used. The animation was anime but still a developing animation because
it was when anime films were first being created in the early 2000s. Even though it was one of the
earlier anime films to be made it has stood up to the test of time and I agree with others that is one
of the greatest animation films of all time. It won an award for the best animated feature film.
How do the animation enhance or distract from the story?
The way they drew tear drops was good. I liked the detail and the way they drew food was also very detailed.
What did you like about the plot?
I liked the way No Face held the plot together and the cliff hangers so that the story kept my interest
because there were lots of different characters doing different things. The spirits were the most
interesting thing about the film.
Would you change anything about the plot? Could it have been better?
I would change a few things. There were things that didn’t make sense but I’m not sure how to describe them.
What else would you have liked to see happen in this film?
A bit more context because a few things aren’t explained specifically. Maybe things about Shinto
religion or Japanese culture could have been given more context.
What was the worst thing about the film?
The quality of the animation and how they drew human’s faces because they had long faces and
wide mouths and small eyes. The spirits had nothing wrong with how they were drawn because
no one really knows what a spirit looks like.
The music was too calming and classical and I would preferred more modern and upbeat music.
What was the best thing about the film?
The characters and the colours.
What rating would you give this film out of 10?
9/10
