Spirited Away

Movie Name: Spirited Away

Year of Release: 2001

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden, Susan Egan, David Ogden Stiers, Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis, John Ratzenberger, Tara Strong, Mona Marshall, Bob Bergen

Genre: Animation, Adventure

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 10
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Synopsis:

Following the beautiful and successful "Princess Mononoke", genial director Hayao Miyazaki returned with yet another masterpiece, this time around earning a well earned Academy Award for best animated feature with "Spirited Away". The film follows the story of Chihiro, who is moving with her parents to a small Japanese town by the countryside. On the day of the move, her father decides to take a shortcut, upon which they come about an area that looks like an abandoned amusement park. While exploring they discover a restaurant filled with delicious treats, something their parents immediately take to. Fearing they're doing something wrong, Chihiro retreads and warns them to leave. Taking a leave to explore a bit, she is horrified to discover her parents have been replaced by pigs in that restaurant. Chihiro desperately looks for her family, but suddenly realizes she can't go back to the car since there's now a whole lake where there was only a huge grass field. She comes to realize she has passed into a different realm where different magical creatures and entities exist, and where she must learn new habits so she can rescue her parents.
As is part of his trademark, Hayao Miyazaki populates this story with a hero who is inadequate in this different universe, and where she must come to terms with new challenges. His central heroes always have to overcome herculean external challenges, but above all, learn self reliance, and trust themselves to truly vanquish all the obstacles they find. "Spirited Away"  may be one of his most interesting films, since it combines his views of the spiritual world, with a young girl learning to be responsible for her choices and her family's well being. It's a film that is aesthetically stunning, with a poetry to it, from the amazing relationships that it portrays, to it's melancholy, all wrapped in this fantastic blanket of an amazing journey. A truly fantastic film always worth watching.