Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
?Steve Young,? eh? Crafy. Obscure. I?m not even sure what movie you?re referencing. (Real name... yeah, riiiiiight.)
I tease because you?ve seen SPIRITED AWAY and I haven?t. I weep, and you do not. Bastahd!! Read about this lucky S.O.B. below!!
Hi Moriarty. I'm Steve Young (real name) and this is my horse-capsule review of 'Spirited Away', the latest animated feature from Hayao Miyazaki. I think you'll be seeing many of these reviews pop up, because both shows at the Castro theater in San Francisco this weekend (the North American premiere as part of the SFFS International Film Festival) were sold out in advance. This review is from the second screening on Sunday morning.
The show was introduced by Mr. Pixar himself, John Lasseter, who is a close friend of Miyazaki. He provided some nice anecdotes about his first visit to Japan and Ghibli Studios. Toshio Suziki(Miyazaki's producer) and Ghibli Studios' American marketing director were also in attendence (Suziki-san spoke through an interpreter).
Quite a few criticisms (mostly in the U.S.) have been leveled at Miyazaki's last feature (Mononoke Hime / Princess Mononoke) for the "heavy-handedness" of its environmental themes. Some believed that such themes were unsuitable entertainment for their young children and quite possibly hurt the box office in the states. I don't doubt the latter but the former is complete hogwash. Anyhow, I suspect this film will do better business than Mononoke - it is a more humorous, fanciful tale and audiences will connect very strongly with the film's heroine, a clumsy but well-intentioned ten-year-old girl named Chihiro (Ogino).
Which is not to say "Spirited Away" is pandering or childish. Quite the opposite. It is a haunting, humorous, magical story which far exceeded my expectations. One phrase that best describes it is "hugely imaginative". This is the sort of film that begs the infernal (and I suppose rather stupid) question, "where do you get your ideas?"
The story begins as the Ogino family is driving into their new town. Chihiro is not happy about the move and laments her new situation from the back of the family automobile. How will she fit into her new school? Will she make any friends? I had the preconception that this would be a suburban tale, set in modern-day Japan and filled with creaky, frightening but ultimately harmless ghosts. Maybe she helps them find peace! I should have known better, of course, than to ever expect something so pedestrian from Miyazaki.
Very suddenly the family is sidetracked as they search for their new house, and end up in a deserted 'ghost town' of sorts (think of the old "rashamon" gate) where Chihiro is separated from her parents, and then meets a mysterious boy named Haku who immediately becomes her protector. I won't go into details about the separation, except to say that at this point the film became bolder and scarier, like a grimm fairy tale. How frightening for Chihiro to get lost in this strange world, with no way back to the "real" world of telephone poles and automobiles and new homes... can she ever get back?
With Haku's help, Chihiro sneaks into the bathhouse at the end of the street, which is sort of a 'resort spa for gods' run by the sorceress Yubaba, who is villanous but not entirely a villain (nothing is black and white in this world)... when the little girl and the old crone meet, something disturbing happens which really changes the way the girl sees herself. It's a simple change, but frightening. You sense that there's no turning back for her, that she must fulfill her character arc and be truly transformed by the experience, or else lose herself completely.
I recommend you go into this movie without reading too much in advance. The plot just keeps winding around, introducing new themes and characters until everything makes sense. Believe me, you *want* to be delighted by all of the small imaginative touches Miyazaki has given to this ghost world and its inhabitants. There are big puffy marshmallow creatures with tiny tentacles, big puffed up peep-like animals, a spidery man who pulls levers and leads an army of animated soot to pump coal into the boiler - even the humanoid ghost-servants are elongated and round, as if they were made of microwaved marshmallow. There are also disgusting slimy gods, and mysterious faceless gods who are either adorable or creepy, depending on how many people they eat.
The show was almost stolen by two transformed animals, a tiny hovering bird and a fat little mouse - this comes later in the film but the audience was really rolling when they were on screen (they definitely provoked the biggest laugh). I believe the small moments featuring these characters will go over really big with American audiences. They're better and funnier than any of the "wisecracking talking animals" in much feature animation today, as their comedy is entirely dependent on Miyazaki's amazing visual pantomimes rather than the typical stand-up routines.
One point about the end of the film (skip this paragraph if you want to remain pure). I have no doubt some will complain that the movie ends too abruptly. I disagree ? it ends on a mysterious note, a plot point that has a sort of "whoah..." edge to it. Or that's how I read it. You're left to just ponder its significance as the credits roll. The more I think about it, the more I like it.
I agree with John Lasseter who says he thinks this is Miyazaki's best effort so far (yes, including Cagliostro and Totoro and Laputa and Kiki)... look for the release sometime this fall, perhaps as early as September. They were pumping up the English Dub during the Q&A session afterwards (several good questions, a few uninteresting ones, one terrible). While I have no doubt it will be a good dub, it is just that - a dub. Try to see it in Japanese if you can. I hope Disney has learned from Mononoke and knows to put the original language on the disc when it is released (my guess - early 2003).
Thanks for listening.
No, no... thank you for writing...
... ya lucky bastahd!!
"Moriarty" out.
