Spartan Times

Be Spirited Away

Jasmine DeFreitas

Reporter

While an older movie, Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” is an enchanting tale about a ten-year-old girl named Chihiro, who enters a world of mystical, magical things that are not always what they seem. She must learn to become independent and also how to handle more adult situations.

Chihiro’s parents are moving and, like most children, she is upset, sullen and completely against the idea. Her father takes a wrong turn that leads them to what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Thinking there is no harm, they explore. Chihiro fights to get her parents to leave, but it’s a no go; her parents start to gorge themselves on some food at a stand that is so delicious that they can’t stop eating.

As with all fairy tales, something goes wrong. Chihiro wanders toward a giant building, and just before sunset a young boy appears, telling her to run and get back over the river before the sun goes down. He wants to save her from the fate of others that have stumbled into this world. She runs, trying to find her parents, only to find two very large, very fat, very grotesque pigs in their place. She screams and continues to run, stumbling upon a river that was not there before.

It is too late for her to escape, and so she sits down and begins to cry. The young boy, who introduces himself as Haku, appears to help her. He hides her from the eyes of Yubaba, a witch who would turn her into an animal for food.

Taking her to the bath house, the place of all business, Haka instructs Chihiro to go to Kamajii to ask for a job, and to continue demanding a job no matter what she is told. Kamajii is a six-armed man working in the boiler room and though he is scary, he shows compassion for this tiny human girl and tells her to ask Rin for work, since he has no position for her.

Chihiro then discovers she has stumbled upon another world, one of spirits–including river spirits, stink spirits, toad men and all other sorts of people—and she befriends another employee of Yubaba, Rin. Rin is a blunt but friendly character who helps Chihiro reach Yubaba, since the witch is the only one who can give Chihiro a position.

After Chihiro asks for a job, Yubaba threatens her, but the young girl does not stop asking. Unfortunately for Yubaba, she has made an unbreakable oath to give a job to anyone who asks for one, so she is outwitted by the tiny girl. Chihiro is finally given a position under Rin, and she signs her name—and her memories of her old self–away, literally, and is renamed Sen.

To save her parents, she goes through many trials, such as pleasing spirits, helping Haku, and sneaking off to find Zeniba, Yubaba’s sister.

Throughout this animated film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the viewer will want to cry, laugh and hug Chihiro close as she deals with challenge after challenge. During her adventure, she discovers an ability for compassion and courage.

The world that Chihiro enters is as entertaining and as complex as one would expect from Miyazaki and there are few, if any, disappointments. True human nature is displayed in the selfishness of some characters, but also in the kindness of others. “Spirited Away” will both endear you and leave an impression that lasts.

While not a more modern Pixar film, “Spirited Away” is everything a viewer could want in a movie, without all the dressing up of computer animation, because this film tells an elaborate but beautiful story. “Spirited Away” does not need the additional gimmicks, because it is almost perfect as is.

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