All Critics (156)
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Top Critics (31)
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DVD (48)
Think you're too hip for Japanese anime about a lost ten-year-old girl whose parents turn into snorting pigs? Get over it.
Miyazaki's nonstop images are so stunning, and his imagination so vivid, that the only possible complaint you could have about Spirited Away is that there is no rest period, no timeout.
Visually imaginative, thematically instructive and thoroughly delightful, it takes us on a roller-coaster ride from innocence to experience without even a hint of that typical kiddie-flick sentimentality.
[Spirited Away is] the most deeply and mysteriously satisfying animated feature to come along in ages.
Packed with strange beings amid painterly settings, Spirited Away delivers one of the most colorful fantasy worlds since the similarly surreal Yellow Submarine.
Children may not understand everything that happens -- I'm not sure even Miyazaki himself does -- but they will almost certainly be fascinated, and undoubtedly delighted.
...a gorgeously animated yet sporadically entertaining endeavor that isn't quite the instant classic one might've expected...
Magnificent, spellbinding movie has a bit of edge.
Full of riches, thematic and visual, and the best way to understand them is simply to watch the film and take it all in.
Spirited Away exalts the young girl Chihiro's uncanny experiences into an adventure that is as thrillingly ambiguous as it is vividly soundtracked and illustrated.
I went nuts over this movie.
Filmgoers of all ages should not pass up the opportunity to experience such a work of staggering imagination.
This persistently fascinating if slightly over-long fairytale is propelled by the seemingly boundless imagination of writer-director Hayao Miyazaki.
Spirited Away is wonderful.
A fractured, knotted story about adjusting to new surroundings and having courage in the face of peril.
Despite a dip midway through, this is a captivating fantasy that sets a new benchmark for animation.
Initially seems like a Through the Looking-Glass fantasy, but rapidly picks up a resonance, weight and complexity that make it all but Shakespearean.
I struggled to find the source of imperfection in this film
Far and away the best film I've seen this year.
Western audiences will recognize in this "little girl lost" movie a number of similarities to Baum's Wizard of Oz and Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
Not instructive, as Disney is, and not aloof, like anime. Spirited Away is fun without being a lesson, and it welcomes you in.
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