...brilliant in its imagery and astonishing in its creativity. Many films are billed as voyages into fantasy, but this one actually delivers.
Spirited Away (2002)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:154
Fresh:150
Rotten:4
Average Rating:8.5/10
Consensus: Hayao Miyazaki's dazzling, enchanting Spirited Away takes viewers, young and old alike, through the looking glass.
Theatrical Release:Sep 20, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $9,855,615
Synopsis: Directed by animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, SPIRITED AWAY is the tale of Chihiro (voiced by Daveigh Chase), a young girl who is taken down an unusual road by her parents while moving to a new home... Directed by animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, SPIRITED AWAY is the tale of Chihiro (voiced by Daveigh Chase), a young girl who is taken down an unusual road by her parents while moving to a new home in an unfamiliar town. The curiosity of Chihiro's mother (Lauren Holly) and father (Michael Chiklis) leads the reluctant child into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Soon her parents are greedily feasting on various delights from an enticing food stand and are literally turned into pigs. The frightened and bewildered girl then encounters a young man named Haku (Jason Marsden), who explains what she must do to navigate this strange and magical realm. Finding employment in a bathhouse for spirits and other odd characters--including kimono-wearing frogs, lumbering tentacled monsters, and a mysterious apparition named No Face--Chihiro attempts to figure out how she can free her parents from the clutches of the resort's owner, a powerful witch named Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette). In the process, she makes some very eccentric friends--and has to deal with some notoriously stinky customers. A surreal adventure reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND, SPIRITED AWAY continues Miyazaki's streak of groundbreaking animated films that also includes PRINCESS MONONOKE and MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO. Succeeding MONONOKE as the most successful film in Japanese cinema history, this charming movie follows its own bizarre yet engaging logic as it reveals a cast of fascinating characters and jaw-dropping settings through stunningly beautiful hand-crafted animation. A movie experience like no other, SPIRITED AWAY is sure to enchant audiences of all ages, leaving viewers grinning with a giddy sense of wonderment. [More]
Starring: Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Michael Chiklis, Susan Egan
Starring: Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Michael Chiklis, Susan Egan, Lauren Holly, Suzanne Pleshette, David Ogden Stiers, John Ratzenberger
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Screenwriter: Hayao Miyazaki
Composer: Joe Hisaishi
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Release:
Apr 15, 2003
Reviews for Spirited Away
'Alice's adventure through the looking glass and into zombie-land' is filled with strange and wonderful creatures.
That rare movie that has the emotional and psychological depth to match its stunning surface.
The closest American counterpart to Spirited Away is Alice in Wonderland, but no analogy will fully prepare you.
An exquisitely formed, flawlessly executed masterwork...As sheerly imaginative and groundbreakingly wondrous as any animated motion picture you are sure to have seen.
To say that Miyazaki's intelligent, painstaking, hand-crafted anime is magical, dazzling and brilliant is an understatement - it's incomparable, ingenious and inventive -just watch for a win at Osca-time!
This is one heck of a movie, and one can see why it made all that money in Japan.
There's a sense of delicacy, and artfulness, in the tone and in the magic. The 10-year-olds who see this like to be scared, but they won't have nightmares days afterward.
There's a sense of delicacy, and artfulness, in the tone and in the magic. The 10-year-olds who see this like to be scared, but they won't have nightmares days afterward.
An animated film that is among the most delightful, imaginative stories I've seen all year.
Spirited Away is a trip, in the literal, metaphorical and indeed lysergic senses of that word.
Miyazaki has created such a vibrant, colorful world, it's almost impossible not to be swept away by the sheer beauty of his images.
Although anime features aren’t all the rage in a majority of American movie theaters, Spirited Away should be a legitimate excuse to change this pending sentiment.
For all its slapstick and even the occasional gross-out gag, Spirited Away is an animated film whose major delights are also its subtlest.
Steeped in lore and unabashedly surreal, the film is just charming enough for children and just bizarre enough for adults -- a perfect balance.
Even when Spirited Away follows the easy route, with true love as the solvent to most problems, it's so jam-packed with spectacular images, sights, and sounds that it conjures up a million dreams you've had (lovely, awesome, and terrifying) and tra
Something akin to a Japanese Alice Through the Looking Glass, except that it seems to take itself far more seriously.
This fantastically weird cartoon is definitely one of the most intriguing movies of the year.
Miyazaki seems to have an inexhaustible supply of ideas to fill the screen and to fill screen time.
Latest News for Spirited Away
September 24, 2008:
Get Drawn to RT's Best Animated Films!
Animated films: they ain't just cartoons anymore. Nor have they been for quite some time. RT celebrates the imaginative, dazzling world of animation with out countdown of the... More...
August 21, 2008:
Japanese Audiences Flocking to Miyazaki's Latest ![]()
He delighted audiences with Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle -- and now director Hayao Miyazaki is doing it all over again with his latest film, Ponyo on the Cliff by the... More...
March 20, 2007:
Will Miyazaki's Next Film Be His Last?
It's been speculated that legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki will retire after the release of his next film, "Ponyo on a Cliff," but now it looks like we'll have at... More...
October 03, 2006:
Miyazaki Prepares Next Animation Classic
Let's face it: When the director of "Spirited Away," "Princess Mononoke," and a whole bunch of other brilliant pieces of animation announces that he's about... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Spirited Away at Rotten Tomatoes
- Spirited Away at IGN
- Spirited Away at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.

Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



