Spirited Away
Buena Vista 125 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
Released: 04/13/2003
Reviewed: 03/22/2005
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Spirited AwayBuena Vista 125 minutes |
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All things have to come to an end. With me and website updates, this is especially true. I was going pretty well with it, right? No problems! Not a day missed! Well apparently over these past few weeks I had mono, but also apparently I'm the TOUGHEST MAN IN THE UNIVERSE and didn't even know I had mono. The doctor didn't know I had it! He prescribed me an antibiotic that, combined with someone suffering from mono causes them to break out in a giant red rash. Suffice it to say I'm real glad the party I went to last Saturday took place in a very dark warehouse. Essentially that's my explanation for being a little late with the update... it's a real doozy! I'm not here to bore you, though, let's move on. If my flagrant waste of time on sexually transmitted afflictions bores you, take heart, it'll explain itself in the end. I remember it like it was yesterday. With the recent release of Steamboy it's a tradition we'll soon revisit. That tradition is one that belongs solely to myself, Jerry and Joel. Though sometimes there's a hanger-on, nobody attends cartoon movie premieres like we do. Frequently on opening nights! But setting an opening night on a Friday is a precarious thing, especially when Joel decides that he has to do dorky stuff like "plan his wedding" and Jerry gets stranded on a plane in Milwalkue. Nobody has commitment to a cause! Comparatively, the release of Spirited Away took place in sort of a golden age where nobody was fettered down by cantankerous female connections. Also, I'm pretty sure it was on a Wednesday, which helped. When the most recent Miyazaki film hit our shores, Jerry, Joel and myself were front and center. My fondest memory is Jerry shaking his fist at the screen and canting to the heavens "Fuck Totoro". Nice talk, sugar lips. Chances like these don't come around too often, and it's very nice to have someone to share them with. |
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Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro blah blah blah blah for people I hate) , as I'm sure you know, is the story of a little girl's experiences in a mystical world of spirits. Her parents are turned into pigs after eating food meant for the gods and little Chihiro is forced into servitude at the local bathhouse while she tries to figure a way to get herself and her parents out of this mess. Now, I am of the opinion that just because something is meant for children, it is not a waste of time. By the same token, I am not someone who likes to have their time wasted. I am a busy man and frequently have many things to do, like eating sandwiches. As such, my only real criterion for something is whether or not it is just good, not whether or not it's intended for someone a fourth of my age. Miyazaki films will get cut a little slack, as you might expect, because they are just all warm and fuzzy and sometimes people start shooting arrows at giant evil boars that are also tentacle monsters. That's a plus. |
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I genuinely like the idea that there's a subset of my hobby that I could one day show to my son or daughter when her mother deposits the child on my doorstep like a illegitimate exclamation point to the sexual philandering that permeates my very existence. It tickles me that myself and my little bastard child (Dave II or B.F. Riley, depending) will be able to sit down together and watch something that we could both enjoy. Spirited Away presents a complicated predicament, then. It's too mature for a kid's movie and it's too slow. Mononoke was clearly there for an of an older demographic. The spawn of my loins isn't going to be allowed to see a single iota of violence until they're 21.** This is not the film I would sit down with my six year old and watch. Hayao makes children's movies, but I think he's matriculated beyond his Panda! Go Panda! days (which is regrettable, but not life ending). Spirited Away is a little deeper and a little less restricted in its town than something like Kurumi Kurumi Sewing Adventure III: Legend of Kuroi Pete's Pirate Paradise. Now, say in four years the child sown by my wanton seed is ten years old. They're despondent because, well, I'm their dad and they spend most of their time like the titular character, mopey and wearing a strange green shirt. Then maybe that is the time we could sit down together and enjoy this beautifully animated film. |
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But not without my reservations (and not just because this guy is a cooler dad than I'll ever be). Spirited Away is long. It's long enough that I can get bored with it. Now, I'm not necessarily indicative of the attention span of my age group, but I'm probably pretty close to how much a ten year old can take before they start squirming around in their seat. I think if you have a smart ten year old, a REALLY smart ten year old, then they'll sit still and and be able to grasp that this really is an above average experience. The only problem is it's held back somewhat by a story and that might as well have invented the word "meandering". This is absolutely a "your mileage may vary" movie, if you'll let me abuse a useless cliche. Some people are going to be enthralled by it's little "slice of life" "coming of age" demeanor and some people are going to wonder how the hell a children's movie got to be over two hours long when Winnie the Pooh's idea of a theatrical movie is 68 minutes. There's going to be people who are too entranced by the animation or off the wall character designs to notice and some are just going to ask "Hey, is that the guy from Cheers?". Why yes, yes it is. Spirited Away charms me more than a little with its innocence and good nature. Consider me heavily weighted on the side of the people who like this film. One day, I would be proud to show this to a kid of mine. But if I don't have one out there already, I better start poking holes in my condoms. 'cause I don't think I'm going to like cartoons forever and I'm gonna need a new buddy to watch them with! |
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