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Review The Good, The Bad and The Ugly™... One thing that I noticed about this movie was the extensive use of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). I know that there was CGI in Princess Mononoke, but not nearly as much or as prevalent as in Spirited Away. Another thing that I noticed, which should be standard fare in all movies, was the existence of a noticeable turn in the story, that is to say I could tell, very distinctly, when the story was setting itself up, then while the hero/heroine sought to "fix" whatever problem there was and then it was resolved. Many movies now a days don't have this setup and it really bothers me when I'm watching a movie and it seems like the movie's just started, yet the hero is already in the final showdown. This is in all of Miyazaki's movies and I would be very bothered if it didn't make it into this one. The thing that I didn't like about this movie is the fact that it was, by design, geared toward a young audience, however, not so much as many other Disney films. I mean, really now, it's rated PG "For Some Scary Moments." Whatever. As for ugly, none to be found. Miyazaki crafts a beautiful film with rich character designs, settings and effects. Also, the music was done by Joe Hisaishi and is in the top ranks of movie soundtracks. I suggest buying it. DVD Features The film's DVD set contains 2 DVDs. The first containing the film, dubbing in Japanese, English, and French, as well as subtitles in English, and English captions, which are the subtitles that include both dialog and a description of the sounds taking place (these are for the hearing impaired and are the things that your grand-mother and grand-father put on while they watch "Murder She Wrote," or at least mine do). Anyway, the first DVD also includes your standard scene selection tool, a fairly brief introduction by Pixar's John Lasseter (the executive producer of the American version of the film), as well as a 15 minute or so feature called "The Art of Spirited Away" which is quite perplexing. On one hand, it speaks of certain plot points in a manner that only someone who's seen the movie would understand, otherwise, it would be considered a spoiler. Yet, on the other hand, the whole thing seems to have a feel of being addressed to someone that hasn't seen the movie yet. In the end, the feature betrays its name and becomes more of an all-encompassing "Behind the Scenes." All in all it summarizes the film, that isn't really required unless you want to know more about this film's background and its Japanese to English translation. The last feature present on the disk is a bunch of previews for various Disney movies as well as a couple of Miyazaki's other films, "Castle in the Sky" and "Kiki's Delivery Service," which were both released on DVD at the same time as Spirited Away. The second disk is 100% special features. It contains a "Behind the Microphone" feature that talks about the fun parts and the hard parts of translating the film and recording the voices to the animation. There is also a "Story-board to Scene" comparison that shows the storyboards in real-time along with the audio from the scene. Also included on the DVD is the original Japanese trailer, as well as my favorite special feature; This feature is a Japanese television feature totaling approximately 30 minutes and shows aspects of Miyazaki's personal life as well as his professional one and the amount of kindness that he possesses. The feature takes you behind the scenes at Studio Ghibli where you are shown the amount of work that went into the film. DVD Easter Eggs As far as I can tell, the DVD contains a single Easter egg. To find it, go to the Special Features section of Disk 1. The Egg is directly under and to the left of the header and is titled "Meet Hayao Miyazaki." The feature is a short, 2-minute interview with Hayao Miyazaki and the afore-mentioned John Lasseter. I'll leave getting the Easter egg up to you. However, I will give you a hint; with most DVD Player programs on the computer (I use PowerDVD) you need only hover your cursor over the indicated spot and it should become highlighted. Overview Spirited Away is another must-see movie from Hayao Miyazaki. It features his brand of unique, imaginative story and visuals. This is not hindered by the expansive DVD with plenty of features to keep the avid fan happy. I suggest going out and buying both the film and the soundtrack, you wont regret it. Final Score - 4/5 -- Ashitaka23  Buy Spirited Away at the FA Store >
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