MIYAZAKI’S SPIRITED AWAY D: Hayao Miyazaki Rating: NNNNN
Rating: NNNNN
The unexpected but deserving winner of the 2001 Academy Award for best animated film, Spirited Away is the culmination of Hayao Miyazaki’s extraordinary career as an animator (Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke). It’s the adventure of a young girl cast adrift in a shadow world occupied by ghosts and ruled by witches. The only way she can escape – and rescue her parents, who’ve been turned into swine – is to remember her name. Packed with extravagant visual conceits and almost compulsively inventive, Spirited Away may be a bit scary for small children, but older children and adults should find it as entertaining as any Pixar film, if a lot darker. The Paradise is showing the excellent English dubbed version, which was supervised by Pixar boss John Lasseter. (September 7-9, Paradise)
