Disney has long had hegemony over animated movies in this country. Their family-oriented musicals have become the standard for animated features in America, and neither 20th Century Fox nor DreamWorks have been able to prevent Mickey from standing astride the animated world like a colossus.
In the meantime, while the Mouse House has dominated the silver screen, anime has become an increasingly powerful and prevalent force on television. In the 1980s, America began its infatuation with Japanese animation. Dubbed and re-cut versions of "Robotech" and "Voltron" first appeared on TV, and a substantial fan base for anime began to develop. Originally a cult phenomena, anime soon became mainstream. "Pokemon" became an irresistible force in the mid-90s, and now anime dominates both Saturday mornings and the Cartoon Network.
Anime films also began to appear in theaters around the same time, and these films developed a dedicated cult of fans despite their limited releases. This often was because these films were much less family-oriented than the typical Disney fare in America. Although there are family-oriented anime films, such as "Spirited Away," many others are replete with graphic violence, frenetic action sequences, and strong sexual content.
Now Disney has decided to team up with Japan's Ghibli films to give "Spirited Away" a wide American release. This, of course, is much less controversial than Disney's last encounter with anime, when Mickey and company were accused of plagiarizing the TV series "Kimba the White Lion" in the course of making their mega-hit "The Lion King." "Spirited Away" already has grossed a substantial sum of money worldwide, accumulated a vast amount of critical praise, and just recently won an Oscar for best-animated film. Disney, naturally, simply cannot let this film enjoy success in this country without having its name attached.
Of course, "Spirited Away" is not your typical Disney movie. While there are plenty of cute critters and a love story, there are no musical numbers with singing cutlery or melodramatic confrontations between good and evil.
This is the story of Chuhiro (Daveigh Chase), a little girl who gets lost in the spirit world after her parents take a wrong turn on their way to their new house. Her parents get transformed into pigs, and Chuhiro ends up having to work at the bathhouse of the gods while she tries to figure out how to save her parents and return to the real world. While at the bathhouse, she is aided by the mysterious boy Haku (Jason Marsden), who is the apprentice of Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the witch who controls the bathhouse and is generally antagonistic toward Chuhiro.
The film surpasses many Disney efforts with the surprising depth of its story. Chuhiro's sojourn in the spirit world is an allegory for the trauma she is experiencing over moving. At the film's beginning, she is morose over having to move to a new neighborhood and acts like a spoiled brat. She's worrying about how she'll adjust to her new surroundings.
Likewise, Chuhiro has to adjust to the conditions of the spirit world. She has to perform hard work in the bathhouse, and the spirits are generally disdainful of humans. But through her hard work and valiant efforts, she eventually wins their respect and learns to handle her new environment. If Chuhiro can handle acclimating to the spirit world, she can definitely handle her situation in the real world.
The storyline thus has depth but is not entirely coherent. At one point Chuhiro lets a spirit into the bathhouse that eventually begins to devour everything. The spirit begins chasing Chuhiro, but once they get outside the bathhouse, Chuhiro illogically befriends the spirit. She explains that there was something in the room that made the spirit crazy, but that now that it has left the bathhouse, it's fine. Now, I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't team up with something that just had tried to eat me even if I had a strong hunch that it was now friendly.
Disney also had to make the film more palatable for the American audience. Instead of releasing the film with subtitles, Disney had American actors record an English version of the script. I have not seen the Japanese version of this film, but it seems that the American actors do not do the film justice. Many of the readings seem stilted and forced, while other voices are incongruous with their respective characters. Daveigh Chase portrays Chuhiro as much too young and whiny, and Suzanne Pleshette does not give Yubaba enough malevolent flair.
Combined together, these two factors make "Spirited Away" a slightly disappointing film. The animation is nonetheless technically brilliant and aesthetically gorgeous, while the depth of the story and its characterization nearly makes up for the plot's illogicalities. It is certainly not the masterpiece that other critics have portrayed it to be, but it certainly is superior to the other films nominated for best-animated picture and anything that Disney has released recently. Walt, on hearing that, probably is now spinning in his cryogenic tube.
Starring: Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden
Grade: *** 1/2
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