Shooting the Breeze: Spirited Away
I waited a long time to see this animated film, described as the Japanese Alice in Wonderland, in which a little girl has to save her parents after they are turned into pigs at a seemingly abandoned amusement park.
Before I describe Spirited Away, however, I should explain how I got my interest in this genre.
Years ago, I saw an animated film on television in the late 80s. It was treated as Sunday teatime entertainment on one of the mainstream terrestrial channels - and it certainly fit the bill at the time.
Being familiar with Japanese animation of the time, Battle of the Planets for example, I watched the feature length film with interest - it was beautifully animated, had a great original storyline and the inevitable dubbing from the Japanese language story didn't spoil the plot.
I later discovered that it was based around a part of Gulliver's Travels, the bit where he visits Laputa - the Castle in the Sky - which I later discovered was the title of the film. It had been made in 1986, before Disney revitalised itself after years of mediocrity with The Little Mermaid.
Only after I watched Princess Mononoke (1997) a couple of years ago did I start to investigate the work of the writer and director Hayao Miyazaki and the famous Studio Ghibli - a fantastic source of creative animated films a world away from what I feel to be hackneyed techno manga such as Akira.
Spirited Away, as mentioned earlier, has been summed up as a Japanese animated Alice in Wonderland.
The animation is sumptuous, the storyline engrossing and generally family friendly (it's rated as PG), and there are a few levels to the spirit-world that we see only a glimpse of during the film.
There are some uniquely Japanese aspects to the film which need to be taken into account but there is well paced nature to the film which draws viewers in.
It's available in the US on DVD and will hopefully be coming to the UK soon. Check it out if you can.
