Spirited Away

A number of people told me that they thought this was a great movie, I read great reviews about it and it won an Academy Award for best animated feature film. So, I was excited to see it in the video store. I brought it home and watched it with my daughters. Right before the film starts, John Lassiter from Pixar comes on and tells you how lucky you are because you are about to watch Spirited Away. My kids loved this movie and watched it again before I had to return the disc. This morning, while she was sitting on the toilet, Lauren let me know that she definitely thought this was a film we needed to add to our collection.

The problem is, I don’t get it. I didn’t think it was bad. I liked the ideas presented. I liked the little girl and the no face spirit. I thought parts looked beautiful. In general, I love stories about children in magical worlds. In fact that’s what I’m writing my screenplay about. This film just didn’t blow me away. The good pieces didn’t form a whole that was magical for me.