The CHIEF September 2024

Movie Review

Spirited Away Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

By Tyler Drechsel

Animation’s one very special genre of film. Animation takes away all of the boundaries that creators may usually encounter when trying to express their characters or story. Executed correctly, the emotion that it delivers will be stronger than any emotion delivered by any other type of movie. Imagination and the emotions that can be delivered are what make animation so incredible and is what brings us to the 2001 classic, Spirited Away, which is perhaps the greatest animated film of all time. The film has a lot of strong aspects including world building that put you directly into the shoes of the main character, Chihiro. Viewers learn new things about the fantastical world she’s in as she bears witness to the weird creatures around the world, as well as learn how this weird and mystical world operates. Spirited Away takes many themes such as a young child dealing with a new place or the greed of humans. Every single frame of this film’s drawn by hand, and painted, and it really brings it to life. The designs of the creatures are unique, and the entire world’s animated beautifully from the flowers to the animals to some of the spirits that inhabit the world.

The feeling and environment that this film provides is unlike any other film ever made, and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who hasn’t seen it. 10/10