Review – Rate – Recommend

I finally decided to pick up Spirited Away again after many, many years. I knew it was something amazing because so far I’ve never heard any bad praises for it. I just didn’t have the motivation to watch it again after years. It’s not because I’m a cynic and I think all things with good praises will not appeal to me like they do the majority. It’s mostly because of my childhood memories. wow. deep.

The only thing that seemed to register on my mind when I first watched this back when I was innocent and young was the disgusting things. Case in point #1, Chihiro’s parents turning into pigs and acting so inhumane and even had a savage quality in them. Case in point #2, No Face eating everything and then vomiting it out a few scenes after. Disgusting. Case in point #3, All that blood on Haku when he was wounded. I am, obviously, older now and these things don’t bother me that much anymore (Except for the vomiting part. ugh. Worst sound in the world. Main reason why I hate when people get drunk.) but my memory seemed to have intensified everything so that it really took me a while to suck it up and grow some balls.

Contrary to what you would believe, I don’t regret picking up this show just now. With a plethora of phlegm knowledge in my now mature brain, I am able to understand the movie even better than I would have had I re-watched it any earlier. The experience of watching this movie was akin to remembering something from your childhood. It was the kind of happiness that had a melancholic tinge to it so that it was almost close to sadness. But it’s the kind of sadness that you actually like having because it made you think; about the people around you, about people you once kept close to you, about yourself.

There was just no dull moment in this movie. It portrayed the idea of growing up, love, friendship and everything else in the most creative manner possible. It was just so beautiful. I’ve watched so many Ghibli films now. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that most of the animated movies I’ve watched is from Ghibli. But this one tops it all. By a long, long, long margin. I’m not sure I even justified it well but I assure you, if you are putting off watching this movie for some reason, then the perfect time to watch it is now. Unless it’s 3am in there, in that case you should go to sleep because seriously, are you trying to kill yourself?, and then watch this when you wake up and then change your sleeping habits. You will regret nothing.