However, the story and the themes it addresses are universally relevant, and if you let yourself go in it, you will likely be thrilled no matter what culture you come from.
#JASON MARSDEN SPIRITED AWAY ENGLISH MOVIE#
The movie is rich with Japanese mythology and culture, and as such might at first seem strange to American audiences. Also, not every question posed is given a clear answer, instead adding allure to the movie by encouraging audiences to actively think as part of the experience. In one of many marked differences from American animation that also runs throughout Miyazaki's other works, no one can clearly be defined as the "villain" here, and there is no clear "evil" instead, everyone exists in shades of gray. The film is brimming with imagination and succeeds not only as a compelling fantasy epic but also as a deeply emotional, complex human drama examining such themes as courage, determination, friendship, love and goodness. Never once do you pause to question that these are not real, living, breathing beings inhabiting a world that is shown to us so fully that we accept it as being real, too.
Miyazaki, who also wrote the Japanese screenplay, has a gift for keeping the story emotionally grounded and relevant to his audience even while magic completely surrounds it. Much like Pixar's productions, it is successful because it pulls you into a fully imagined, breathtakingly visualized other world that is both strikingly real and terrifically fantastical all at once. To say more of the densely layered plot would ruin the delightful thrill of experiencing Spirited Away for yourself. While here, she meets all sorts of unique and magical beings and must find courage within herself if she is to survive among them and find a way of returning her parents to their human forms and returning the three of them to the human world. When she encounters an oddly familiar boy named Haku ( The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and A Goofy Movie's Jason Marsden), he offers to help her in this strange new world and suggests that she take a job at the bathhouse, owned by the witch Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette, also of Simba's Pride). When her parents eat it like pigs, they are turned into pigs, and a frightened Chihiro discovers the true nature of the "amusement park." It is a bathhouse for spirits, where they come and replenish themselves. The film spirits us away along Chihiro ( Lilo & Stitch's Daveigh Chase), a ten-year-old girl who is forced to leave her friends behind and move to a new home in the suburbs with her parents (Michael Chiklis and Lauren Holly.) They get lost en route and happen upon what they think is an abandoned amusement park with great-smelling food. It was met with nearly universal critical and public acclaim and won the 2002 Best Animated Feature Academy Award. It stayed in Japanese theaters for more than ten months when it was released there in July 2001 and made over $234 million, becoming the highest-grossing movie in the country's box office history.įollowing this tremendous success in its native country, Spirited Away was translated into English with Lasseter's guidance and dubbed by a virtual who's-who of previous Disney voiceover stars.
But Spirited Away is his most successful film to date. Miyazaki's successful career is rife with great films, and he is often cited as an inspiration by many of Hollywood's top animation talents, including John Lasseter ( Toy Story, A Bug's Life) and Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois ( Lilo & Stitch).
#JASON MARSDEN SPIRITED AWAY ENGLISH HOW TO#
As I sit down to write this review, I am at a loss for how to begin, because Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away ( Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) is one of them. They come few and far between, but when they do, it's always a huge treat for moviegoers. Though it sounds terribly clichéd, there are certain films that simply defy description in mere words and must truly be seen to be believed. Two single-sided discs (DVD-9 & DVD-5) THX-Certified with Optimizer Tests Subtitles: English, English captions Closed Captioned Japanese Voice Cast: Rumi Higari (Chihiro/Sen), Yasuko Sawaguchi (Chihiro's Mother), Takashi Naito (Chihiro's Father), Mari Natsuki (Yubaba, Zeniba), Miyu Irino (Haku), Ryunosuke Kamiki (Bôh), Yumi Tamai (Lin), Tatsuya Gashuin (Aogaeru), Bunta Sugawara (Kamaji)ĭolby Digital 5.1 (Japanese, English), Dolby Surround 2.0 (French) Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi - The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro)Įnglish Voice Cast: Daveigh Chase (Chihiro/Sen), Lauren Holly (Chihiro's Mother), Michael Chiklis (Chihiro's Father), Suzanne Pleshette (Yubaba, Zeniba), Jason Marsden (Haku), Tara Strong (Bô), Susan Egan (Lin), John Ratzenberger (Aogaeru), David Ogden Stiers (Kamaji)