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Spirited Away
Walt Disney Pictures / Buena Vista Pictures

Spirited Away reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 94 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.4 out of 10
based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 572 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for some scary moments

Starring Daveigh Chase, Michael Chiklis, Susan Egan, Lauren Holly, Jason Marsden, John Ratzenberger, and Suzanne Pleshette

From the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki ("Princess Mononoke"), this film follows the fanciful adventures of a ten-year-old girl named Chihiro, who discovers a secret world when she and her family get lost and venture through a hillside tunnel. (Walt Disney Studios)


GENRE(S): Fantasy  
WRITTEN BY: Hayao Miyazaki  
DIRECTED BY: Hayao Miyazaki  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: April 15, 2003 
Video: April 15, 2003 
Theatrical: September 20, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Japan 
LANGUAGE(S): Japanese (dubbed in English) 

Original title "Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi"; Winner, Best Animated Feature, 75th Annual Academy Awards; Best Film (tie), 2002 Berlin International Film Festival; Best Asian Film, 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards; All-time highest grossing-film in Japan

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
A visual masterpiece about a scared little girl's breathtaking journey of self-discovery. All of the fun is getting there.
Read Full Review
100
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Yet its visual surrealism, identity-bending and strong social/ecological message make it as much an allegory as a fable.
Read Full Review
100
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Turns everything we know about the contemporary world on its head, and substitutes it with one in which spirits, monsters, magicians and animals mix it up in a carnival of energy, good humor and freewheeling illusion.
Read Full Review
100
New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson
Probably like nothing you've ever seen before. In a cool world, it would be guaranteed not only the Best Animated Feature Oscar, but Best Picture as well.
100
TV Guide Frank Lovece
Serenely stunning.
Read Full Review
100
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Wondrously strange and just plain wonderful.
Read Full Review
100
New York Post Lou Lumenick
A Japanese cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz" -- is such a landmark in animation that labeling it a masterpiece almost seems inadequate.
Read Full Review
100
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
A triumph of psychological depth and artistic brilliance offered as the magical adventures of one skinny little girl.
Read Full Review
100
LA Weekly David Chute
Does full honor to Miyazaki’s teeming and often unsettling landscape, and to the conflicted complexity of his characters: Not a single frame was cut, and the voice casting and performances are uniformly excellent.
Read Full Review
100
Time Richard Corliss
Artful but not arty, Spirited Away is a handcrafted cartoon, as personal as an Utamaro painting, yet its breadth and heart give it an appeal that should touch American viewers of all ages.
Read Full Review
100
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Miyazaki is a genius, and this film is a masterpiece; go see it.
100
Variety Derek Elley
An out-and-out charmer. It's almost impossible to do justice in words either to the visual richness of the movie, which melanges traditional Japanese clothes and architecture with both Victorian and modern-day artifacts, or to the character-filled storyline, with human figures, harpies and grotesque creatures.
Read Full Review
100
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Prepare to be astonished by Spirited Away.
Read Full Review
100
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
It is plainly, though not simply, a masterpiece from an acknowledged master of contemporary animation, and a wonderfully welcoming work of art that's as funny and entertaining as it is brilliant, beautiful and deep.
100
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's enchanting and delightful in its own way, and has a good heart. It is the best animated film of recent years, the latest work by Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese master who is a god to the Disney animators.
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100
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
The most deeply and mysteriously satisfying animated feature to come along in ages.
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100
Empire Patrick Peters
The fact that Miyazaki and his team hand-draw the images before they're digitally coloured and animated gives them an artistry that has been woefully lacking from so many recent American features.
Read Full Review
100
Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
It would be a masterpiece in any language.
Read Full Review
100
USA Today Claudia Puig
Director Hayao Miyazaki treats his audience as imaginative and intelligent human beings, rather than catering to kids with rote displays of silliness, stunts and scares.
Read Full Review
90
The New York Times A.O. Scott
The towering, lost dreaminess at the heart of the film is an unmistakable obsession of this director.
Read Full Review
90
The Hollywood Reporter David Hunter
Spirited dazzles and entertains like no other movie this year. It also comes to a satisfying conclusion and never once seems to take shortcuts. Miyazaki is one of world cinema's most wondrously gifted artists and storytellers.
Read Full Review
90
Chicago Reader Ted Shen
Enchanting and impressively crafted.
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90
The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
A wonderful encore, marked by the painstaking attention to detail and artful balance between terror and joy that make Miyazak's work unique.
Read Full Review
90
Village Voice J. Hoberman
A very nutty fruitcake, Spirited Away is characterized by wonderfully detailed animation, packed with incident and populated by all manner of comic creatures.
Read Full Review
89
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Fiercely original in every respect.
Read Full Review
88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Overall, while Spirited Away may not be as complex and imaginative as "Princess Mononoke" in some areas, it is as beautifully rendered and no less sophisticated in its outlook. Miyazaki has provided another triumph, and, in the midst of the quality fall-off of Disney’s in-house animated projects, a reason for animation-lovers to rejoice.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's a movie full of bewitching images and timeless fun and beauty.
Read Full Review
88
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Offers a ride worth taking -- an excursion through a fantastical pop universe that is pure, enchanting magic. Try it; you'll like it.
Read Full Review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Don Irvine
The most successful film ever released in Japan, and co-winner of the top prize at this year's Berlin film festival, Spirited Away is a complete reversal of the Hollywood way with animation.
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80
Washington Post Jane Horwitz
Old myths and wonder tales spun afresh.
Read Full Review
80
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
It will disturb you as much as thrill you, make you wonder whether the boundaries between life and death, reality and fantasy, imagination and insanity are ever what they appear to be.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
This movie -- which is equally appealing to children (those of adventurous, non-freak-outable spirit), Japanese animation (anime) fans, and any surviving acquaintances of Timothy Leary -- is so full of invention, you might want to take a breather now and then.
Read Full Review
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Has the power to transport us to a different place. The spark of special anime magic here is unmistakable and hard to resist.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle C.W. Nevius
A lovely, evocative tour de force. So why does it seem we should be enjoying it more?
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Too intense for the youngest viewers, but teenagers will enjoy it -- an ill-smelling "stink-god" character is almost worthy of a Kevin Smith gross-out movie -- and grown-ups should find it diverting, if not exactly deep.
Read Full Review
75
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Delivers chunks of ''Yellow Submarine'' and ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' -- a vividly timeless oddity suitable for many children and most stoners.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 572 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Becca W. gave it a10:
This movie was perfect. I could watch it over and over again. Please make a number 2!!!

Natalie K. gave it a10:
Great film! I am very moved after watching.

Sam S. gave it a10:
Even if you've never heard of this movie and are curious as to why it's on this top 10 list, you have reason enough to see it. You'll thank yourself later.

J H. gave it a10:
The most imaginative film to come from Miyazaki. This film was an absolute joy to watch.

Niels W. gave it a10:
"Spirited Away" is one of the first animated films I have seen that really had some thing to say. The classic animation as we know it from Disney's films, have created a image of animated film as movies for children only. Although their universes can be called seductive and fascinating especially for kids of young age, there isn't any challenge watching them. At least if you are an adult. Don't get me wrong, Disney have my deepest respect. Their are a great and fun to experience the basic human feelings like love and hate, good and evil. But at the same time they don't seem to be able to put anything else into the films. They always use stereotypes so one can't get confused about their intentions and they also idealize everything, all this for the children to enjoy. This have created the tendency of animation films as children's films. Miyazaki's film isn't like that. The little Chihiro is a typical girl of the modern age and like Alice in Wonderland she enters a parallel universe. Here she finds a world of long forgotten spirits and gods that sees the humans as dirty and as creatures not to be trusted. She has to go through several challenges and have to chose the right choices so she and her parents can come back to the "real" world. As observers we get a much more nuanced idea of who she really is and what emotions she has to deal with. This is just one of many examples where Miyazaki differs from the classic animation. Although there is more to think about it can still be watched by smaller children! (It can be quite scary, though) It is a Great film! Enjoy it. Niels Wee

Rethunk Review gave it an8:
What Spirited Away lacks in continuity, it makes up for in ingenuity. Miyazaki's imagination is hard to top, and the visuals are often beautiful. The story wanders about in much the same fashion that the main character wanders about, and in so doing the film sometimes crosses over from fantasy to phantasmagoria.

jamie o. gave it a9:
I'm almost sorry I've watched it because I'll never get to watch it for the first time again.

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