Spirited Away

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.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Yet its visual surrealism, identity-bending and strong social/ecological message make it as much an allegory as a fable.

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.

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.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

Serenely stunning.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Wondrously strange and just plain wonderful.

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.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A triumph of psychological depth and artistic brilliance offered as the magical adventures of one skinny little girl.

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.

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.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Miyazaki is a genius, and this film is a masterpiece; go see it.

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.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Prepare to be astonished by Spirited Away.

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.

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.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

The most deeply and mysteriously satisfying animated feature to come along in ages.

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.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

It would be a masterpiece in any language.

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.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The towering, lost dreaminess at the heart of the film is an unmistakable obsession of this director.

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.

Chicago Reader Ted Shen

Enchanting and impressively crafted.

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.

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.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Fiercely original in every respect.

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.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a movie full of bewitching images and timeless fun and beauty.

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.

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.

Washington Post Jane Horwitz

Old myths and wonder tales spun afresh.

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.

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.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle C.W. Nevius

A lovely, evocative tour de force. So why does it seem we should be enjoying it more?

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.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Delivers chunks of ''Yellow Submarine'' and ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' -- a vividly timeless oddity suitable for many children and most stoners.