365 Movies Day #108 "Spirited Away"

You can't talk about Asian cinema and not talk about anime and you can't talk about anime without talking about Hayao Miyazaki. Forget Pokemon and Speed Racer. Miyazaki's movies are all about mysticism and story, magic, being a kid and fighting the good fight. "Spirited Away" is the best of the best for his films and that is saying a lot.

Basically, the story is that a little girl is forced to save her family from the clutches of and interesting lot of semi-villains when they accidentally stumble into the spirit world during their move to the suberbs. However, it's so much more than that. It's filled with lovable characters, compelling story, humor, love and so much more. Miyazaki uses animation to tell a story like few others. When it comes to anime with true substance, Miyazaki is king.

The English dub version isn't too bad either. It features the voices of David Ogden Stiers (MASH), Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis, John Ratzenberger and Tara Strong (Family Guy and a host of other animated shows).

SPIRITED AWAY ON IMDB