Movie Review: Studio Ghibli’s “Spirited Away”

Beautiful visuals, beautiful storytelling

My first Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away is a delight, following the story of a little girl who gets trapped in a spirit world and has to save her parents who have been turned into pigs. It’s a Japanese Hero’s Journey story.

The story does not just centre around the little girl, it does not deify her, she is just one among many interesting characters in an interesting world. The little girl does not succeed alone, this is not the story of the triumph of the individual (unlike most American/Hollywood stories); she succeeds because she has help from many, a story of cooperation among many, a sense of community, which should resonate with African viewers because our culture is also community-based, though we have become more and more individualist.

Hero’s Journey stories are typically about how the hero is changed by the events of the story. The little girl doesn’t really change, unless you say she becomes braver. Her parents don’t remember their time as pigs so they don’t change either. But the characters she encounters in the spirit world are changed by having associated with her, she leaves the spirit world a better place than she found it.

Hayao Miyazaki is the master of anime storytelling. This movie is teeming with life, bursting with animated characters, creatures, landscapes, objects, and so forth. It’s a delight.