This film from director Hayao Miyazaki won the Academy Award for best animated film at the 2003 ceremony. And since the Japanese have been kicking Western animated films for years, this was way overdue. The film is over two hours long, but when I saw it in a cinema full of under 5’s, they were amazingly engrossed, probably as after so many years of Disney crap, they were shocked to see a film that was totally fresh and unpredictable. The film also has obvious resonance for New Zealand as the view of rivers and animals having souls is very close to Maori views of the natural world. The animation, as I have come to expect from Studio Ghibli, is breath-taking, but not quite as good as ‘Princess Mononoke’. But the story is not quite as intense as that great film, and ‘Spirited Away’ is a better choice for the real kiddies. My only problem with this version is the American voice of Chihiro, which gets screamy at times and can irritate, but it isn’t enough to ruin the film, and may be a true depiction of what children can be like. If you have seen none of the recent cinema from Studio Ghibli, this is a great film to start with, and then you get the great pleasure of going back and seeing some of the best animated cinema from the last century. And not a singing animal in sight. Take that, Disney.