The lesson here is humility in the face of immortal forces. Chihiro is constantly (and riotously) told that she reeks she fumbles around and incites fury. But maybe we, as human beings, are stranger. The world is strange let’s not fool ourselves.
But as brilliantly woven together by Hayao Miyazaki (at the peak of his creative gifts), the movie is basically a story about growing up. Even more thoroughly, Spirited Away is a compendium of ancient folklores – the secret lives of radishes and other gods, the sins we commit against nature, her punishments. The plot is a stew of essential anxieties: dislocation, separation from one’s parents, fear of disappearing forever. It’s a movie that emboldens children to embrace weirdness and wonder, and adults to remember how they once did. The apex of Japanese animation – to fans worldwide, all animation – is one of cinema’s finest tales of untrammeled imagination. Moving is a drag for ten-year-old Chihiro, until she discovers she’s meant to work in a bathhouse for the spirit world.īest quote: ‘There must be some mistake: None of these pigs are my parents!’ĭefining moment: Tea and cakes with the monstrous Yubaba and No-Face – a moment in the same surreal league as Lewis Carroll. Pinocchio will remain immortal as long as we draw, paint, tell tall tales and wish upon stars. A swirling adventure flecked with shame, rehabilitation, death and rebirth, the movie contains a universe of feelings. But those readings are like cracking open a snow globe to see that it’s only water. Cultural theorists have, for decades, discussed Pinocchio in psychosexual terms or as a guide to middle-class assimilation. The takeaway is hard to argue with: Don’t lie, to yourself or others.
(Pinocchio’s extending schnoz is animation’s most sinister and profound metaphor.) It’s staggering to think of this material as intended for children, but that’s the power here, a conduit to the churning undercurrent of formulating identity. Disney’s second feature – originally a box-office bomb – begins with a sweetly singing cricket, yet plunges into scenes from a nightmare: in front of a jeering audience on a carnival stage into the belly of a monstrous whale beyond all human recognition. Its influence on fantasy is massive: Steven Spielberg quotes the soaring ballad ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ in his dream project Close Encounters of the Third Kind (and remade the whole picture with his aching robot-boy adventure, A.I.). Pinocchio is the most magical of animated movies, a high point of cinematic invention. Heeīest quote: ‘Always let your conscience be your guide.’ĭefining moment: Playing pool, drinking beers, smoking cigars: Who knew it could transform kids into jackasses? (Literally.) A wooden puppet yearns to be a real boy he must prove himself worthy.ĭirectors: Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Norman Ferguson, Jack Kinney, Wilfred Jackson and T.