1. Spirited Away (2001)
Of all the truly brilliant films Hayao Miyazaki has created, Spirited Away surely stands above all of them as the perfect example of a most perfect animated film. Released in 2001 by Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away was met by commercial and critical acclaim in both the western markets and Miyazakis homeland of Japan, sparking a revival of Japanese anime in mainstream animation. The plot revolves around our protagonist Chihiro, a typically stubborn and impetuous character, something all too rare in animation. After becoming lost in the forest, she and her parents stumble across an amusement park that is seemingly abandoned. As light falls, the park reopens, with food stalls tempting her parents to gorge themselves on the free food on offer. Horrifyingly, her parents gluttony is condemned by turning them into pigs, an apt transformation and one that shifts the animation into something unknown, a film unafraid to make its audience feel afraid. Leading off from this comes a mystical and wondrous journey through bathhouses that contain a woman with a gargantuan head, ghostly figures that wears masks to cover their faces and who float menacingly aswell as a meeting with a dragon whose transportation offers some breathtakingly beautiful aerial animation. Miyazakis imagination really is indescribably brilliant. As a character, Chihiro, as previously described, isnt a contemporary protagonist in that she can be to some quite an unlikeable figure. But over the course of the film, her determination and spirit see her journeying through the mind of Miyazaki until she reaches her point of redemption, ultimately becoming someone endearing. Its a truly powerful film that eliminates any fantasy about everything being kind, gentle and affable, instead opting for a more sinister fantasy that is all the more better for portraying the darkness aswell as the light of the world. The animation within the film is once again beautifully realised, such is the complexity and detail the Studio Ghibli team managed to squeeze into the film without compromising any of the fantastical elements about the aesthetic. Much of what is seen is still hand drawn, something that enhances the tone and feel of the animation produced, with this technique further solidifying the precision and intricacy that Miyazaki and has team have provided. There is so much care and attention to detail that its impossible not to be in awe of such a magical creation. The mind of Hayao Miyazaki is clearly a most brilliant place; his twisted visualisations of everyday objects have provided millions with inspiration and escapism, to be transported to a world where no one else could ever have dreamt of its creations. Spirited Away is the greatest animated film of all time, a film that will hopefully capture the imagination of future audiences as effectively as it has captured ours.
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