|
 Movie
A- |
Video A | Audio A
| Extras B+
voice talents of Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette,
Jason Marsden, Susan Egan, David Ogden Stiers, Lauren Holly, Michael
Chiklis, John Ratzenberger, and Tara Strong
director Hayao Miyazaki
Studio Bhibli Film (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
2001 | Animation - Fantasy - Foreign (Japanese) | PG | 125 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 2.0:1 aspect ratio
Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and Japanese
Summary: From Japan comes this highly acclaimed full-length feature animation by their great master of animated works,
Hayao Miyazaki. This film is the top grossing film of all time for Japan.
Spirited Away is a fantasy film about a coming-of-age journey of a young
girl. Her parents are relocating the family to a new neighborhood.
Chihiro is reluctant to make the move, even as the family is driving to their new home.
Chihiro’s father makes a wrong turn, but they proceed and decide to make a serendipitous adventure out of this mishap.
They explore what seems to be an abandoned theme park. And when her parents dine on some food, they mysteriously turn into pigs!
Chihiro thinks she is in a nightmare, but in this fantasy film, the
impossible is possible.
She tries to summon help to save her parents and change
them back to their human forms. But she gets deeper and deeper into this unreal world of
the traditional Japanese bathhouse. We witness Chihiro’s transformation, as she begins to learn the value of
hard work, smart thinking, perseverance, friendship, trust, and loyalty.
Spirited Away overflows with good values. Visually, the animation is dazzling.
Some scenes with computer animation looks incredibly real. The surround sound design is equally spectacular.
Think of Miyazaki as the modern equivalent of the late Mr. Walt Disney himself, with the disposal of modern animation tools.
Miyazaki is a wonderful storyteller with incredible talents on the drawing board and off.
Special Features:
Disc 1 (feature film): Introduction by John
Lasseter; "The Art of Spirited Away" featurette; Sneak
Peeks of Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, Finding
Nemo, Atlantis: Milo's Return, Stitch! The Movie, Bionicle:
Mask of Light, The Lion King: Special Edition DVD, and new from
Disney Interactive (CD-ROM software/game)
Disc 2: "Behind the Microphone"
featurette; Select Storyboard-to-Scene Comparison using multi-angle
feature (with Japanese or English soundtrack); "Nippon Television
Special" featurette (Japanese audio track with English subtitles);
original Japanese trailers (with English subtitles)
DVD released on 4/15/2003 | Reviewed 4/30/2003
List $29.99 | online $20.49 | order from Amazon.com,
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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