International Center for Ethereal Containment and Control

First, Spirited Away is about a little girl, but it is NOT A MOVIE FOR LITTLE KIDS.

This is something I feel should be stated up front for all the folks (*cough*mundanes*cough*) who think that anything that's animated is for kiddies. It ain't. Welcome to the world of anime.

Actually, let me amend that. There seems to be some anime apologists who are afraid the film will get a bad rap if parents are told that it's not for children. Well foo on them too. This is not a movie suitable for young children. I'll explain more in a moment.

And what a world it is. A young girl named Chihiro travels with her parents to their new home and on the way, take a short cut to what looks like an abandoned theme park. Her parents wander heedlessly into the grounds and find some delicious-smelling food, which they consume.

Then they turn into pigs. It's not a blink-and-you-miss-it special effect. It's a slow, terrifying effect. Chihiro's parents turn into big, fat, squealing pigs. It's horrible -- it's meant to be. Remember the not for kids warning? This is one reason why.

Chihiro is not without her allies. She meets Haku, a river dragon who appears to her in boy form (most of the time). With his help and guidance, Chihiro manages to survive her transition into what turns out to be the spirit world. She makes friends with a moustached, goggled spider-like being who runs the boiler room and finds employment with Yubaba, the domineering old crone who runs the bathhouse.

Being that I've written a few fantasy books set in Russian fairy tales (see Tsar Rising and The Dancing Hut), words like "bathhouse," "crone," and "Yubaba" ring bells. I'm saddened that very few reviewers picked up on the movie's inspiration.

The movie takes many of its cues from Russian myth. Yubaba = Baba Yaga, the infamous hag. Just as Yubaba has a baby she fawns over, Baba Yaga alternately menaces and cares for children. She has a host of young girls working for her in some stories -- in others, she is a cannibal. The parallels are all there.

There's more: Yubaba has a twin sister, Zeniba. In Russian myth, there's typically three hags (all sisters), but the similarity is unmistakable. And of course there's the bathhouse itself. In both Russian and Japanese myth, the bathhouse is a magical place where the spirits take over at midnight. Which is precisely what happens in Spirited Away.

And oh yeah, there's a two-headed eagle (a symbol of old Russia) on Yubaba's tapestry. Of course, nobody pays attention to Russia these days for reasons I can only ascribe to the Cold War.

There are plenty of elements that aren't from Russian myth. No-Face, a strange demon that leeches off of other people's personalities, changes from a benevolent ally to a monstrous thing that tries to eat everyone in the bathhouse. It moans and wails, it eats people, it's really quite gross and scary -- not for kids.

What the movie does have is charm. Love, friendship, trust -- all these things help Chichiro to survive. Her good-hearted actions save her (just like in Russian myth...most of the time) and help her defeat Yubaba at her own game.

The animation is superb. The voice acting (including the dub) is excellent. Disney is giving Japanese anime the respect it deserves. See it.

This movie IS worth seeing with your tween daughter. As in, 10 years old and up.
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