Spirited Away

"A huge accomplishment in the world of traditional animation and a powerful rebuttal to the notion that films for children must be simplistic and visually dull."

"A beautifully drawn and wonderfully composed work of art - really, no other description will do - which takes us on a rocket-fuelled flight of fancy."

"Miyazaki's luminescent, gorgeously realised world is relatively safe for children, but it also acknowledges blood, pain, dread, and death in ways that other animated films wouldn't dare."

"Think you're too hip for a Japanese anime about a lost ten-year-old girl whose parents turn into snorting pigs? Get over it."

"Deeply and mysteriously satisfying..."

"Spirited Away is a trip, in the literal, metaphorical and indeed lysergic senses of that word."

"Spirited Away has the quality of a dream: It takes you places so foreign and fantastic you have no option but to yield completely to it..."

"Spirited Away... is such a landmark in animation that labelling it a masterpiece almost seems inadequate."

"A vividly timeless oddity suitable for many children and most stoners."

"This is a wonderful film."

"Creating a rare story-world that follows a consistent logic yet allows for most anything to happen, Miyazaki again proves himself to be more genii than filmmaker."

"A cultural wildcard experience: wacky, different, unusual, even nutty. Don't say I didn't encourage and warn you."

"A triumph of psychological depth and artistic brilliance."

"Plot here takes a backseat to set pieces that flow into each other like a glorious stream of consciousness."

"An out-and-out charmer. It's almost impossible to do justice in words either to the visual richness of the movie, which melanges traditional Japanese clothes and architecture with both Victorian and modern-day artifacts, or to the character-filled storyline, with human figures, harpies and grotesque creatures."

"The towering, lost dreaminess at the heart of the film is an unmistakable obsession of this director."

"Prepare to be astonished by Spirited Away."

"Spirited dazzles and entertains like no other movie this year. It also comes to a satisfying conclusion and never once seems to take shortcuts. Miyazaki is one of world cinema's most wondrously gifted artists and storytellers."

"The fact that Miyazaki and his team hand-draw the images before they're digitally coloured and animated gives them an artistry that has been woefully lacking from so many recent American features."