(Into the looking glass, Chihiro goes…)
CAST: Voices of Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden, Susan Egan.
DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki
FAVORITE OF: Mine.
IN A NUTSHELL: Bratty Japanese kid Chihiro (voice of Daveigh Chase) has to relocate with her parents to another city. On the way to their new home, Mom and Dad decide to check out an abandoned amusement park - which turns out to be not so abandoned after all. Turns out that, after nightfall, the place turns into a - seriously - a Bathhouse for the Spirits. Because I guess spirits need to get their rocks off, too. Anyway, it’s now up to Chihiro to free her parents from the curse that turned them into pigs (don’t ask) and escape with them from Freak Show Central. Will she succeed? Or are her parents pretty much pork chops now? Can she defy the head spirit named Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette)? Find out for yourselves. Just watch out for that spirit that eats anything in its path. No, that isn’t me in disguise, goddamnit.
WHY I LOVE THIS MOVIE: Because it’s like a Japanese animated version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, but much, much more surreal. Famed Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki is nothing short of a genius. It’s even better to watch when you’re a little (or a lot) drunk. This is why I love Japan: because it’s so fucking weird. And so are its flicks. Even the fucking cartoons. What other nation would dream up a ‘toon about a sauna that services demons and ghosts. So bizarre. So awesome.
