Spirited Away

Ten-year-old Chihiro is unhappy about moving to a new town, and her mood only worsens when her father takes a wrong turn and stops the car before a tunnel. Beyond it lies what looks like an abandoned amusement park, and her parents help themselves to a meal laid out at an empty stall. The food transforms them into pigs, and Chihiro finds herself alone in a world of gods, witches and spirits, where humans are not welcome. To survive and free her family, she must find work in a bathhouse run by the sorceress Yubaba and hold on to her own name and identity.

Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed the film, the tenth of the sixteen features he has directed, following Princess Mononoke and preceding Howl's Moving Castle. Toshio Suzuki produced it for Studio Ghibli, and Rumi Hiiragi voices Chihiro, with Miyu Irino as Haku, Mari Natsuki as Yubaba and Zeniba, and Takashi Naito and Yasuko Sawaguchi as the parents. The production, made for about 19 million dollars, went on to earn roughly 355 million dollars worldwide, an exceptional return for a Japanese animated release of its time.

Reception has been strong across the board. On IMDb, the film holds 8.6 out of 10 from more than 950,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 8.5 from close to 19,000 ratings, showing lasting popularity well beyond its original audience. A critics' rating of 8.8 out of 10 from 225 reviews places it slightly above those audience scores, reflecting broad approval from reviewers as well as viewers.