Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi)
Release Date:
September 20, 2002
Limited release
Some time ago, Walt Disney Pictures struck a nine-picture distribution deal with acclaimed Japanese writer/director Hayao Miyazaki, and it’s been a rousing success with regards to videos released in the acclaimed animator’s native land. Unfortunately, when the studio released Princess Mononoke in 1999, the film flopped despite tremendous critical acclaim. At the time of its release in Japan, Princess Mononoke became the highest grossing film in Japanese history, a record that eventually fell to the monolithic Titanic. So what went wrong?
While some animé fans attribute the failure to Disney’s inability to properly market the film (which was released through subsidiary distributor Miramax), the honest evaluation is that North American audiences, used to funny, family-friendly films such as Toy Story and A Bug’s Life, simply weren’t ready to accept the dark characters and mature themes prevalent in the animé masterpiece.
Fast forward to 2002, and Disney has just officially acquired the rights to Miyazaki's Spirited Away, the first film to ever hit the $200 million mark without the benefit of U.S. release. More impressive yet is that Spirited Away has blown past Titanic to take the title of all-time Japanese box office champion. For sake of comparison, Princess Mononoke made $157 million in Japan, Titanic earned just shy of $220 million, and Spirited Away sits at $229 million - and all three of these films achieved these benchmarks in a nation with substantially fewer screens than are available in North America. Without benefit of release anywhere other than Japan, Spirited Away ranks 166th all-time in worldwide box office.
Spirited Away’s hopes for box office success in North America hinge on two factors: the ability of the Disney machine to properly market the movie and the accessibility of the film to audiences. On the surface, the film has promising potential. A signal that Disney considers this to be an important project is the assignment of Toy Story director John Lasseter as creative consultant for the English version of Spirited Away. A long-time fan of Miyazaki, Lasseter calls Spirited Away “one of the greatest animated films ever made” and has been overseeing both the translation of the script and the voice casting. Similar sentiments are echoed as high up as Disney chairman Dick Cook.
No cuts will be made to the film and the animation will not be altered in any fashion. Considering that the film has appealed to moviegoers of all ages in Japan, this is probably a wise decision. When Miyazaki set out to make the film, he had a singular purpose in mind: to create a story specifically targeted to pre-teen girls. He apparently has a friendship with five young girls and wanted to make a movie that they could enjoy. Taking note of the romantic tales offered to girls of that age in Japan, he became certain that he could make a movie in which a girl very like his friends could become a heroine. Thus, Chihiro was born.
Chihiro is a listless, sullen, apathetic and ordinary 10-year-old girl. As her family is in the midst of a move to the suburbs, they get lost and venture into a hillside tunnel, which leads them to a mysterious town. It’s a town of gods and spirits, ruled over by a witch, and her parents are turned into pigs when they eat food intended for the gods. In order to survive, Chihiro is forced to give up her name and work at the witch’s bathhouse, which is a place where Japanese gods and spirits go to rest. When faced with this crisis, the girl’s adaptability and endurance emerge and she learns about good and evil and how to survive by using her wisdom. She encounters many wondrous and strange creatures as she tries to discover a way to return to her own world.
Spirited Away has already won the Golden Bear from the Berlin Film Festival in addition to Best Asian Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Best Picture at the Japanese Academy Awards. The film screened to enthusiastic audiences on April 20th at the San Francisco International Film Festival and has received glowing reports. It is important to note that this particular edition of the film was the subtitled Japanese version rather than the English dubbed movie that will be released this fall in North America. Still, Lasseter has done a fine job with the voice talent, casting veteran voice actors such as Susan Egan (Hercules), Jason Marsden (currently on Justice League), and John Ratzenberger (Toy Story and Monsters, Inc.). Daveigh Chase, who provides the voice of young Lilo in the upcoming Lilo and Stitch, will get the bulk of the work as she is the voice of Chihiro.
Essentially, Miyazaki has created a world in which 10-year-old girls can find their wishes, and in doing so, seems to have captured the hearts and fancies of a much broader scope. Though on the surface it might seem that a film that focuses so heavily on fantasy and gods and spirits in particular might be a hard sell, children have been more than willing to escape to fantasy places where geeky boys could be wizards, fairy tale characters could come to life, and monsters scare children to capture energy. The characters in Spirited Away are colorful and intriguing, and with a very clever marketing push from the Mouse House, the film has the potential to capture an unexpected audience. Current buzz about the movie has me cautiously optimistic about its prospects, but after seeing an entirely delightful film like Iron Giant fail completely at the box office, I hesitate to set the bar very high. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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