Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) is the recent full-length Academy award-winning animated feature from legendary Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the critically acclaimed Kiki's Delivery Service, and Princess Mononoke. It tells the story of a little girl named Chihiro, who enters what appears to be a deserted theme park with her parents after they become lost while driving to their new home in a new city. While her parents take a break to eat, she wanders off and is discovered by a boy named Haku, who tells her she must leave the area. She runs back to her parents, only to discover that they are still eating, and have morphed into giant pigs. Thus begins an adventure that features the some of the oddest characters and weirdest twists I've ever seen in a full-length cartoon.

The English-language version features the voices of Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, Michael Chiklis, Lauren Holly, John Ratzenberger (who seems to be making a living lending his voice to cartoon characters of late!), and David Ogden Stiers. The voice of Chihiro is provided by 13-year old Daveigh Chase, already a veteran of over 20 film and television appearances, including Donnie Darko and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

Chihiro learns quickly that she is in a place where spirits come to replenish themselves. Haku tells her that the only way she'll be able to save her parents is to go to the boiler room, and tell the man there that she wants a job, and to persist, even if he refuses. She does so, and meets Kamajii, the boiler room man who has many arms, some of them many feet long. Kamajii commands little pieces of soot, each of whom carries a lump of coal to the furnace and live under the floor.

From that scene, the movie gets weirder and weirder - but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The film takes left and right turns, introducing bizarre characters and featuring amazing landscapes of colour and complexity. Chihiro, apparently the only human in the place, is assigned to Lin, one of many women (who all look quite human to me) who work in the bathhouse where the spirits come to cleanse and reinvigorate themselves. The house is run by a woman with an enormous head, Yubaba, who in turn has an even bigger baby named Bou. She also has a twin sister named Zeniba, who is after Haku for stealing her gold something-or-other (sorry, I can't remember!). (Yubaba also has three male heads that bounce around on the floor in her office and make odd grunting noises.) Then there is the Stinky Spirit, who wanders in to be cleansed, and is covered with and leaves trails of the most vile, disgusting goo you could imagine. Chihiro must attend to him, and is helped along the way by No Face, a spirit who seems to befriend her after she allows him entrance into the bathhouse. (All he can mutter is "uh".) But then No Face starts "eating" some of the locals, and getting bigger and fatter, and demanding that he see Chihiro (now called "Sen"). Haku, btw, appears as a dragon, and it takes the love of Sen to help him recover from injuries and return to human form. I think. Meanwhile, back in the pig barn...