*** Official "SPIRITED AWAY" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Kleist]

Morgan, BTW: I'll be more than happy to bring my disc to the potential fall Scooterpalooza

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Transcript from the El Capitan:
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen...transcript.txt
Special screenings in DC. No idea if they're OSL or not
Brian Tootle sent in the following details:
----
This movie will be screened September 16th, 7:30 PM at:
AMC Mazza Gallerie
5300 Wisconsin Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20015
(202)537-9553
While supplies last, you can get your preview tickets at:
Jerry's Subs And Pizza
11421 Rockville Pike
Rockville Pike and Nicholson Lane
301 984 3880
Get your free tickets by visiting The Healthy Back Store located at
6820 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD
while supplies last! Visit them Mon-Sat,
10am-8pm and Sunday 12pm-6pm or call 301-986-9645 for more information.
FREE FOR ALL FRIDAY - SEPTEMBER 13TH
Jack Diamond Morning Show 107.3
- Passes to MIX 107.3's Special Advance Screening of Walt Disney Studios' Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" on Monday, September 16th, 7:30pm at AMC Mazza Gallerie.
Tickets do not guarantee seating.
Seating is done on a First Come First Served basis.
Nausicaa.net is a great place to learn about Studio Ghibli's other work as well!

 

[Steve Y]

If this film does well, it won't be because it was marketed well. I doubt people will flock to it opening weekend based on the TV clip I saw, which covered the film in accolades and generalities to hide the fact it had no real idea what it was selling. If only studios gave good films more breathing room at the box office! (i'm no stranger to financial reality - just dreaming aloud). I'm curious how the Wal*Mart crowd (what little of it gets into the theater) will perceive SA. With a collective head-scratch?

If a film takes place out of the present (or in another culture or world), most studios see to it that pop-culture references and phrases are peppered liberally throughout the script. These films date quickly but make lots and lots of money.

I have no illusions about American audiences and the culture shock, but Spirited Away is a masterpiece and should be on any film lover's agenda this Fall. I'm definitely seeing it again.

~Steve

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Spirited Away". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.
All HTF member film reviews of "Spirited Away" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Crawdaddy

 

[EricW]

i watched Spirited Away last weekend on a friend's R2 DVD (subbed of course) and i must say, i was blown away. i am only a casual anime watcher, but i've always appreciated the japanese animation skills. movies like Ghost in the Shell and Metropolis have always dazzled me visually, but i never really connected with the stories. i liked Princess Mononoke, but i wouldn't have placed it in the top 5 movies i'd seen that year. Spirited Away just engrossed me from beginning to end. aside from PM and Nausicaa (sp?), i haven't seen any Miyazaki, but i will after SA.

what's great about Spirited Away for me was that i really cared about the main character. also, the story is just unpredictable; but you're so enveloped in the movie you cease trying to figure out what's going to happen and just enjoy the ride. the ending was fitting; it doesn't tie up every single plot point but that's just as well. the animation may not be as showy or fast paced as Metropolis but it was perfect for this particular movie. i haven't even seen the north american trailer for this movie yet, and i have no wish to, other than pure curiosity. i really really hope that they release the R1 DVD with the original japanese track!

 

[Michael St. Clair]

i really really hope that they release the R1 DVD with the original japanese track!

It will include the original track.

There's also a good chance it won't be 'pinked up'!

 

[EricW]

one more think about the dubbing discussion; i don't have a problem in principle with dubbing as a second choice, because there's something to be said about being able to watch the animation fluidly withought your eyes darting up and down all the time.

but what i don't like is the practice of using distinct celebrity voices. it's very distracting and spoils the whole effect. i actually watched Mononoke a couple times in english but when you hear Billy Bob's voice, you think Billy Bob.

 

[Yoshi Sugawara]

My g/f bought the Region 2 DVD in Japan, and we watched it at home. One thing interesting about it was that there's a Dolby Digital Surround (2.0) track, and a 5.1 dts track. It seems like dts is becoming the preferred format for 5.1 in Japanese DVDs.
I thought the film was good, but I kinda preferred Princess Mononoke over it. I think the American audience will have trouble understanding the premise of the story - the world in which Chihiro, the main character, is "spirited away" to. In Japanese culture, there is a belief when a child mysteriously disappears, that he/she is spirited away into another world. The film is essentially Miyazaki's visualization of this world. I think a lot of people who see this would be totally lost and turned off.
I recently saw the commercial on TV - the dubbed dialogue made me cringe a little

 

[Michael St. Clair]

It seems like dts is becoming the preferred format for 5.1 in Japanese DVDs.

All of Asia, really.
Funny thing is that I've heard that even some of the non-bootleg Asian DTS discs of western flicks simply take the DD5.1, de-compress it, then re-compress it as DTS.
And I'm sure some people would still say it sounds better in DTS.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Michael, too late, they already do
Yoshi, I've spent a lot of time with Japanese mythology, so I guess I have a better grasp on it than most people do. The US DVD could definately use a featurette explaining it.

 

[TheLongshot]

Actually, I like the ads that Disney has put out. Sure, the ads don't reflect the film overall, but they do know how to market to kids, and there is enough cutesy stuff in there to bring in that segment. I would not underestimate the kids market.

Also, the film won't "bomb" since Disney doesn't have that much invested in it. Kinda similar to Mirimax's imports of Jackie Chan films. I think they'd be quite happy with $20-30 million.

Jeff: Damn, I wish I'd had known about the screening yesterday earlier. Usually, I hear about these things. Unfortunatly, the earliest I'm going to be able to get to see it is probably Sunday, since I'm doing my Anime party this weekend. (Which I will show the "Sen" trailer off of my Kiki R2 DVD and encourage people to go see.)

Jason

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Jason, if you order now, you can show Sen itself!

YesAsia.com has both the R2 and R3 in stock and can ship 2day

 

[Woo Jae]

I saw the dubbed "Spirited Away" and they don't use "brand name actors". It was a good dub, as far as I am concerned. (Note that I am an avid anime collector who watches all of his purchases subbed or with no subs. Anime dubs, IMHO, don't measure up - except here it seems.)
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2002/38.htm
Strangely enough, Spirited Away had the most AVERAGE take of all the premiers this weekend, with the movie "Secretary" the closest runner up. See the link above.
I don't think that it will "bomb" but I feel that it has enough depth of character in Chihiro and in its characters that it should do better than Disney's Lilo and Stitch. (Well, maybe not.)
Anyway, I will watch the subbed version later this week, and probably will prefer that as to the dub - but the dub was very good, and paired well with the animation. Most kids will probably enjoy a film with no singing or dancing sidekicks, and parents will enjoy a ride into a fantastic world....

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I don't think that it will "bomb" but I feel that it has enough depth of character in Chihiro and in its characters that it should do better than Disney's Lilo and Stitch. (Well, maybe not.)

$143M and counting, which is Lilo & Stitch's current b.o. take will be hard to overcome. Spirited Away's take this weekend was expected considering most of that came from anime fans in the major markets it opened at.

It's hard to predict how it will do in the long run. With all the positive reviews and being the box office crown in Japan, there are a lot of interest in it that wasn't there before. But I don't really see it making that much money when everything is said and done.

$25M is where I have it pegged right now.

~Edwin

 

[Joseph Young]

All of this discussion turns my mind to a bleak fantasy about the sequel to Spirited Away. Miyazaki & crew, while feverishly assembling ideas for their next great endeavor, find, due to a messy legal rights loophole, that Miramax/Disney have acquired the right to a sequel under Disney supervision. Spirited Away 2: Spirited Back

Sorry about all the spoilers here, but I didn't want to ruin it for people who have not yet seen the 'first film' hahaha

Chihiro is grown up and an aspiring American Idol-esque pop singer
with the voice of Britney Spears. The memories from her childhood are almost long forgotten except for a fateful day when a grown Hako (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.) comes to find her, with his talking animal buddies on tow. The baby has decided to return to mouse form and the vulture has remained as a little buzzing bird, and they talk.
Apparently they have been raised on pop culture TV, because they are constantly making references to current day hollywood scenarios, meticulously crafted to get the most pleasure for mainstream audiences.

The soundtrack is constructed of rock anthems from acts like Enrique Eglecias, Sheryl Crow and other adult contemporary favorites, as well as a new single from Britney Spears ("Take me back to the bathhouse baby")
and an end credits anthem from Phil Collins.

The small sootballs also return, but they are dressed in pop culture conscious attire like 'gangsta' outfits, star wars outfits, and of course they talk. The toy tie-ins are endless. The villian is an evil land developer who plans to harness the power of the Gods' land to power a new weapon.
The power of imagination (Chihiro's voice) overwhelms the evil and Phil Collins serenades the teary-eyed filmgoers as the credits roll.

ah, yes... i see it coming
~j

 

[Woo Jae]

That was probably a necessary counterpoint that emphasizes the goodness of SA1: The sleeper hit on DVD and video!

LOL

 

[Gui A]

Is there a list of theaters that play the subbed version?

 

[Ryan Peter]

I caught a couple nice references to older Miyazaki films. The baby's ceiling that changes from sun to moon (Castle of Cagliostra), the soundtrack had certain parts that felt like Mononoke. Haku dragon head looked like the she-wolf in Mononoke. I think I'm forgetting a few others, and I haven't seen Kiki, Totoro, or Castle in the Sky, so I'm sure it's filled with references to those as well. The song at the end is absolutely stunning.

Oh yeah, did anyone notice difference pronounciations of the name "Haku"? Sometimes it was HAA-KOO and other times just AH-KOO, the little girl said it both ways actually.

 

[Vickie_M]

My husband and I saw this at McClurg Court theater in Chicago and found this interesting: the larger, downstairs theater ("Theater 1") is showing it dubbed and in digital. One of the two upstairs theaters ("Theater 2" I think) is showing it Subtitled and on film.
We saw it downstairs and frankly, though the colors were amazing, I wish we'd seen it upstairs. I hate hate HATED the bland (or in the case of Chihiro, blackboard fingernails ANNOYING) American voices. After our showing, we ducked into the upstairs theater to see a few minutes of the other version. It was halfway through, so we didn't consider staying, but I wanted to see what the "real" version was like. Wouldn't you know it, when we walked in, Chihiro's mouth was being zipped shut by Yubaba, so we had to wait a few minutes before we could hear Rumi Hiiragi's voice. As expected, it was much better. The colors on the film version were, in comparison to the digital version, dull and muted, so there was a trade off.
I will almost certainly get the DVD, *IF* the original Japanese track is included.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Another convert to OSL Warms the cockles
I seem to be the only person who caught the Luxo Jr. reference. At Yubaba's sister's house the lamp bounces with a VERY familiar sound and style