Spirited Away (2002)

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Synopsis

Spirited away is a 2001 anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki, which tells the tale of a girl, Chihiro, who moves to a new town with her parents, much to the discomfort of Chihiro. On the way to their new home, they take a wrong turn and end up at an abandoned theme park. Chihiro’s parents decide to take a look around, despite Chihiro’s protests. They soon come to realize that this theme park has indeed been abandoned, but is somehow filled with stalls of newly prepared food. Her parents dig in and start to eat ravenously. Chihiro, still cautious, leaves her parents to have a look around, and meets a boy named Haku in the process. Haku orders her to collect her parents, and get to the other side of the river as fast as possible. Leaving with haste, she returns only to find that her parents have been turned into pigs, and reaches the river in time to realize she’s on an island. Suddenly spirits and other mythical beings start to appear, consequently Chihiro tries to hide, only to be found by Haku. He takes Chihiro to the bathhouse, hiding her presence from the other spirits. He then sends her to the boiler man, Kamajii, in search of a job, which in turn will help her to rescue her parents and escape.

 These black dots are  Kamajii's workers

With the help of the six-armed boiler room master Kamajii and a bathhouse servant girl named Lin, Chihiro is able to convince Yubaba, the witch owner of the bathhouse,to give her a job. But in exchange for the job and the opportunity to rescue her now pig-parents, Chihiro has to sacrifice her name, her “soul” to Yubaba, and work in service for her in an eternity. Yubaba changes Chihiro( 千尋 )’s name to Sen( 千 ). Chihiro comes to learn that Haku is indebted by Yubaba, just as she is. Soon after Chihiro is put to work alongside Lin, and commanded to treat the filthiest and most difficult spirits who visit the bathhouse. After treating a river spirit (who no one would even go close to, due to the terrible stench he was emitting), she is rewarded a special medicine ball, able to treat any disease or wound.   

 No-face trying to win Chihiro over by giving her gold

Returning from a mission for Yubaba, Haku reveals his dragon form to Chihiro. He is suddenly attacked by what seem to be paper fireflies, under the control of Yubaba’s sister, Zeniba. Haku had been sent to steal a seal belonging to Zeniba, by Yubaba. Concealing the seal in his stomach, it has a spell that causes Haku to have internal bleeding. Chihiro tries to help by feeding him the herb ball, as a reaction Haku vomits, recovering the seal. With Haku passed out, Chihiro decides to return the seal to Zeniba, hoping she can free Haku from his curse. Travelling by train, along with wraith-like spirit called No-Face, who terrorized the bathhouse and tried to earn the affection of Chihiro, Yubaba's pet raven (who has been turned into a small, fly-like creature by Zeniba), and Boh, Yubaba's gigantic infant son whom Zeniba had transformed into a mouse.
 

Big-faced lady is actually Yubaba, though her baby, Boh, is acutally larger

Arriving at Zeniba’s house, it’s revealed that Zeniba isn’t as evil as she had been portrayed by her sister. She explains that Yubaba’s spell over Haku has been weakened by Chihiro’s love and caring. Chihiro receives a homemade hairband from Zeniba and her traveling friends. Soon after Haku shows up to inform Chihiro that Yubaba is willing to release her parents if Boh is returned to her, safely. Zaniba tells Chihiro not to worry and offers No-face to become her assistant. On their way back, Chihiro suddenly come to the realization that Haku is the same river spirit that saved her when she was near drowning in when she was just a little child. Momentarily after uttering Haku's real name, Yubaba’s control over him vanishes, and the curse is fully broken.

When they arrive at the bathhouse, Yubaba reveals one final challenge for Chihiro, even though she promised to release her parents as soon as Boh was returned. Regardless, Chihiro accepts the challenge, only to be shown a pen of about 20 pigs; her challenge: to figure out which ones are her parents. Chihiro realizes that Yubaba is trying to trick her, and that her parents aren’t actually in the pen. Yubaba forfeits the challenge and releases Chihiro from her duties. Haku escorts her to the entrance of the spirit world, telling her that her parents are waiting on the other side, but not to look back or else the deal will be broken. On the other side of the river she joins up with her parents which are now back in human form. They return to their car now covered in branches and leaves due to the time that passed since they arrived and head home. Still shaken by the entire experience, Chihiro notices the Zeniba’s hair band that she is still wearing, cementing her adventure in the spirit world.

Director's note

 "This film is an adventure story, although the characters neither swing weapons around, nor use supernatural powers in battle. It is an adventure story, but its theme is not a confrontation between good and evil. It will be a story of a girl who was thrown into a world where both good and evil exist. She gets trained, learns about friendship and devotion, and survives by using her wisdom. She finds her way out, dodges, and comes back to her old daily life for the time being. However, it is not because evil was destroyed - just as the world does not disappear, evil does not disappear. It is because she gained the power to live. Today, the world has become ambiguous; but even though it is ambiguous, the world is encroaching and trying to consume everything. It is the main theme of this film to describe such a world clearly in the form of a fantasy.  " - Hayao Miyazaki