Movie Critique. Visual & Performing Arts Movie Review

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Spirited Away
Introduction
In 2001, the world witnessed a significant landmark in the history of animation movie with the introduction of Spirited Away. The Away movie is an imaginative art written and directed by Miyazaki Hayao. The film targets the young audience starting from around ten and older. Although it is designed for a particular age group, it is perhaps more important for the adult audience. The tale follows a young girl known as Chihiro in a challenging situation trying to deal with her separation from family as well as self-identity. A significant portion of the story is in the bathhouse, where spirits visit for nourishment. Just like other humans, Chihiro fights to survive in the house, while venturing on a journey of self-maturation. Spirited Away is perhaps rich in detail as it offers a foundation in the animation bedrock. The movie uses its characters to symbolize the world in the context of the indistinct line between good and evil. The main protagonist, Chihiro, along with Haku, and Zeniba face numerous conflicts in the guise of being good and evil. In other words, the characters in the film represent a conflict of morality that humans go through. The essay attempts to analyze the movie and point out its essential aspects.
Character Checklist
Chihiro.At the start of the movie, Chihiro is like any other ordinary girl who is overprotected by the parents. She is first introduced to the audience while feeling angry because of the proposed move to the new town, where she does not want. Although her parents try to convince her to view the trip as an adventure, she deliberately refuses. Besides behaving childishly, Chihilo's maturity and wisdom are at the peak of her understanding, though she is not aware of that in the beginning. One of the signs that show her maturity is her intuitive observation of the rules, and understanding of their importance. She continues to do this even at times when authoritarians tell her to break them. For instance, when her father decides to explore the park, she wisely predicts that it is not a good idea (0:26). Furthermore, while in the park, her parents come across food, which they gorge on, but Chihiro’s refrains from eating anything. Admittedly, this is a sign of absolute respect for rules, and this helps her when struggling in the spiritual world.
In addition, when Yubaba changes her name to Sen, she appears to have lost her identity. While under the character of Sen, she goes through numerous changes (Reider 2). At the moment, she desperately holds on her real self. She is told that if she forgets her name, then she will remain in the spirit world forever. In this process, she thinks that resisting the new identity is the only way to survive. Surprisingly, while in her new identity as Sen, this is the period Chihiro’s true self manifests. Right from the beginning, Chihiro has been kind and respectful, and these are the qualities she heavily relies on as Sen (Reider 14). She does not give way for scary circumstances to reduce here trust and optimism. Her kindness turns out to be of great importance in her escape as she forms a friendship with bathhouse inhabitants. More so, she helps Haku and some other helpless spirits despite her understanding that doing so she risks being trap in the spirit world forever.
When Chihiro saves Haku, he becomes a greedy monster, and get on the move to return the magic talisman to the witch. In this case, Chihiro portrays braveness, which she initially did not realize she was holding the character. By the end of the film, Chihiro does not only recover her identity but rescue some other people such as the parents. Ultimately, her heroine trait is more of a superhero, which makes her a unique character in the movie.
Haku.Haku is a river spirit and has forgotten who exactly he is. Through his performance in the movie, Haku proves to be a complex character. He is the one who offers the first hand of assistance to Chihiro (0:26). However, Haku is not the real name as it was given to him by Yubaba. Through this, he becomes her henchman and must do whatever he is told. Despite losing his identity, he remains humble and open. Haku portrays kindness, sweetness, as well gentleness to Chihiro. Typically, this is evident when he warns her to cross the river, and later comes for her rescue when she failed. Although he is kindhearted, he goes through hardships to regain his freedom. In addition, just like many other architects, Haku is a spirit despite being portrayed in a human body. Indeed, this implies that he is a mixture of super-private and aspiring. Throughout the movie, it is his intellectualism that keeps ahead and later saves him from death.
Haku sometimes turns into a white dragon, and this appearance means a river is flowing and graceful (Kawamura par. 6). Conversely, Haku is not always composed as he portrays real sadness and bravery. The river he was representing "Kohaku River," drained and the left land is used to build sophisticated apartments leaving him a truly lost soul. Although the bathhouse he seems to have made peace with the bathhouse, he very well acknowledges that he once had his real home. What is more surprising is his treatment of Chihiro is complicated as sometimes be kind, and later turns cruel. Probably, this might be the reason Chihiro gets to know the Haku under the control of Yubaba. He seems powerful, but in most cases, he is too weak to an extent he cannot remember his name, which puts him at risk of staying under the control of Yubaba forever. Additionally, Haku and Sen's loyal friendship enables them to go through the challenges. They both use their abilities to fight for each other to free themselves from the spiritual monster. However, as a spirit, Haku does less in their struggle, although he later discovers his identity. Subsequently, by the end of the film, Haku is freed, enjoying his freedom and peace.

2a. Symbols and Imagery
With the help of stunning visual captions, Miyazaki captures the attention of the audience by using magical creatures and places. At the beginning of the film, the audience sees the young girl in an area with black wraiths. Typically, such an environment is sufficient to instill fear of ghosts. When Akio, Sen's father, takes the route heading to the abandoned amusement park, Sen senses something strange that her parents do not. In an attempt to introduce the spirits to the audience, Mayazaki uses a rainbow-like stream of colors to depict spirits. Notably, this true reflection of the ghosts is observable when the director attempts to explain the origin of the feud between humans and spirits (15:11). In addition, the visual represented by the clouds at this very moment portrays a real atmosphere in which spirits live. Since common sense dictates that ghosts live mysteriously in places like this one, the scene adds credit to the intention of the director. Although Baker offers one of the guardian brothers a leaf as a guiding tool to the human world, it is quite challenging to believe how...