Spirited Away (US)

This is indeed the greatest animated film of all time and Disney were delighted to present this movie to western audiences. Disneys Pixar Director John Lasseter has personally overseen the english dubbing of the movie and the transfer to ensure that little of the translation is lost. The story is about a little girl, chihiro, who walks into a mysterious abandoned theme park with her parents. Before she realises whats going on, her parents are transformed into pigs and she is trapped in a magical spirit world. Director Hayao Miyazaki tells a wonderful and magical story that delights viewers both young and old alike.

The transfer is glorious and flawless. Top marks to disney. There was a red tint problem in the original Japanese R2 dvds but this has been fixed. The sound also is great and all the moments are captured well. The english dub is a very good one. I seldom listen to english dubs of films, when the original is available, as they are often very poor but this was not the case here. A superb soundtrack.

There are quite a few extras that includes a trailer and some comments by john lasseter. There is a documentary that digs into the making of the animation. The main part of the second disc is Storyboard-to-screen comparison which was ok but I there could have been plenty more extras for such a great movie. There hasnt been good use of the 2 discs.

Overall an excellent animated movie that is destined to become an all time classic. Everyone has to see this movie. Extras let the dvd down a bit but its still the best dvd version there is and is a must own.