I remember seeing Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" for the first time in high school. A lot of my friends at the time were very much into Japanese animation, and while I didn't particularly care for much of it, the fact that the movie was released to such incredible critical acclaim made me willing to give it a shot. I loved it for a variety of reasons; the most obvious of which was that the animation itself was absolutely beautiful. The colors were vibrant and there was an astounding amount of detail that went into each scene. I also loved the characters and the character development, particularly how Chihiro acts in the beginning of the movie compared to her demeanor at the end of it.
I've seen a few more Miyazaki movies since "Spirited Away," including "Princess Mononoke" and my personal favorite "Howl's Moving Castle." He has this uncanny ability to essentially produce dreams on a screen and bring to life worlds I couldn't even fathom. The man's got an extraordinary imagination and the technical prowess to match.
I was most surprised to learn that "Spirited Away" actually overtook "Titanic" to become the highest-grossing film in the history of Japanese film, but I can't say I'm very surprised. I'm sure to watch this movie as a Japanese citizen is probably even more enthralling, as there's very clearly elements of Japanese folklore embedded into every frame. Japanese culture has always fascinated me by simultaneously being futuristic and traditional, and perhaps that's a lot of why I enjoyed the film as well.
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