29. Spirited Away (2001)

During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Writer: Hayao Miyazaki

Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino

Story:
Ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino and her parents are traveling to their new home when her father takes a wrong turn. They enter what appears to be an abandoned amusement park, which Chihiro's father insists on exploring. Chihiro's parents sit at an empty but seemingly operational restaurant and begin to devour the fresh food in a piggish manner; meanwhile, Chihiro discovers an exquisitebathhouse across a bridge, where a young boy named Haku warns her to get out before the impending sunset. Frantically, Chihiro returns to her parents, only to discover that they have transformed into pigs. She attempts to escape, but the way by which they came has since become submerged. Frightened and alone, she observes as the world she ventured into reveals itself as a luxurious retreat for spirits to revitalize themselves.

Haku finds Chihiro and advises her to demand a job from the bathhouse's boiler-man, Kamaji, a spider-like being who prepares requested treatments for guests.(At this point, Chihiro will often be seen barefoot) Kamaji and Lin, one of the employees there, send Chihiro to Yubaba, the cruel and tyrannical owner of the bathhouse. While she initially refuses Chihiro's service, Yubaba reluctantly hires her in exchange for her identity, renaming her Sen (千?). Haku takes Sen to visit her parents' pigpen and returns her clothes. Within, Sen finds a goodbye card from a friend with her real name written on it. Haku tells her that Yubaba controls people by taking their names and that she will become trapped in the spirit world if she forgets her name, as he has.

While working, Sen invites a silent, masked creature named No-Face inside the bathhouse, believing him to be a customer. A "stink spirit" subsequently arrives, and Sen is quickly assigned to tend to the guest by her nauseated superiors. She discovers he is actually the powerful guardian spirit of a polluted river. In gratitude for cleaning him, he gives Sen a magic emetic dumpling. Sen is congratulated by her gleeful coworkers, who had shunned her as an outsider. Later, while most of the staff sleep, No-Face tempts a worker with gold. The greedy employee takes the bait only to be swallowed whole. No-Face begins demanding food, producing gold to tempt the naive staff. As the workers swarm him, hoping to be tipped, he devours two of them and grows larger.

Sen discovers paper shikigami attacking a dragon and recognizes the dragon as Haku transformed. When a grievously-injured Haku crashes into Yubaba's penthouse, Sen follows him upstairs. When she reaches Haku, a shikigami that stowed away on her back transforms into Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister. She transforms Yubaba's baby son Boh into a mouse, creates a decoy baby, and turns Yubaba's pet bird creature into a tiny, fly-like bird. Zeniba tells Sen that Haku has stolen a magic golden seal from her and warns Sen that it carries a deadly curse. After Haku dives to the boiler room with Sen and Boh on his back, she feeds him part of the dumpling, causing him to vomit both the seal and a black slug, which Sen crushes with her foot.

With Haku unconscious, Sen resolves to return the seal and apologize for Haku. Before she leaves the bathhouse, Sen confronts the now-massive No-Face and feeds him the rest of the dumpling. No-Face chases Sen out of the bathhouse, steadily vomiting out those he has eaten and thus gradually returning to his former self. Sen, No-Face, Boh, and the bird creature travel to see Zeniba. Enraged at the damage caused by No-Face, Yubaba blames Sen for inviting him in and orders that her parents be slaughtered. After Haku reveals that Boh is missing, he promises to retrieve Boh in exchange for Yubaba freeing Sen and her parents.

Sen, No-Face, Boh, and the bird creature arrive at Zeniba's house. Zeniba, now the benevolent "Granny," reveals that Sen's love for Haku broke her curse and that Yubaba had used the black slug to control him. Haku appears in his dragon form and flies both Sen and Boh back to the bathhouse. No-Face unexpectedly shows itself as a very goodspinner for Zeniba and accepts her proposal to stay as a helper.

On the way back, Sen recalls a memory from her youth in which she had fallen into the Kohaku River while trying to retrieve her fallen shoe but was swept safely ashore. After correctly guessing that Haku is the spirit of the Kohaku River (and thus revealing his real name), Haku is freed from Yubaba's control. When they arrive at the bathhouse, Yubaba tells Sen that in order to break the curse on her parents, she must identify them from among a group of pigs. Sen correctly states that none of the pigs are her parents, releasing her parents from the curse and herself from her contract with Yubaba. Haku takes her to the entrance to the spirit world and promises to see her again in the future. Chihiro reunites with her restored parents, who do not remember what happened. They walk back to their car, which has become covered in fallen leaves and dust after days passed in their absence, and drive away.