Khoi Vinh’s review published on Letterboxd:
I can recognize the appeal of this movie as a semantic treasure hunt through Miyazaki’s id, and I can accept that its dream logic is purposefully antithetical to traditional narrative structure. I’ll also allow the possibility that my own dramatic requirements are too conservative to truly appreciate the wonder on offer here. Nevertheless this movie just feels totally empty to me, mostly because there’s exceedingly little “there” there in the form of the 10-year old Chihiro/Sen. For no reason at all, I found myself comparing her to Marty McFly whom, before he ever gets close to going back in time, we learn so much about: he dreams of being Huey Lewis on a skateboard, his dad is a dweeb and his mom is an alcoholic, his family is being generationally bullied by Biff Tannen, etc. In contrast, the protagonist of “Spirited Away” is an empty vessel—and not just ahead of the inciting incident but also throughout the rest of the movie, where Miyazaki seems to intentionally avoid sharing any detail about her past or inner life. She’s just there to react to all of the visual splendor and grotesqueries that Miyazaki is obviously so much more interested in. As a result it’s a struggle to feel invested in the journey here, to identify even remotely with what Sen wants in any meaningful way. It seems that Miyazaki’s real intention for her, as for the audience, is to just be impressed by the wildness of his imagination. I’m impressed, I guess, but I don’t find it rewarding.
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