Spirited Away

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki wrote the script after he decided the film would be based on his friend's ten-year-old daughter, who came to visit his house each summer. At the time, Miyazaki was developing two personal projects, but they were rejected. Production of Spirited Away began in 2000. During production, Miyazaki realized the film would be over three hours and decided to cut out several parts of the story for its July 27, 2001 release. Pixar director John Lasseter, a fan of Miyazaki, was approached by Walt Disney Pictures to supervise an English-language translation for the film's North American release. Lasseter hired Kirk Wise as director and Donald W. Ernst as producer of the adaptation. Screenwriters Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt penned the English-language dialogue, which they wrote to match the characters' original Japanese-language lip movements. The English-language adaptation was released on September 20, 2002.

When released, Spirited Away became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $274 million worldwide. The film overtook Titanic in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a $229,607,878 total. Acclaimed by international critics, the film is often considered amongst the greatest animated films of all-time and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

English Voice Cast

 * Chihiro - Daveigh Chase
 * Yubaba, Zeniba - Suzanne Pleshette
 * Haku - Jason Marsden
 * Lin - Susan Egan
 * Kamaji - David Ogden Stiers
 * Chihiro's Mother - Lauren Holly
 * Chihiro's Father - Michael Chiklis
 * Assistant Manager - John Ratzenberger
 * Boh (Baby) - Tara Strong

Additional Voices

 * Mickie McGowan
 * Jack Angel
 * Bob Bergen - Frog, No-Face
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Jennifer Darling
 * Paul Eiding
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Mona Marshall
 * Candi Milo
 * Colleen O'Shaughnessey
 * Phil Proctor
 * Jim Ward