Spirited Away Blu-ray/DVD

I have never, ever forgiven Disney for any of the horrific dubs they've done for ANY of the Ghibli/Miyazaki movies, especially since Streamline did such an excellent job dubbing them before the Mouse House got their greedy paws on them. SPIRITED AWAY is one that I demand a redub for. The Disney dub is absolutely HIDEOUS in every way. The voices are all shrill, obnoxious, flat, annoying, and do NOT suit their characters at all. Chihiro sounds like a spoiled brat, and Haku's VA is just wrong. The script has also been fudged around: who's idea was it to add those extra lines and to ruin the ambiguous ending? Everyone involved should be ashamed! Why GKids is choosing to rerelease this stinker dub is totally beyond me. My suggestion: avoid this HORRIBLE dub and watch this movie ONLY in Japanese. Otherwise don't watch at all. Period.

Okay, first of all, I am a subtitle purist and I do prefer Anime in Japanese. Including the Ghibli movies. However, having said that, I seriously wonder how ANYONE can possibly downgrade the Disney dubs for these movies. They have all been nothing but absolutely fine. SPIRITED AWAY is no different, in fact it may be one of their best. Daveigh Chase is not in any way miscast as Chihiro, and the other VAs include Suzanne Pleshette in a terrific role, Susan Egan, and other capable performers. Best of all they don't cut even one second. Yes they do add in lines, but Ghibli had to approve of them and as far as I'm concerned they don't ruin the movies at all. If you don't like the dub don't watch it, but don't give this movie a bad grade just because you don't like the dub.

Honestly, pick one version and enjoy. Not worth getting upset about.

I have to agree with people say the dubs of the Ghibli movies have been awesome. They pretty much all are. I may not be particularly fond of SPIRITED AWAY as much as others are, but I still did enjoy it. It's an absolutely beautiful movie, scary at times, heartwarming and funny at others. Miyazaki is quite a master at his craft. Kudos to Disney for issuing his work uncut, too. And just as much to GKids for keeping them in print. I only hope we don't have the John Lasseter extras, though. Those were too pandering for my tastes. But there's nothing wrong with the dubs for any of these films.

I won't touch on the film or the dub in general (both are honestly fine), but from my observation of GKids' release, it might actually be worth holding onto the Disney BD of this movie. Although the former addition includes an absolutely useless intro from John Lasseter, it also includes two featurettes which are not included on the GKids BD -- "The Art of Spirited Away" (which mostly touched on Disney getting the rights for the Ghibli catalog -- an understandable absence), but also the NTV Special covering the making of the film. Yes, it's included on the DVD accompaniment, but I still found it odd that it's omitted from the BD on this reissue. Furthermore, there aren't any noticeable differences I could detect in the video or audio quality.

For all the flak Disney gets, their first BD release of SPIRITED AWAY had very little, if any, issues. It ultimately comes down to whether you own the film already or not.

Spirited Away is a timeless classic that should be watched by anyone who likes anime or movies in general. It captures the feeling of Hayao Miyazaki's works perfectly and lets you take a peek into a lively, fascinating and fantastic world full of magical creatures. If I had to describe the movie with one word it would be: imaginitive.
It stimulates your imagination, fantasy and creativity and presents its world in stunning animation (which has aged quite well). Its 2 hours runtime are over in an instant as you will find yourself completely immersed in the mostly visual story-telling and the atmosphere which ranges from welcoming and warm to dark and disturbing throughout the movie.
However, the movie never fails to be charming and entertaining and truly takes you on a surreal ,yet realistic feeling journey. A must-watch.

Pricier DVD compared to the same movie without blu-ray compatibility.

Probably Miyazaki's best movie, and this guy cranked out timeless classics. Wonderful characterizations, intricate worlds, top-notch plot that both pulls you into the action/suspense and also hints at an allegory, a message of learning to overcome ourselves to face the universe, and all its dangers, with joy.

Although I didn't know it at the time, this is the first Miyazaki movie I ever saw. I loved this movie and instantly fell for the spirit world and all its characters. A truly magical storyline.