Spirited Away

Salon, worth paying for.

Wizard of light and shadow
At last American audiences are being spirited away by the wondrous and subtle visions of Hayao Miyazaki. He's more than an eccentric Japanese fabulist -- he's the greatest animator the movies have ever seen.

I mention this because I have three of his fine family films on DVD.

Spirited Away - "Chihiro, a little girl trying to rescue her parents from a spell that has turned them into pigs." This holds the record for the biggest grossing film in Japan.

Kiki's Delivery Service - "She's the Mary Tyler Moore of 13-year-old witches."

Castle in the Sky - Indiana-Jones-style exploits as a young Welsh orphan tries to help a girl who fell overboard from a huge, zeppelin-like airship and is pursued by pirates.

I am anxiously awaiting when they will finally release "Porco Rosso", my favorite animated film. This last is about an enchanted Italian naval aviator set in the 1930's.

Next summer Disney will release his adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' children's fantasy novel "Howl's Moving Castle."