All the "da fuh?"s

What I know going in:
1) Miyazaki film: first one I've seen, but I know that they have beautiful animation and are more adult geared than most (Disney) animated movies
2) It's gonna be full of weird shit

Why I'm watching it:
1) I've never seen a Miyazaki film
2) Only winner of Best Animated Feature I haven't seen
3) My roommates wanted to watch it too

Spirited Away (2002)
Nom: Animated Feature
Win: Animated Feature

This movie is so weird. I just have to say it. I usually have a "da fuh" moment to include in my posts, but there is no way to pick just one for this movie. I said it out loud pretty early in the film, but I was thinking it throughout.

That said. It's also a beautiful movie. Very ethereal and mysterious; at first I wanted more explanation, then I realized that was totally unnecessary, you just have to accept the oddness and the rules of this world. "How the fuck does Chihiro know that the wolf-dragon is Haku?" "Is the witch actually the baby's mother?" Answers: ____ Maybe something is lost in the translation from Japan to USA, not just in language, but in culture and common knowledge. For all I know, this movie is full of Japanese tropes I've never heard of.

Normally when watching a foreign language film, I watch it with subtitles, but I'm glad I watched this movie with the English dub. First, I was able to fully appreciate the visuals without having to constantly read the bottom of the screen. Second, the voice actors.

I had no idea how many of the voice actors would be familiar to me. Chihiro is the same girl who voiced Lilo for example. I saw David Ogden Stiers in the opening credits and got excited, because I know how great he is: if you haven't heard the name, you've definitely heard the voice, because he is the voice of Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (as well as the opening narrator - on Broadway too!) as well as the Archdeacon in Hunchback of Notre Dame. I didn't think I would recognize his voice, because he transforms his voice for roles, and I was right. If I hadn't looked it up on IMDB, I would have never guessed that he voiced the boiler man with all the creepy arms -though the soot balls were adorable! Another voice actor I was excited to see in the credits was Tara Strong - she's done a lot of voices on Nickelodeon like Rugrats and Fairly Oddparents. Her voice was much more recognizable as the giant baby. My roommate recognized another voice: Partway through, he realized that one of the bathhouse attendants was voiced by the same actor as Squidward on Spongebob. Voice actors almost never get much credit for the amazing things they do, and I love what they do and am so impressed by their ability to create such distinct characters with nothing but their voice. Especially impressive to me in a dub, because they have to fit the translated line into the space that the original voice actor used.

Definitely looking forward to some more Miyazaki works after this one. I know that both The Wind Rises and Howl's Moving Castle were nominated, so those will be the next one probably.

Surprise appearance: Other than the above listed voice actors who I recognized from the opening credits, there was another very familiar voice that I missed at the beginning. As soon as Lin opened her mouth, I was like "It's Susan Egan!" You might know her as the voice of Meg in Disney's Hercules or the original Belle in the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast. I love her voice, it has so much personality!

Caught up! - Next up: I have Doctor Zhivago at home, but we'll see when I'm the mood for that one.