Jaylin G

There's hardly anyone on the internet that doesn't like this movie. That fact is just as confusing to me as this movie. I wanted to like this movie since everyone was saying great things about it. But the whole 2 hours, I just kept asking myself questions that were never really answered. It's a slow-paced film, but what bothers me is the lack of fun I had while watching this movie. I wasn't invested enough. Spoilers: Once I got to the spirit land, I kinda just wanted to get out of there just as much as Chihiro. I did feel bad for her when she's crying and all she wants to do is just go home. For a while, she's working to free herself and her parents but that shifts and suddenly people just start helping her because she's nice, I guess? Things were happening and it didn't feel cohesive. Eventually, her friend Haku, is a dragon and is hurt? I don't know how she knew it was him. Then, she helps him, and eventually she's able to go free if she can pick her parents out from the group of pigs. I don't understand how any of these events are related? What's the moral here? Is it anti-consumerist, is it environmentalist, is it kindness, is it to conquer your fear, because she is fearful at the beginning. Is it all of those? I could sense the movie trying to do something but I just couldn't grasp it enough. I liked the old lady, I liked Lin, and the spider old man, and I even liked Chihiro if she'd just have a clear arc. Everyone else I honestly didn't care about. Haku and Chihiro all of a sudden have a romance, and I just didn't buy it, there was no chemistry in my opinion and so therefore I felt nothing at the end, which is not good because I could tell that was supposed to be important. The only scene I liked was the bath scene with that muddy spirit, because it was all Chihiro, learning from Lin and doing it herself when no one else wanted to. Then she is rewarded. It made sense. And I thought, is this where the movie starts to make sense and things pick up? But not really. I'm really disappointed I didn't like it. Maybe because I'm not Japanese, there were contexts that I just couldn't understand. There's probably lore and deep themes there that I'm just not seeing but if the movie can't get me to a place where I feel that and buy everything emotionally, then that's on the movie, right? Maybe in the future, I'll watch it again, but as of right now, I honestly would be happy never seeing it again.