3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Spirited Away’: 1. I can appreciate the imagination and whimsy infused into this film, but it just wasn’t my cup o’ tea. And I reeeally wanted to like it. 2. I sincerely cannot understand the high rating. There is simply not a cohesive storyline here. It was kinda all over the place. So much was random, nothing was really explained, and it was often difficult keeping my attention — especially with the long runtime. 3. It feels like they tried really hard to tug on the heartstrings, but there was such an emotional disconnect for me. I was not invested into these characters at all, sadly.

After n-th rewatch I'm still totally enchanted by this film. Almost deadly level of imagination, beautiful animation and extremely well crafted and intelligent story telling. Count me in.

I felt emotionally detached from the characters and the storyline; much of the movie's deeper meaning flew over my head. In hindsight, I respect the film's rich symbolism and references to real-world issues. This movie deserves high ratings; however, it wasn't my cup of tea.

I don't know why I found so nostalgic that lonely ghost girl at the train station staring directly at Chihiro's eyes as the tramcar goes away, it seems that like I lived that moment in a previous life... its so familiar yet strange, like a dream you swore was real...