Home Video Review // Spirited Away & The Cat Returns

This week we get two more Blu-ray offerings from Studio Ghibli, The Cat Returns and Spirited Away.

Spirited Away

Spirited Away tells the story of a sullen young girl who wanders into a magical bath house for gods and spirits. Attempting to locate her parents without being discovered as human by the witch who runs the bath house, she must summon all her courage to make it through the magical night. Spirited Away is a masterpiece of animated storytelling. Originally released in 2001 the anime went on to win the Academy Award for best animated feature and helped make Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli recognizable names in North America. The Blu-ray/DVD combo packs offer a peak into the famed animation house with a making of featurette plus lots more behind the scenes footage from both the original and English Disney versions.

The Cat Returns

Although lesser known, The Cat Returns, is another daring animation from Studio Ghibli. The directorial debut of animator Hiroyuki Morita follows a young girl who after rescuing the Prince of Cats is brought to the Cat Kingdom to involuntarily be married to the Prince. The English version features an all star voice cast including Anne Hathaway, Judy Greer, Cary Elwes, Kristen Bell and Tim Curry. Elwes voices the title Cat, known as The Baron, a cat figurine who comes to life to help those who are lost. The character was first introduced in the 1995 Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart and went on to spawn a manga which would become the basis for the film, The Cat Returns.