Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
94
(36 sources)
94
(36 sources)
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100
Baltimore Sun
A visual masterpiece about a scared little girl's breathtaking journey of self-discovery. All of the fun is getting there. Read Full Review » -
100
Charlotte Observer
Yet its visual surrealism, identity-bending and strong social/ecological message make it as much an allegory as a fable. Read Full Review » -
100
New York Daily News
Turns everything we know about the contemporary world on its head, and substitutes it with one in which spirits, monsters, magicians and animals mix it up in a carnival of energy, good humor and freewheeling illusion. Read Full Review » -
100
New Times (L.A.)
Probably like nothing you've ever seen before. In a cool world, it would be guaranteed not only the Best Animated Feature Oscar, but Best Picture as well. Read Full Review » -
100
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100
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100
New York Post
A Japanese cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz" -- is such a landmark in animation that labeling it a masterpiece almost seems inadequate. Read Full Review » -
100
Entertainment Weekly
A triumph of psychological depth and artistic brilliance offered as the magical adventures of one skinny little girl. Read Full Review » -
100
LA Weekly
Does full honor to Miyazaki's teeming and often unsettling landscape, and to the conflicted complexity of his characters: Not a single frame was cut, and the voice casting and performances are uniformly excellent. Read Full Review » -
100
Time
Artful but not arty, Spirited Away is a handcrafted cartoon, as personal as an Utamaro painting, yet its breadth and heart give it an appeal that should touch American viewers of all ages. Read Full Review » -
100
Portland Oregonian
Miyazaki is a genius, and this film is a masterpiece; go see it. Read Full Review » -
100
Variety
An out-and-out charmer. It's almost impossible to do justice in words either to the visual richness of the movie, which melanges traditional Japanese clothes and architecture with both Victorian and modern-day artifacts, or to the character-filled storyline, with human figures, harpies and grotesque creatures. Read Full Review » -
100
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100
Wall Street Journal
It is plainly, though not simply, a masterpiece from an acknowledged master of contemporary animation, and a wonderfully welcoming work of art that's as funny and entertaining as it is brilliant, beautiful and deep. Read Full Review » -
100
Chicago Sun-Times
It's enchanting and delightful in its own way, and has a good heart. It is the best animated film of recent years, the latest work by Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese master who is a god to the Disney animators. Read Full Review » -
100
New York Magazine
The most deeply and mysteriously satisfying animated feature to come along in ages. Read Full Review » -
100
Empire
The fact that Miyazaki and his team hand-draw the images before they're digitally coloured and animated gives them an artistry that has been woefully lacking from so many recent American features. Read Full Review » -
100
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100
USA Today
Director Hayao Miyazaki treats his audience as imaginative and intelligent human beings, rather than catering to kids with rote displays of silliness, stunts and scares. Read Full Review » -
90
The New York Times
The towering, lost dreaminess at the heart of the film is an unmistakable obsession of this director. Read Full Review » -
90
The Hollywood Reporter
Spirited dazzles and entertains like no other movie this year. It also comes to a satisfying conclusion and never once seems to take shortcuts. Miyazaki is one of world cinema's most wondrously gifted artists and storytellers. Read Full Review » -
90
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90
The Onion (A.V. Club)
A wonderful encore, marked by the painstaking attention to detail and artful balance between terror and joy that make Miyazak's work unique. Read Full Review » -
90
Village Voice
A very nutty fruitcake, Spirited Away is characterized by wonderfully detailed animation, packed with incident and populated by all manner of comic creatures. Read Full Review » -
89
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88
ReelViews
Overall, while Spirited Away may not be as complex and imaginative as "Princess Mononoke" in some areas, it is as beautifully rendered and no less sophisticated in its outlook. Miyazaki has provided another triumph, and, in the midst of the quality fall-off of Disney's in-house animated projects, a reason for animation-lovers to rejoice. Read Full Review » -
88
Chicago Tribune
It's a movie full of bewitching images and timeless fun and beauty. Read Full Review » -
88
Miami Herald
Offers a ride worth taking -- an excursion through a fantastical pop universe that is pure, enchanting magic. Try it; you'll like it. Read Full Review » -
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
The most successful film ever released in Japan, and co-winner of the top prize at this year's Berlin film festival, Spirited Away is a complete reversal of the Hollywood way with animation. Read Full Review » -
80
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80
Salon.com
It will disturb you as much as thrill you, make you wonder whether the boundaries between life and death, reality and fantasy, imagination and insanity are ever what they appear to be. Read Full Review » -
80
Washington Post
This movie -- which is equally appealing to children (those of adventurous, non-freak-outable spirit), Japanese animation (anime) fans, and any surviving acquaintances of Timothy Leary -- is so full of invention, you might want to take a breather now and then. Read Full Review » -
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Has the power to transport us to a different place. The spark of special anime magic here is unmistakable and hard to resist. Read Full Review » -
75
San Francisco Chronicle
A lovely, evocative tour de force. So why does it seem we should be enjoying it more? Read Full Review » -
75
Christian Science Monitor
Too intense for the youngest viewers, but teenagers will enjoy it -- an ill-smelling "stink-god" character is almost worthy of a Kevin Smith gross-out movie -- and grown-ups should find it diverting, if not exactly deep. Read Full Review » -
75
Boston Globe
Delivers chunks of ''Yellow Submarine'' and ''The Phantom Tollbooth'' -- a vividly timeless oddity suitable for many children and most stoners. Read Full Review »
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