Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002

Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki, Japan

A lonely girl wanders into a bathhouse run by ghosts in this vigorous delight from the master of Eastern animation. Tyrannical queens, boy-dragons and a fabulously stinky river god populate the finest example of traditional cartoonery since Aladdin. It's sweet, scary and, like any good ghost story, perfectly haunting.