Spirited Away(2001)
dir. Hayao Miyazaki
A girl works in a spirit bathhouse to save her parents.
Where to watch: Subscription: HBO Max ($10.99/mo); rent $3.99 on Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Plex; buy $9.99-14.99 (JustWatch US, checked 2026-11-05). Verify.Letterboxd ↗
Ten-year-old Chihiro is moving to a new town when her parents wander into an abandoned theme park, eat the food and turn into pigs. She is stuck in a spirit world, with a bathhouse owner who takes her name, and she has to work to survive. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and is about greed, work and growing up.
Why it’s here
It's a family film where the monsters are what greed does to people. What's punk is that Chihiro wins by being decent and by working, not by being the chosen one, and that the villain is a boss who takes your name. What's pedagogical is how much a ten-year-old can read: names as power, consumption as a trap. Pairs with Princess Mononoke (suggested 10-21), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Affluenza. Note: scary scenes for the youngest; PG; Japanese with an English dub available.
Where This Film Lives
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