Spirited Away [2001] (2 discs)

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• Despite having a rich plot with developed characters, Spirited Away (2001) was not made with a script. In fact, Hayao Miyazaki's films never had scripts. "I don't have the story finished and ready when we start work on a film," the filmmaker told Midnight Eye. "I usually don't have the time. So the story develops when I start drawing storyboards. The production starts very soon thereafter, while the storyboards are still developing." Miyazaki does not know where the plot is going, and he lets it happen organically. "It's not me who makes the film. The film makes itself and I have no choice but to follow".
• The kanji names of many of the characters provide clues to their identities: Yubaba (hot-water crone), Zeniba (money crone), Kaonashi (no face), Bô (young boy/child), Kamajii (kettle/boiler pot/old man), Chihiro (thousand fathoms or thousand searches), Sen (thousand (pronunciation of chi kanji when isolated)).
• There are several instances in the English-dubbed version where dialogue was added in that was not present in the original Japanese release. In an interview with John Lasseter, he explained that it was a necessary addition to help clarify certain elements for American audiences. For example, what is clearly a bathhouse to a Japanese viewer might not be apparent to an American viewer, so this translation issue was fixed by having the character explain, "Oh, it's a bathhouse."
• In order to animate the scene where Chihiro force feeds Haku the medicine in his dragon form, Hayao Miyazaki had his animators study a dog's mouth as they fed it treats while a veterinarian held its lower jaw.
• The cleansing of the river spirit is based on a real-life incident in Hayao Miyazaki's life in which he participated in the cleaning of a river, removing, among other things, a bicycle.
• This is the first film to earn US$200 million in grosses before opening in the U.S.
• When Chihiro arrives at Zeniba's house, the jumping lamp with sound effect is a nod to the Pixar logo.
• To do the voice of Chihiro's mother talking while eating, actress Yasuko Sawaguchi actually spoke the dialog (in the original Japanese-language version) while eating a piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Actress Lauren Holly did the same thing in the English version with an apple.
• Last film of Suzanne Pleshette (Yubaba).
• Everytime No Face appears there is Balinese Gamelan music to be heard in the background.
• Executive producer John Lasseter of Pixar supervised the English-language dubbing of the film and tried to match the actors' English-language dialog with the mouth movements of the animated characters.
• First anime film to be nominated for (and win) an Academy Award. It also has the longest runtime of any other film nominated or winning in that category (125 minutes).
• In the English-language version, John Ratzenberger (Aniyaku) completely improvised the ditty he sings when he is extolling the virtues of the rich customer No-Face ("Welcome the rich man, he's hard for you to miss..."). The original script's song was "Welcome the rich man--he's pretty big, you see/so all bow down and get on bended knee."
• The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. Also included among the "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by ^[?] Steven Schneider.
• The only traditionally animated film to win the oscar for Best Animated Feature, as of 2020.
• Jason Marsden (Haku) and Suzanne Pleshette (Yubaba) voice acted as mother and son in The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998).
• After his bath by Chihiro/Sen, the river spirit rewards her with an emetic dumpling. Emetic is actually an ancient substance that induces vomiting and only was used for people who swallowed poison. Or, in this movie's case, greedy desires and manipulative agents from lost spirits.