Spirited Away, meanwhile, is happy to collect awards.

The Japanese fantasy "Spirited Away" won top honors at the animation industry's Annie Awards ceremony, picking up trophies for best feature film, writing, music and direction.
The film, by writer-director Hayao Miyazaki, tells an Alice in Wonderland-style story about a girl who becomes trapped in a world of nature spirits and must escape to rescue her parents from a spell that transformed them into pigs.
Known as "Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi" in its homeland, "Spirited Away" became Japan's highest-grossing movie ever in 2001, topping the American film "Titanic" by earning approximately $234 million.

A great film, too. I've never been into anime, though that's possibly because most of the anime you get here (on video and on SBS when they show it) is dubbed, and I tend to loathe dubbing with a passion. I made a point of seeing the undubbed Spirited Away when it arrived here (the Chauvel had the subtitled print, other cinemas got the American one) and really enjoyed it.

posted by James Russell | 2:07 PM