Lost and found in a dream

Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli animators had their biggest-ever triumph with "Mononoke Hime (The Princess Mononoke)," an eco-fable set in premodern Japan that broke all box-office records in 1997.

Unlike animation studio heads in Hollywood, who are not expected to personally animate their creations (Walt Disney was a famously mediocre artist), Miyazaki is a hands-on type; he took a pencil to nearly 80,000 of the 144,000 cels used in "Mononoke Hime." Aged 56 when he completed his herculean three-year task, he was badly in need of a rest and announced his retirement from directing.

Fortunately for us, though, he is also an incurable workaholic, and now, four years later, there is another Miyazaki animated film, "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)." While "Mononoke Hime" was unapologetically targeted at teenagers and adults, with graphic violence that would have never passed the first reader at Disney (though the Mouse House signed a deal with Studio Ghibli to distribute the film), "Sen to Chihiro" is aimed, says Miyazaki, at 10-year-old girls. Accordingly, it is simpler in everything from language to story line.