Spirited Away

The story

On the way to a new home, Chihiro's family takes a wrong turn and ends up in an empty town where her parents are turned into pigs. To save them, she takes a job in a bathhouse run by the witch Yubaba, who takes her name in exchange. With help from the mysterious Haku and a crew of overworked spirits, she has to remember who she is.

Why watch it

Nobody in the film is simply good or evil, and Chihiro changes without a single speech about it – you see it in how she walks, eats and holds her ground. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and it still rewards a second viewing.

A scene to pause on. The train across the flooded plain. Almost nothing happens and it is one of the most memorable sequences in animation.