SPIRITED AWAY: Now rating a 98 on Metacritic. It's just that good, peoples.

UPDATE: From the O'Hehir Salon review:

To those who want to ask practical questions, such as whether "Spirited Away" is an appropriate movie for children, I have no answers. Arguably it isn't an appropriate movie for anybody. It will disturb you as much as thrill you, make you wonder whether the boundaries between life and death, reality and fantasy, imagination and insanity are ever what they appear to be. But if your child, or you yourself, has a wild and dreamy streak and an appropriate contempt for high-minded adult certainties and well-adjusted behavior, then by all means don't miss it. Just remember the rules: Hold your breath while crossing the bridge, and don't wink at the Radish Spirit.

Any movie that arguably isn't appropriate for anybody probably should be seen by everybody. Yes.

UPDATE: Something influencing my Spirited Away love, I'm thinking, is living in a country where it isn't a big old phenomenon and the number one all-time box office hit like it is in Japan. Seeing something out of its pop cultural context means you're probably missing a lot of things, but to see it in its full context you'd have to actually be Japanese--so it isn't worth worrying about to begin with. Probably.