I understood the basic plot, but I feel like there is More To Understand.

The key to understanding Spirited Away is that it's meant as a way to pass along values to specifically Japanese kids in 2001, but it's doing so in an open ended dreamy way. It's a lecture from your granddad that spins off wildly. I don't think there's really that much there, it just boils down to "work hard, there's no shortcuts, don't be greedy" but it's kind of fascinating anyway.

I'm not as big on Miyazaki as I am on the rest of the great Japanese animators, he's so focused on achieving a certain standard of quality that there's a lack of risk in the projects he takes on and they kind of turn out blah. He's definitely a great entertainer tho and there's some undeniable masterpieces. I love Porco Rosso and was pleasantly surprised that The Boy and The Heron rules