Spirited Away - 3 stars

I had never seen Japanese anime before Spirited Away. I enjoy the form of animation because it can capture your imagination in ways that live action can't. You already have to suspend your disbelief to the extent to absorb the cartoon, so why not throw in some spirits and other characters or actions impossible to convey with actual actors. I enjoyed the Japanese cultural references and style. I also was riveted by the style for the first 45 minutes. After that, it started to drag. At that point we had been introduced to the main characters, the main challenges, and the main story. All that was left was resolving the conflicts, which took another 75 minutes. This is the same major flaw that I find in many stories, primarily in books.