Double Feature: Spirited Away and Pan’s Labyrinth

This is Part II of what is sure to be a brief series on Movies About Girls in Very Similar Circumstances Who Reach Totally Different Outcomes. One light, one dark, and thus they form a natural cycle. This time around, the girls in question travel to a new home and discover a fantasy land there. As well as firing their imaginations, these new worlds present the young ladies with a series of tests, challenging their developing capacity for courage, creativity, trust, compassion, integrity, and self-control. These coming-of-age tales cherish a belief that children have the tools they need to meet these challenges, as well as the gift of sensing a spiritual dimension to life that is often invisible to adults.

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away unfolds as a series of fables about working hard, helping others, and finding the good in your enemies. The main character, Chihiro, discovers a spirit…