Done by "Princess Mononoke" "Nausicaa.." Miyazaki.

A young girl & her family..oh, hell. I'm too exhausted to type it out. Find it online!:p

Anyways, I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!

Great animation, very good story...Ghosts..

Don't need to look online for it... I have the DVD.

In brief: Overhyped and poorly structured.

Spirited Away is about a young girl named Chihiro driving to her new home with her parents one day when the father, making a wrong turn, drives through the forest and decides with his wife to inspect an out of place tunnel, against the wishes of the suspicious Chihiro. On the other side, they come across an abandoned theme park, which appears deserted except for one stand filled with freshly prepared food, which Chihiro’s gullible parents begin to eat. Things go bad quickly when the theme park comes alive around Chihiro, and she returns to her parents to discover they’ve been turned into pigs, the "theme park" turns out to actually be an exotic bath house for the spirit world manned by creatures of every imaginable shape and size. Chihiro finds herself working in the middle of this bathhouse while trying to figure a way to free her parents and return home.

This movie is another example to me of how much the hype machine can manipulate us. I thought Spirited Away was the most poorly structured story I’ve seen in a long time. The problem with this movie’s is that it seems to lack any cohesive structure in which all the various events in its two hours are tied together into any meaningful whole. Like the most recent Star Wars films, the movie’s greatest strength seems to be nothing more than the amount of different types of magical characters and premises it can drop on us. Instead of a single plot point that leads to another and then another, the events in the story seem to have no relationship to one another. It’s akin to two hours of nonstop exposition in which we’re constantly introduced to new information whose importance seems incidental, and the character’s actions seem simply to serve the plot, rather than any believable personality or arc.

What was the purpose, for example, for those three green "toadstools" of Yubaba’s? They seem to serve absolutely no purpose, either to her, or to the plot. Why did Haku steal Zeniba’s seal? What was its significance, and why does Chihiro’s main priority suddenly go from getting her and her parents out of the spirit world to returning the seal? Supposedly, she wants to apologize for Haku, but why does she automatically assume that Zeniba will accept her apology, especially since it’s not coming from Haku, and since she threatened to kill Chihiro in their first encounter? What the hell was that whole thing with No Face? Why does he go from a friend of Chihiro’s that speaks in a hushed sigh to a demented glutton and then back to her friend? What was the purpose of that entire thing? And why, if that food that Chihiro’s parents ate in the beginning of the film was not intended for them, was it available to them? If it was part of the spirit world, why were they able to touch it? Why, for that matter, do the spirits not keep out trespassers? None of this made any sense.

Exposition in a movie should take no more than ten or fifteen minutes, with maybe an important revelation or two near or at the end. This movie takes too much time in introducing us to too many characters and things that have nothing to do with anything, and too much of the movie has nothing to do with Chihiro trying to free her parents?

When I looked at my watch, it was an hour and a half into the film, but it felt like two hours or more had gone by.

This isn’t to say that it wasn’t an interesting story, and at least it didn’t put to me to sleep like Princess Mononoke, but so much of it did not have anything to do with the supposed central plot that it took a lot out of my patience. I would imagine you’d have to be patient with a movie like this, and I wonder if the average American child would be able to put up with it.

I doubt the American kids would like it, Luigi. I don't know anyone under the age of 18 that loves anime; many of my friends (and my boyfriend, and his friends) are Otaku, or anime fanatics.

Take into account most anime and manga (Japanese comic books; anime is animated manga): a lot of violence and sex, which, unfortunately, is cut by American censors.

But to give you faith in anime, Luigi, I recommend Ghost in the Shell or Akira.

In brief: Overhyped and poorly structured.

Pfff.

This movie is another example to me of how much the hype machine can manipulate us. I thought Spirited Away was the most poorly structured story I’ve seen in a long time. The problem with this movie’s is that it seems to lack any cohesive structure in which all the various events in its two hours are tied together into any meaningful whole. Like the most recent Star Wars films, the movie’s greatest strength seems to be nothing more than the amount of different types of magical characters and premises it can drop on us. Instead of a single plot point that leads to another and then another, the events in the story seem to have no relationship to one another. It’s akin to two hours of nonstop exposition in which we’re constantly introduced to new information whose importance seems incidental, and the character’s actions seem simply to serve the plot, rather than any believable personality or arc.

I'm not sure what you were expecting from a film likened to Alice in Wonderland. A simple "A to B to C" structure is essentially the opposite of the purposes of such stories. You simply accept the terms of the movie and go with it or you don't.

What was the purpose, for example, for those three green "toadstools" of Yubaba’s? They seem to serve absolutely no purpose, either to her, or to the plot. Why did Haku steal Zeniba’s seal? What was its significance, and why does Chihiro’s main priority suddenly go from getting her and her parents out of the spirit world to returning the seal? Supposedly, she wants to apologize for Haku, but why does she automatically assume that Zeniba will accept her apology, especially since it’s not coming from Haku, and since she threatened to kill Chihiro in their first encounter? What the hell was that whole thing with No Face? Why does he go from a friend of Chihiro’s that speaks in a hushed sigh to a demented glutton and then back to her friend? What was the purpose of that entire thing? And why, if that food that Chihiro’s parents ate in the beginning of the film was not intended for them, was it available to them? If it was part of the spirit world, why were they able to touch it? Why, for that matter, do the spirits not keep out trespassers? None of this made any sense.

You're just pointing out red herrings and nitpicks. The point of this fantasy world is that it does NOT operate under the familiar rules of the "normal" world. Does it matter what the purpose of the three green "toadstools?" Does everything have to have a purpose?

Exposition in a movie should take no more than ten or fifteen minutes, with maybe an important revelation or two near or at the end. This movie takes too much time in introducing us to too many characters and things that have nothing to do with anything, and too much of the movie has nothing to do with Chihiro trying to free her parents?

Is that a question? And how much exposition was there really in this movie? Chihiro and her parents introduced. We meet Haku. We meet that guy in the boiler room. We meet Rin. Later we meet Yubaba and she tells us what's going on with the bath house. None of these introductions takes very long, and much of what you're saying seems to indicate that the movie could have used *more* explanation about various events.

This isn’t to say that it wasn’t an interesting story, and at least it didn’t put to me to sleep like Princess Mononoke, but so much of it did not have anything to do with the supposed central plot that it took a lot out of my patience. I would imagine you’d have to be patient with a movie like this, and I wonder if the average American child would be able to put up with it.

Well, your entitled to your opinion, but it's definitely a minority one. I, on the other hand, loved it, and I think kids would love it. But then there's no way to be sure without talking to some kids, no is there?

Of course, Mononoke also happens to be one of my favorite movies...

Take into account most anime and manga (Japanese comic books; anime is animated manga): a lot of violence and sex, which, unfortunately, is cut by American censors.

True, a lot of anime's like that. And much of it isn't. Hentai (i.e., porn) like Urotsukodiji is not really representative of the medium.

But to give you faith in anime, Luigi, I recommend Ghost in the Shell or Akira.

Maybe... my experience is that if someone finds himself "put to sleep" by Mononoke, there's very little hope.

You might try, Luigi, some of Miyazaki's other films, though, like Nausicaa and Kiki's Delivery Service. Although, any of them apart from Kiki's and My Neighbour Totoro will be *very* hard to find. There are also series like Cowboy Bebop and Lain that might interest you.

Possibly.

I should add that I'm NOT entirely objective in this... I'm a Miyazaki fanatic.

You'd like my boyfriend, then, Josh.

And yeah, Bebop rules. How 'bout Outlaw Star or Trigun?

Probably...

I haven't seen much Outlaw Star, but I don't remember liking the animation all that much. Trigun is cool, though.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch my new Lain and Excel Saga DVDs.

Hannah: But to give you faith in anime, Luigi, I recommend Ghost in the Shell or Akira.
Luigi Novi: I can’t evaluate Ghost in the Shell fairly because the only version I ever saw was subtitled, and I feel I can form a more fair opinion of it if I saw a dubbed version. I was disappointed by its length, though.

As for Akira, its strength lies in its animation. The story was okay, but nothing that great. None of the characters were likeable, and there were a few unanswered questions that made it harder to enjoy on a story level.

I loved Voltron and Transformers as a kid, and while I am enjoying the new Transformers comic by Dreamwave (which unlike the old Marvel version, is actually rendered in a beautiful anime style), I think my enjoyment of it is mostly out of nostalgia.

The one anime that seemed to be very involved and serialized beyond a child’s level that I enjoyed as a kid was Robotech.

JoshG: Pfff.
Luigi Novi: Nasty cough ya got there.

JoshG: You simply accept the terms of the movie and go with it or you don't.
Luigi Novi: Agreed. I didn’t.

JoshG: Does everything have to have a purpose?
Luigi Novi: In my opinion, the rules of the fantasy setting don’t have to make sense, but the story should, and those premises should be sensible enough to that extent. My biggest problem with the movie wasn’t the nits. It was the structure of the story, which I made clear in my post.

JoshG: And how much exposition was there really in this movie? Chihiro and her parents introduced. We meet Haku. We meet that guy in the boiler room. We meet Rin. Later we meet Yubaba and she tells us what's going on with the bath house.
Luigi Novi: And then No Face shows up, and then the stink spirit, and then those paper things attack Haku, and then Yubaba turns out to have a twin sister, and then we learn about the seal, and then the slug, yadda, yadda, yadda etc., etc., a whole bunch of things that to me, felt like a person constantly adding addendums during a conversation, saying, "Oh and by the way…" a million times.

JoshG: None of these introductions takes very long, and much of what you're saying seems to indicate that the movie could have used *more* explanation about various events.
Luigi Novi: I think a lot of the film had nothing to do with Chihiro trying to free her parents, and digressed too far and too much from the main plot.

JoshG: Well, your entitled to your opinion, but it's definitely a minority one.
Luigi Novi: I have no problem with being in the minority. It’s my ten bucks being plunked down, and my opinion is no less valid because of it.

JoshG: Take into account most anime and manga (Japanese comic books; anime is animated manga): a lot of violence and sex, which, unfortunately, is cut by American censors.
Luigi Novi: Shonen anime, like Hentai and Mecha, have a lot of sex and violence, but shoujo anime does not necessarily have a lot of it.

JoshG: Maybe... my experience is that if someone finds himself "put to sleep" by Mononoke, there's very little hope.
Luigi Novi: It’s possible I wasn’t in the right mindset when watching it. That’s happened before when first viewing a film that I later formed a different opinion of on a subsequent viewing. I think I still have Mononoke on tape somewhere, and it’s one of those things I’ve been meaning to try again sometime. Since I’m couped up in my house all sick, perhaps that’s another thing I can do…

JoshG: There are also series like Cowboy Bebop and Lain that might interest you.
Luigi Novi: My 15-year old cousin is into Cowboy Bebop and Sailor Moon. Are those geared towards older people?

JoshG: Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch my new Lain DVDs.
Luigi Novi: As in "Chasey"? Yeah, she’s hot.

My 15-year old cousin is into Cowboy Bebop and Sailor Moon. Are those geared towards older people?

Cowboy Bebop is a "space western," and it has sufficient levels of violence that it's not for little kids. Sailor Moon (and I'm surprised you don't already know anything about it) is shoujo... anime for preteen girls, generally! I suppose most anyone could enjoy it on that level... in any case, I wouldn't really recommend it!

I have heard about it. I just don't watch it, so I don't know what its tone or level of sophistication is.

I've heard Bebop described as "very film noir." It's also got a dose of rather, err, "adult" humor.

Yes, "adult," that's the word for it.

Bebop's more sophisticated than Enterprise at least!

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Quote:

The one anime that seemed to be very involved and serialized beyond a child’s level that I enjoyed as a kid was Robotech.

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Josh, is Orphen good? What about the manga Chobits?

Dunno! Never seen it! I haven't read Chobits either.

In terms of manga, though, I can't recommend Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind high enough (by Miyazaki, of course).

And I just saw Spirited Away a second time tonight.

>Luigi Novi: I think a lot of the film had nothing to do with Chihiro trying to free her >parents, and digressed too far and too much from the main plot.

Who said that rescuing Chihiro's parents is the main plot?

That situation is a plot *device*. It reminds me a bit of "Citizen Kane," where the characters are trying to find out what Rosebud is, but Rosebud itself is not the main point of the movie - the real focus is Kane and his life.

That Chihiro's parents need rescuing is just a jumping-off point to explore the development of Chihiro's character.

Incidentally I recently saw the Cowboy Bebop movie and liked it very much. Unfortunately those of you who like all the loose ends tied up won't like it at all. Personally, I like a dangling plot thread here and there, as long as it's done on purpose.

happy nitpicking, all!

Chichiro trying to free her parents is the main plot, as well as her motivation. Character development and plot are not the same thing. It is true that the other is supposed to help reveal the one, but I didn't see anything in the sequence with No Face that had anything to do with the plot or any character development on Chichiro's part.

****SPOILER WARNING*****

I'm of two minds with this movie. On one hand I loved it. Despite the fact that all parts (well most of them) did not tie into the central plot, I enjoyed the creativity of the characters. I liked that the three heads served no purpose. I liked the hopping lamp at Zeniba's house. I liked how it waved to Chihoro when she was leaving. I like movies where the is no evil antagonist that must be defeated. Yubaba, is not nice, but she also has her soft spots. The No Face is certainly a lot of trouble, but is really just lonely and lost. I liked the paper "bird" things that chased Haku and how one followed Chihiro, it was unexpected. So many movies promise a different world beyond our imagination, but most of them fail. I felt immersed in this world. Around every corner was something unexpected, unfamiliar and completely new.

No face does not serve a purpose with regard to freeing Chihiro's parents, but serves to show how strong and compassionate Chihiro is or has beccome. She does not give into his gold like everyone else, and she sees that he just needs to get out of the bath house environment to be himself. In that way Chihiro is typical of Myazaki's heroines like Naussica. No Face helps illustrate Chihiro's character development.

Now having said that Chihiro's character seems to develop very quickly over two days, but well maybe she was at the right age for that.

On the other hand I did find that the plot was disjointed and many aspects of the movie did not connect for example:

Why did Chihiro assume that when the wounded Haku went to Yubaba's she would kill him. Chihiro turned out to be right, but Haku seems quite valuable to Yubaba. When the people downstairs are trying to contain the No Face, Yubaba says something like "well figure something out, Haku's not here". Haku succeeded in obtaining the seal from Zeniba, it seems it's in Yubaba's best interests to keep him.

What was the significance of the "don't look back until you get past the tunnel" at the end. What would have happened? It seemed like an unnecessary piece of drama.

What purpose did the hair tie that Zeniba give Chihiro have? It was a nice gesture, it was nice that the "boys" made it themselves and gave us the very cure running on the wheel scenes, but other than that it seemed to serve no purpose.

How did Chihiro know that her parents were not among the pigs shown at the end? She's gotten a bit tougher from her adventures, more mature, sure I can buy that (even if it is just over two days), but how does that help her identify magically transformed pigs? That part of the movie felt a bit flat to me.

How did the curse on the seal get lifted. At first I thought the curse was the little worm thing that Chihiro stepped on. But that turns out to be what Yubaba used to control Haku. So what happened to the curse? Did the herbal dumpling take care of that too? Not a major point, but something left dangling. I didn’t mind that we didn’t know the significance of the seal, but Chihiro’s quest to return it and ask for forgiveness seems to come out of left field. Yubaba doesn’t seem like the compassionate or forgiving type, and her sister seemed quite similar.

Just a question, Lin, looked very human. From the context of the conversations I would say she wasn't. What was she?

Chihiro and Haku's past was a plot point, which seemed very loosely connected to everything else at best. So she remembered when he was a river and helped him with his name, which helps free him. Haku didn't seem desperately in need of being freed. He was under Yubaba's control somewhat, but the movie didn't really establish that he was suffering and needed to be released. So when he was freed, it didn't really have much impact on me.

I found it odd that though Zeniba doesn’t like Yubaba’s taste, she still dresses exactly like Yubaba.

Miyazaki has said that many of the little "arbitrary" plot points are there since they're the sort of things children imagine when playing - like how Chihiro has to hold her breath on the bridge near the beginning. In other words, it's supposed to be arbitrary since the movie is meant to be somewhat dreamlike or similar to kids' fantasies.

Miyazaki in the December '02 issue of Animerica:

"It was necessary for Chihiro to be separated from her parents. For Chihiro, to live without her parents was the worst possible situation for her. That was really the point of the story."

So the point of the film isn't Chihiro rescuing her parents, but Chihiro having this adventure without them and learning to function on her own.

Maybe I wasn't watching closely enough, but I thought that Haku told Chihiro that it was very important to 1) stay away from Yubaba and 2) pester Kamaji until he gives her a job. Later, though, Chihiro allows herself to be taken away from Kamaji. . .and taken to Yubaba. Having thus done, effectively, the exact opposite of what Haku told her to do, she can get a job by pestering Yubaba---because Yubaba has sworn to give a job to whomever asks for one. That being the case, shouldn't Haku have told her to harass Yubaba from the start?

I believe Haku was hoping that Kamaji could give Chihiro a job, so that she wouldn't be put under Yubaba's control.

I don't remember Haku ever telling Chihiro to stay away from Yubaba, he just warned her not to get caught before she could ask for a job. And, in a matter of speaking, she DID pester Kamaji into a job (or an interview, anyway). I guess that Haku knew that Yubaba had taken an oath to give a job to anyone who asked (remember that little throw away line?), so he directed Chihiro to the only one who wouldn't freak out at the sight of her so that she'd have time to ask and become safe.

Cartoon Network will be airing it this Friday starting at 7 p.m.

Well, it's been some weeks since I saw this movie (and because I didn't recognize the English title, didn't find it on the board), so I'm not sure about all the names.

But still I'd like to put in my 2 cents.

Luigi,

I thought Spirited Away was the most poorly structured story I’ve seen in a long time. The problem with this movie’s is that it seems to lack any cohesive structure in which all the various events in its two hours are tied together into any meaningful whole. ...

I don't think so.

What was its significance, and why does Chihiro’s main priority suddenly go from getting her and her parents out of the spirit world to returning the seal? ...

I wondered about her priorities changing in the middle, too, when I saw that, but Josh's answer made this suddenly clear to me:

The plot isn't about Chihiro trying to help her parents. It's about her journey in this fantastic world. (A coming-of-age journey, if you like, echoed in the framing plot of moving to a new town with new people, some nice, some not, and learning new routines).

The parents that are transfigured - both for their greed in eating what isn't meant for them and in not respecting that there may be more than meets the eye - serve both as a starting point for Chihiro to enter the bathhouse and explore things, and as a device to keep her from running away. She can't escape, even if things get dangerous or ugly, because doing so would desert her parents.

It's interesting, BTW, that the German title was "Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland" = Chihiro's journey into a fantastical land, which describes the movie better than "Spirited away", I think.

What the hell was that whole thing with No Face? Why does he go from a friend of Chihiro’s that speaks in a hushed sigh to a demented glutton and then back to her friend?

IMDB explains that he's an empty spirit. He isn't really Chihiro's friend, he acts friendly to her by giving her what he thinks she wants - the wooden cards - because she didn't want the gold that everybody else wants.

And why, if that food that Chihiro’s parents ate in the beginning of the film was not intended for them, was it available to them? If it was part of the spirit world, why were they able to touch it? Why, for that matter, do the spirits not keep out trespassers?

Because these aren't Western spirits that are pale ghosts, with only a tiny influence, but Asian/Japanese spirits, that are quite corporeal in the real world. As for not guarding the place - it's incredibly unpolite to trespass, and they probably suppose (I think the witch explains this to Chihiro) that normal people would notice something odd about the place, respect this and leave. This isn't a haunted house where the ghosts scare the humans away, it's a relaxing place which is out of the way of modern life.

Why did Haku steal Zeniba’s seal?

I was unsure of the revelance of several things, but I assumed this both because it was done by a Japanese artist, who expects a certain background knowledge of stories and mythology in the audience, and because Chihiro is in an unfamiliar world with people who already have a relationship with each other. The movie doesn't need to explain and spell out everything, because it would be unrealistic for Chihiro to get detailed knowledge of everything. Unless you want to do the Cabbagehead thing and dump exposition on the viewer.

Supposedly, she wants to apologize for Haku, but why does she automatically assume that Zeniba will accept her apology, especially since it’s not coming from Haku, and since she threatened to kill Chihiro in their first encounter?

While I was iniatilly surprised that Chihiro gave that herbal pill to her new aquantaince the dragon/boy/river-spirit, instead of saving it for to free her parents, it fits in well with established fairy-tale story mechanism, where the young hero shares his only food/other important things with somebody he meets on the journey (often an old woman/man), who in return for the generosity, which indicates a pure heart, gives the hero the advice necessary to be sucessful. So it makes sense to me.

This isn’t to say that it wasn’t an interesting story, and at least it didn’t put to me to sleep like Princess Mononoke, but so much of it did not have anything to do with the supposed central plot that it took a lot out of my patience. I would imagine you’d have to be patient with a movie like this, and I wonder if the average American child would be able to put up with it.

I liked Princess Mononoke the moment I saw it - I was captivated by the elaborate style of drawing, the many background details, and the realistic depiction of humans (the only thing I found distracting was the comic-portrayal of the greedy Monk.) I always prefer realistic animation to the overblown comic style that seems to be mostly in the last years - a matter of personal taste, I know - and I find it sad that so much animation is so plain and functional.

I also was intrigued by the story with its complex characters and enviromental problems, and no ready-made solutions or forced happy ending.

And I liked getting a glimpse into a culture, a way of thought and backstory that's so different from the normal stuff on TV.

No, I guess the average American child won't like that, but I don't think that's the audience. The average American child watches He-Man or whatever's the rage these days, so he doesn't know what else is out there. And the average adult probably isn't interested in anything strange. But for the small number of people who are interested in unusual stuff, I think this is just right.

Your whole review reminds me of a comment I read somewhere: "When an American sees a movie and can't understand it, he goes 'I don't get that, what's wrong with the movie?' When an European watches a movie and doesn't get it, he says 'I don't get it, what's wrong with me?' " Interesting clichee with a grain of truth, I think.

Yasu:

What was the significance of the "don't look back until you get past the tunnel" at the end. What would have happened? It seemed like an unnecessary piece of drama.

That's a very old story plot, dating back to Orpheus in the underworld, and many other places. I think it means on a psychological level, that you need to leave certain parts behind you once you've grown - and Chihiro has grown up a lot through her experiences. If you look back, you would kind of bind yourself to the past and get stuck there, instead of going forward with your new knowledge, wisdom, skills etc.

How did Chihiro know that her parents were not among the pigs shown at the end? She's gotten a bit tougher from her adventures, more mature, sure I can buy that (even if it is just over two days), but how does that help her identify magically transformed pigs? That part of the movie felt a bit flat to me.

To me, that's also typical fairy-tale ingredient - somehow, people are always able to feel the right person even in transfigured state.

I found it odd that though Zeniba doesn’t like Yubaba’s taste, she still dresses exactly like Yubaba.

I think because they're both supposed to represent two sides of the same coin. As in the Asian Yin-Yang concept.

I just don't have a problem with not everything explained because it's a fantastic world where ordinary rules don't apply. Yes, a story and a world needs internal consistency and rules nevertheless. But that doesn't mean the rules get explained to you, the viewer, if it's not necessary, or if Chihiro doesn't get to find out. Why and how was the curse on the seal lifted? Because whatever was done worked, and once it's accomplished, Chihiro no longer cares about the "why and how" of it.

Look at some of the lesser known (and the non-Disney-bowlederized) Grimm fairy tales, or the old English fairy tales (the unedited versions): a lot of things don't make sense there, either. We just get sometimes told in advance what the hero has to do in which order to accomplish his task. In other tales, we don't get told how, things just happen. And we never get told "why" things work that way. Why does knitting a shirt from burning nettle without speaking a word in seven years lift the transformation of the brothers into swans? Why do you have to throw the frog against the wall, killing it, to release the prince? We never get told, either.

It's interesting, BTW, that the German title was "Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland" = Chihiro's journey into a fantastical land, which describes the movie better than "Spirited away", I think.

Come now, let's have the literal translation: it's "Chihiro's journey in Magicland". ;-)

Zauber has several meanings, and I type on the fly, choosing the first meaning I can think of. You're welcome to do the offical translating of all the german terms into correct English for me!

Haha, well, I just think that "Chihiro's journey in Magicland" is funnier.

Huh? Is there some pun about "Magicland" I don't get? Are you alluding to Disneyland?

Well, and here I'd hoped somebody else would take over translation who's better at correct English than me...

Oh, I'm just being silly. "Magicland" has a silly connotation in English, not unlike Disneyland. "Fantasticland" seems to be a pretty good translation - would "Wonderland" work at all? (I know it wouldn't be literal, but what's the translation of "Alice in Wonderland"?)

"Alice in Wonderland" is "Alice im Wunderland". All of these words - Fantastic, Wonder, Magic - fall into the same area, only the connotations are different, but then, Zauber has different connotations, too - depending on whether you talk about a Zauberer = Wizard or something that is zauberhaft = pretty, nice.