Backwoods Home Magazine #94 - July/Aug 2005

Author:Backwoods Home Magazine
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Do-It-Yourself, Hobbies & Home, Home Improvement & Design, Crafts, How-To & Home Improvements, Sustainable Living
Publisher: Backwoods Home Magazine
Published: 2005-07-02T06:00:00+00:00

Girls growing up: movie reviews

Reviewed by Claire Wolfe

Claire goes to the movies started in Issue #91 with films about boys growing up. Boys have a much tougher time than girls in these regimented and feminized days.

But being a girl (especially an adolescent) has never been easy in any era. Our daughters deserve good movies—and good lessons in maturity or self-reliance—as much as our sons do. Some of the best such movies are pretty darned enjoyable for Mom and Dad, too.

So without further ado, I give you a selection of the best films about girls overcoming obstacles and growing into their own strengths.

Spirited Away, 132 mins, 2001, rated PG for some scary creatures and moments.

“A gorgeous epic.” “A beautiful experience.” “Has the quality of a dream.” So said the critics when Hayao Miyazaki’s animated masterpiece flew across the ocean and into American theaters.

Surreal, filled with a sense of ancient lore, yet centered on a very modern little girl, this is the story of 10-year-old Chihiro (voiced in English by Daveigh Chase). As we meet her, she’s sulking in the back seat of her family’s car, petulant because they’re moving to a new home.

Her father takes an ill-advised turn and Chihiro’s life changes. Stopping to explore what they imagine to be an abandoned theme park, Chihiro’s mother and father find a booth brimming with hot, tasty food. They begin gobbling—and soon turn into a pair of pigs.

Night falls on the terrified, helpless Chihiro, who has by now discovered that the magical theme park is merely a gateway to something even stranger—a grand bathhouse where mythical, and quite spooky looking, Japanese spirits come to relax. (They arrive in a scene that is as enchanting to us as it is scary to Chihiro.)

Chihiro is rescued from her panic by a beautiful young boy, Haku (Jason Marsden), who seems to know her. Haku can’t shelter her. But he does offer advice: To save herself and hope to find her family again, Chihiro must demand—must absolutely insist upon—being employed at the bathhouse. To do this, she must face Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the terrible witch who runs the place, and must take work so difficult it may kill her.

Chihiro labors in the bathhouse amid some of the strangest, most imaginative creatures ever drawn. She works hard and eventually learns that she is not helpless and that she can rise to the challenges of a world of many demands and greater mysteries. Once she ceases her whining, Chihiro’s basic kindness and desire to do what’s right make her one of the most inspiring little-girl characters you’ll ever meet.

Mean Girls, 97 minutes, 2004, PG-13 for some mild sexual content, language, and teen partying.

Cady (Lindsay Lohan) has been raised in Africa and homeschooled by her anthropologist parents. So when she arrives for her first day in an American high school, she suffers total culture shock. But Cady is smart—a math whiz. She seems well-balanced, grounded, and self-possessed. When she’s first befriended by a pair of the school’s misfits, it looks

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