VIDEO ANIMATED LIKE A DREAM.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

The Oscar-winning animated film ``Spirited Away ,'' out today on DVD, has drawn comparisons to ``Through the Looking-glass.'' Like the Lewis Carroll classic, Japanese writer-director Hayao Miyazaki's dreamlike landscape has a psychological and artistic sophistication to appeal to adults, while his story inhabits a world of wonder and anxiety that the young can relate to.

Released by Disney - who has redubbed it in English - ``Spirited'' is introduced by ``Toy Story'' director John Lasseter, who served as the U.S. producer. But unlike his ``Monsters, Inc.'' or other Mouse House pictures such as ``Lilo & Stitch'' - as terrific as they are - Miyazaki's characters have a fluidness to them, tending to morph (literally) from bad to good and then to something else, for instance. The story is a reflection of the uneasiness and insecurity of childhood, and while practically all American animated features deal with that to some degree, none does it with such visual flair. Yet, like other stories for children, ``Spirited'' is about growth.

Its young heroine, 10-year-old Chihiro (voiced by Daveigh Chase), is being driven to her new home by her parents when they take a wrong turn, finding what they believe is an abandoned amusement park. The world they have crossed into, however, is one of spirits, and her parents are turned into pigs, while she must fend for herself, working in a bathhouse, amid this phantasmagoria. Nothing seems to remain what it is for long, and Chihiro must continually adapt - including being renamed - in order to survive. Yet her lesson is learning how to remember who she is so she can return herself and her parents to the real world.

Undoubtedly, some of the Japanese symbolism/mythology will be lost in the translation, but ``Spirited Away,'' which is beautifully animated, is an extraordinary cross-cultural experience.

If you haven't seen the other works of Miyazaki (``Princess Mononoke'' was his most successful U.S. release), Disney is also releasing two of his earlier films on DVD - ``Castle in the Sky'' and ``Kiki's Delivery Service ,'' both well worth the time. ``Spirited Away, '' by the way, was the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, taking in more than $234 million.

``Spirited Away'' (Disney) lists for $29.99. It includes features on the art and making of the film.

Miyazaki 3 Pack (``Spirited Away''/``Castle in the Sky''/``Kiki's Delivery Service'') lists for $89.99.

Triumph over ignorance in 'Rabbit-Proof Fence'

The title of Phillip Noyce's ``Rabbit-Proof Fence'' refers to a barrier strung across northern Australia in order to keep the pesky animals away from the farmland in the south. In the 1930s, three young aboriginal girls who were considered ``half-castes'' - meaning that they had some Caucasian blood - used the fence to find their way back home some 1,500 miles away. The girls - two sisters and a cousin - had been forcibly taken from their mothers because of a law giving the state control over children with mixed blood.

They were taken to a camp run by missionaries, where they were told only to speak English, given religious instruction and told they have no mothers. Later, the overseer of the government's policy, A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh), visits and examines the children, determining whether they are white enough to be educated or to be trained as domestics. (They aren't.)

Tired of the poking and prodding, the oldest of the trio, Molly (Everlyn Sampi), decides to bolt, taking the other two - Daisy (Tianna Sansbury) and Gracie (Laura Monaghan), with her. With skill, luck and occasional kindness, they manage to avoid authorities and trackers. Noyce (``The Quiet American,'' ``Patriot Games'') tells the story in a straightforward manner. The whites aren't portrayed as villains but as products of the muddled-headed views about race that were prevalent at the time, assuming their own and Western civilization's superiority. We're going to help them despite themselves, goes the thinking, resulting in as much evil as if it had been intended.

An informative documentary that's part of the DVD shows how Noyce discovered the three girls, who all - especially Sampi - turn in heart- wrenching performances. It also captures the filming of a scene in which the girls are abducted from their mothers. Seeing the tearful emotions on the faces of the aboriginal actors shows that the scars from ``Stolen Generation,'' as it was called, still remain.

It would have been nice to report that the girls' trek inspired changes in Australia, but it didn't. The law remained on the books until 1971.

``Rabbit-Proof Fence'' (Miramax) lists for $29.99. It includes commentary by Noyce, who is joined at times by Peter Gabriel (who wrote the score), Branagh, screenwriter Christine Olsen and author Doris Pilkington.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (``Spirited Away'')

(2) LAURA MONAGHAN, left, TIANNA SANSBURY and EVERLYN SAMPI in ``Rabbit-Proof Fence''