To a generation brought up on the virtually seamless American cartoon worlds of Shrek and Monsters Inc, it might seem there is nowhere else to go.

But travel to the other side of the world and Japanese animation, with its rich history and skilled practitioners, looks like it's rising to the challenge.

Japan has always enjoyed a potent tradition of inventive cartoons, even if some of the anime-style outings strayed towards the dark side.

Drawing on 40 years of experience, veteran director Hayao Miyazaki, who won an Oscar for his work, has finally produced a masterpiece that could see his success at home equalled in the West.

To most people Japan is already intriguingly different, but the world conjured up here makes the manners and customs of an already alien culture postively mainstream.

Precocious 10-year-old Chihiro is moving house with her mum and dad, Akio and Yugo, when they take a wrong turn that deposits them in front of a mysterious tunnel.

It leads to a ghostly town where a sumptuous banquet is waiting... but when her parents ravenously begin gorging they turn into pigs.

Now we all know your parents can embarrass you at the best of times, but this turn of events will have far more lasting effects.

It transpires they've strayed into an alternative kingdom centred round a vast bath house where newcomers are turned into animals before being slaughtered for food.

Chihiro, together with a newfound ally Haku, has to work as a serf for the draconian bath house mistress Yubaba (a mutant Sybil from Fawlty Towers) if she is to survive... and save mom and pop.

If you thought Fantasia was the product of a chemically-enhanced imagination, then this makes that look like a mere walk in Disneyworld.

The bath-house is serviced by Beatrix Potter-style frogs and toads, a mysterious nursery is home to a huge baby and the corridors are haunted by a sludge-vomiting phantom.

The story, which isn't really suitable for anklebiters, harks back to the sinister worlds created by the Brothers Grimm.

Traditional animation is gorgeously pushed to the brink - using a palette of richer, denser textures - with the bath-house itself an awe-inspiring flight of fancy.

The only downside is Disney's dead hand - they produced it for the Western market - which means the characters are invested with often grating American accents.

However, that is a minor quibble set against a gloriously bewitching experience that genuinely sets the new benchmark.

It's a blacky warped concept you really have to buy into. But, if you do, you're sold.

Tim Evans