This is one of those films in which it's so good, that at the end you wish for another installment; a sequel, however you know there can't be one, for it would ruin the film's good name. Sheer visual beauty (lush greens of open, gusty fields and vast mountains that surpass imagination) meets an epic soundtrack the brings tears to one's eyes (a melody played throughout the movie which will stick in your psyche for years as you endlessly hum the adventurous tune to yourself and an ending piano number that, after hearing the song I previously described, might just make you burst into tears, as it casts a feeling of overwhelming spirituality that truly remains with you for a long time) In the end, the movie is about love, hatred, death, friendship, rivalry, happiness, anger, glee, sorrow, and being a human being. However, overall, it's about being alive. I never thought an animated film, let alone an anime, could be so purely great. If this isn't Oscar material, I have no clue in hell nor space what is. -Scott L.… Expand

What the hell is wrong with the world. This was possibly the worst movie I've ehehever seen. I watched the whole thing on a friends suggestion, and I must say, it was the worst choice my friend had ever made. I hated it immensely, I know some people liked it, and I guess that's fine for all Asians and anime fans, but over all, it's horrible. And I wish I could rate it less then a 0.… Expand

This movie is the best ever

An amazing film. The story and the characters just blew me away.

Amazing film, why the mediocre critic reviews? I'd put this up with and maybe beyond spirited away.

Maybe I was spoiled by the hype around the movie, but I failed to enjoy it and I still think it's not one of Miyazaki's best works. The best thing about the film is the fantastic music by Joe Hisaishi - 10 out of 10 for the score. The animation is beautiful as well, but not outstanding when compared to other works. The violence depicted (cutting of arms and the like) does not seem to serve any purpose but means that it's not suitable for children, which is sad, because they might enjoy it more. The story and the characters are bland. The storytelling is careless at best. Many plot lines are dropped and never readopted. One example of this is the hero's love interest who gives him a pendant as he is forced to leave. She is never mentioned again. Character's motives aren't explored and seldom a character reflects on his deeds. I often read that it's great that the film does not try to answer the question of which characters are good or evil, but this aggravates the problem. It's also the explanation why many of the character's decision seem so indiscriminate. The film's pacing doesn't help here, as it is so slow to leave much time for thinking about all the gaps in the story. In conclusion: A beautiful picture with promising topic and setting which is ruined by sub-par story-telling and characters.… Expand

I hated this movie, it was so hard to get through.

A great film, but no where near as good as Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, upon which Monoke is kid of based.

OK, its great. But damn its not that easy to follow. Its never truly clear exactly whats going on, but you do get the jist of thing. Great voice acting, and truly one of the finest animations ever - there were several scenes id consider to be classed...(read more) as Art - incredible detail, beautiful landscapes etc. Im a complete newbie to animated movies that are neither Disney nor the incredible South Park movie, so forgive my lack of love for the plot/style, but id certainly recommend others to watch this.… Expand

visually stunning faboulous story. loved it, loved it, loved it. i look foward to anything from these creators

A great miyazaki film, the only problem was the dub kinda sucked, so to fix this, watch it in japanese with english subtitles

Stupid american teens who pretend to be grown ups and reject this movie because it's animated are just idiotic!This is the most mature animation i have ever seen and the stupid youth doesn't have the education to realize this is a powerful film full of meseages not thrown at your face,calling the plot week just because they are used to stupid american teen movies with "clever" suspense or just because they are bored to read the subtitles!How can anyone call this incomprehensable?How can anyone reject it because it's an animation or because the animation has gotten old?What's your favorite movie anyway,Butterfly effect?… Expand

I though this was an amazing movie. I've literally watched it tens of times and still love it. I've noticed that the people who don't like it/give it low scores are the ones who don't seem to understand Japanese culture and the whole idea of even the forest gods. Simply have an open mind when watching this movie; you'll find that it's quite good, and had lots of detail.… Expand

This is one of the single most amazing animated movies ever created, if not the greatest movie ever created. Why it has a 76 on metacritic is BEYOND ME..some critics need to get over the awful bias that CARTOONS and ANIME are completely different.

I don't have to say anything. Go watch it for yourself. You'll see what I mean.

This is a great film. It is a bit too long, but it makes up for it. I'm not a hardcore anime fan, so this is coming from a non-biased person here. Trust me, it's worth checking out. NOTE: If you have any friends who are immature/close-minded, you may not want to show this movie to them. They will just ruin it.

Excellent film. It stunned me with its drool worthy visuals, the characters are amazingly life-like and the plot is a fantasy masterpiece. It's a bit gory, yes, also a bit odd, but the plot is truly what I loved about this film. See it once, you'll love it. See it twice, you'll know what a life-changing film for the rest of your life is.

Totally one of the best Film I've erver seen!!!

Great movie it a must see ever just one time.

Brilliant. I love this movie. Everything from the story, to all the animations and characters were superb.

The biggest wow! ever.

Awesome!

This charming mythology and visual classic pits an environmentally despoiling mankind against the natural order. The real enemy is not man's greed but the polarization on both sides that leads each to hate the other - a lesson more should heed. A little drawn out, and the inevitable conclusion that nature bats last is reached, but all in all a non-judgemental and lovingly crafted work.

This was an excellent animation. why are some newspaper critics too stupid to realize this? I would have puta ten for this one. The only reason i gave it a nine is because I found some of the characters to be a little too odd to my liking (the god of the forest and the boars were strange)

Completely outstanding - it is easily one of the very best films of the 90's.

I like this movie very much great animation/sound/voice/music but the ending was not very good but other than that i think this movie was the best i seen.

Of all of Miyazaki's amazing works, I'd have to say this is one of my favorites. The music, artwork, story-everything is amazing. And the whole overall feel of the film is amazing.

In a time when "epic" just means "long," Princess Mononoke reminds us what that word really means. Here is a bold movie with no villains, only flawed people who often do as many vile things as good. For once we have a film with character development, but one that also recognizes something more important than character development: seeing people as more than one dimensional right now, before they change. The magic of the film's world is as foreign to the American mind as its language, and is thoroughly rewarding to experience. There is blood, there is suffering, and even death in this movie, yet I would share it with my children. Like Walt Disney, Hayao Miyazaki does not shelter audiences from horror. He is smart enough to frame it, to educate and to evoke. The animation is gorgeous, and the soundtrack is not only thoroughly moving, but sounds authentic to the fantasy world. This is a long animated feature that earns ever half hour of its time in your DVD player.… Expand

Several years after falling in love with anime, I decided to watch this to see if it lived up to the hype. After watching this, I fell in love with anime again. Although several years old the animation has hardly dated, the plot is excellent, the characters are memorable. I gave this film to a younger cousin, she loved it. Princess Mononoke is one of, if not THE, best movie I have EVER seen. EVER.… Expand

Anyone who says this is overlong, or that they hate it for being overlong, obviously was just paying too much attention to the length of the film and not to the film. This is probably - no, this IS - one of the best films ever made in the history of cinema, animated or live-action, along with his other masterpiece, Spirited Away. Princess Mononoke is so lush, and engaging, and it just captures you and doesn't let you go. It's a wondrous tale of MAN vs. EARTH, told spectacularly. This film hardly deserves a much less rating than Spirited Away. In fact, this film is better! It's only about 10 minutes longer than Spirited Away, so the critics can all go shove it. This deserves at least a 97 on the Metacritic score. All this movie's fans know that it is perfect, and all the critics giving it less than a - sayyyy - 95, are wrong.… Expand

I'm gonna have to give this anime a 10 outta ten the film is so magical and interesting even i was relating to it. the storyline is awesome this is anime at it's best especially when there's people like billy bob and jad pinkett smith as the casting voices.

I love anime, and this is easily my favorite anime movie of all time.

This movie shows that anime is more then the cheap shows that are shown here in America. A landmark in the Japanese film-making. A wonderful movie.

This is the best movie I have seen! Wonderful!

I'd hesitate to rate any of Miyazaki's films as "poor", but this comes the closest. The story was just too slow-paced to really be interesting, and the environmental and "war is bad" overtones were, IMHO, better executed in Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind. The animation, as always, is gorgeous, but I just can't bring myself to care about anything that's going on in the story. The patchy dub doesn't help. Some of the voice actors are pretty good - Clare Danes (who plays San) does a pretty good job, and Gillian Anderson in particular gets her teeth into her role - but the "main" character (I can't even remember his name!) is just flat and lifeless, which is never a good thing. Overall - good, but not great. … Expand

It's a great movie.

Perfection!

First off, anime fans(hardcore ones) are so fu#King close minded, everything anime must be put to a disney movie... Shut the **** up. I'v seen prob hundreds of anime movies, and 90 percent(mabe more) SUCK...Alot of anime is so caught up with sex,extreme,extreme violence and nudity its not even funny.. I could name alot that are good(gundam,cowboy,akira,Slayers and alot more, yea 10 %) Alot of anime titles leave the viewer with little(to no) plot, and the story has so many holes in it, its better to watch a vandam movie.. Some anime titles are good, but alot of disney movies just surpass them in emotion and story..... Now for the review, 8, thats what i gave it(prob for art and animation) and the few intense moments, the music was very good also, well done in alot of the scenes...But as you go further in the movie, its starts to drag and it sometimes felt there were throwing in scenes to make it longer, which made a big part of the movie boring. But all in all its a good movie(great animation) and very much worth watching...This is coming from a normal(mabe not) viewer, not a HARDCORE anime fan....So take a look at it.… Expand

As much as I loved this film, I'd have to agree with Rick's review. The movie was fun and adventurous through the first hour, but at the second hour it did seem to drag. It left me a truly powerful message, I was amazed at its crisp animation, the plot was a masterpiece of a plot, but it isn't a movie I can really watch over and over again. It seemed this film was something more to admire than to love, so I give it an 8. I don't hate this film, please don't get me wrong. I don't mind a lot of violence at all, I just don't feel like lying and giving this movie an automatic 10. But even with giving it an 8, I still call it a masterpiece.… Expand

This movie was superb. The animation was great and Ashitaka is an awesome character. It was brilliantly done, and abstract so it wasn't boring. It held the interest of a teenage boy. -Mega Awesome

The movie is really, really cool. i watch it all the time on tv.

This is a film the surpasses most ever made in the US. It's high quality animation and story stand as a testament to how good an animated film can be. While sometimes the voice acting sounds a bit odd, this is merely because of the fact that they wanted lip sync. This is one of the greatest movies ever, only being surpassed by Hayao Miyazaki's later work Spirited Away.

Kirei da! Great Miyazaki-sensei!

Its animation is beautiful and the story is quite thoughtful.

Total complete and absolute coolness.

Awesome. Simply awesome.

I loved it the first time I saw it.

I never really liked Japanese animation at all, then I saw this, and it blew my mind away on how fantastic it really was. The animations of the characters and the backgrounds are just downright gorgeous. It has the best animation I've seen in any film so far. The story was presented just as well, too. The actors who portrayed the character's voices did it so well, developing the cast went smoothly. Sound quality even surprised me more since this is just an anime. I felt almost as though some of the arrows were going to come out of my tv. I hope that teenagers and adults do not dismiss this movie simply because it's animated because the plot is geared more towards an older audience. Princess Mononoke succeeds on every level as being one of the greatest movies ever made and is a true masterpiece.… Expand

The critics who gave this most excellent film low scores show their abysmally low intelligences in doing so. Just read the reviews. It's as if Disney paid them off. This transcends the anime genre. Except for the unusual concepts and cultures, it hardly seems foreign at all. Not that I am saying it is like anything Disney puts out. This story actually has depth, morality, tragedy, things which American animators consitantly flunk with. And as one critic said, it avoids the failings of most nature v. man tales-- that is, there is no black and white in this story, and there is no good and evil. I found only one character that I was capable of completely disliking That brings me to the voice acting. So often when films are dubbed, especially anime, the product becomes painful to listen to. But, thankfully, Miramax went all out. It's not that they put out the money to hire big stars, it's that they took the time to find actors who could understand their respective characters, and voice them appropriately. Disney comparisons are unavoidable, but only because Disney owns the American animation market. If Japan can send us more films like this, Disney may be in trouble.… Expand

The best anime.

Brilliant anime with striking visuals and complex, character driven plot. Highly recomended for all!!

Wonderful. This film will leave a mark on you that can only be filled by a second viewing, and then a third, and then a fifth, and so on. You will not only love this masterpiece by visionary director Miyazaki, you will be left mesmerised.

I found this supposed classic to be rather overrated. The visuals, while pretty, worked better to me on a TV than on a movie screen. The story was baroque but not woth the effort to decipher. And the question remains at to whether the dubbed version didn't work because Neil Gaiman was the wrong man to write the script or because the voice actors were cast wrong. But either way, this is not what everyone says it is. If you are new to anime, you might find it fresh, but I found it inferior to a good deal of made for TV work.… Expand

One of the best movies of all time.

An impressive firework display with Miyazaki's loaded arsenal of visionary images going off at full blast. However, nothing is groundbreaking. Miyazaki's idea of a more adult-oriented movie is to add gratuitous violence(an arrow hacks off and pins the limbs of a warrior to a tree), unpleasant gore(tentacle like worms more familiar in hentai excesses), and ceaselessly grimacing countenances of beasts, and alot of toying about with sharp objects which often as not lead to some heavy bloodletting. Yet, what Miyazaki has to say is what he expressed much better(even poetically) in Nausicaa and his greatest film, Laputa. Worse, many fantasy elements misfire by relying more on oddity than ingenuity. And unforgivable is the manifestation of the forest spirit as an inflateable godzilla doll that cancerously grows out of a beheaded goat. Ultimate moral of the story: don't make goathead soup or else the forest god will get you?… Expand

Well, it's a good movie. It has top-notch animation, perfect storyline (easily mistakened as a myth), hauntingly beautiful background music, and realistic characters. But the reason I'm not giving this a 10 is because it's more of a movie to admire than to really love. I mean, it's definetly not the type I can watch over and over again (the scene at the end drags a bit) but it's definetly a mythical and beautiful tale. Non-anime-fans should take a look at what they're missing (unless they really hate blood and gore).… Expand

One day, my mom rented Princess Mononoke. I didn't want to watch it, but she convinced me. I just love it. One thing that I like about it is that there are really no evil characters. Everyone's just fighting for what they believe in. It's like nothing I've ever seen. Hayao Miyazaki has a wonderful imagination.

How does Miyazaki do it? He's a master storyteller and his stories never lack intelligence either. In my opinion, I think anime is the best kind of animation of all. It's beautifully detailed and real. The storyline is intelligent and it has some very teary moments (which is a good thing, a VERY good thing.)

Great movie. Stunning Images. Fluid action scenes. Great Movie. Nice voices. Nice Backgrounds. Great Movie. Great plot. Nice Transaction of plot. Great Movie.

Pretty much my favorite. It's completely awesome.

I agree with Rick in every way. I have never liked anime, never have and never will (all those stupid poses and animations) but this movie was great! I even bought it! lol

Simply: A beautiful story, well made. After the end you simply want more and more. One of the best...

The best anime I have ever seen, I sleep with my dvd copy of it.

Best movie ever. Seen it over 250 times. Whoever gives it less that a ten sucks.

I saw this movie for the first time in 2004 because I fell in love with "Spirited Away," another Hayao Myazaki film, and wasnt expecting to get the same feelings that I got when I saw "Spirited Away." I dont think I could've been more wrong. It has many similarities to "SA" but seemed to create a magical feeling without having to be like "SA." Beautifully drawn, beautifully acted, beautiful.

A fantastic movie, certainly one of the best i've ever seen.

I LOVE IT AND i am ordering it online becuz it is SO GOOD!

Hayao Miyazaki's first japanese animation debut in america to ever make such a grand classic like Princess Mononoke.

I bought this movie because I saw a friend in school with a graphic novel about it. I think this movie introduced me to Japanese animation and I still think it is the best of it's kind and much better than most mainstream movies out these. It is better not to spoil anything but trust me almost anyone with an open mind to anime films will love this movie.

Hayao Miyazaki rocks! With its epic story and breathtaking visuals, Princess Mononoke is a landmark in the world of animation. See it in High Definition.

Princess Mononoke is an epic piece of animation about greedy human capitalism and its consequent destruction of flora and fauna. The main character is against extremes of opinions and therefore tries to fight for a symbiotic balance between humans and the world of the forest, for all beings ought to work together in a world of peace and respect, rather than to exploit and kill one another. This is not a children's movie because it is quite brutal and scary at times. However, there is also fun, cuteness, feminism, and no boredom throughout the movie. Very recommended.… Expand

Slow, repetitive, longer than needed, and I didn't find any story aspect that could make me forget its awful rhythm. Artistically, meaning draw and music specially, it's great, but for me it's just an empty movie. Beautiful, but without anything to tell. Yeah, ok, it has that ecological and respect between cultures topic on it, but it has been done thousands of times before and after this movie with better results. I may give it a second chance, but I don't think it was just a bad day.… Expand

An outstanding achievement by Hayao Miyazaki. Clearly shows connection between humans and nature, the importance of preserving life. Spectacular visuals, wonderful soundtrack, and beautiful story make it an all time classic in anime films, and a must-see.

While not quite as good as Miyazaki's other works, Princess Mononoke is still very excellent and fantastic. Animation is, as expected for a Miyazaki film, is very, very good, and the plot is very interesting and well-written.

Extraordinary film from Hayao Miyazaki. I love the way Miyazaki is able to blend tender, peaceful moments in between the chaos of all the fighting. My favorite is the scene where **** is too weak to chew his food so San feeds him like a mother wolf feeding here cubs.

Definitely best anime movie of all time. So much symbolism and path crossed of such that can not be touched by any other movie. This is a movie that will make you want to watch every anime out there.

As usual with studio Ghibli, i thoroughly enjoyed this movie and have watched it several times over. While critics believe it not up to par with spirited away, i totally disagree. All studio Ghibli movies are on par with one another except for 'Tales from Earthsea'. This movie, like the others, is a blend of Japanese 'Anime' and the traditional Western Animation cultures. It's a beautiful movie, with stunning character depths, a fantastic story which takes you in and drowns you in a beautiful blend of stunning landscapes, fearful monsters while underneath bearing resemblance to real world issues, as is with all Studio Ghibli movies. I explicitly recommend this movie to EVERYONE. Studio Ghibli is without fail one of the greatest production studios out there, and if you love one movie, you will love them all.… Expand

Someone doesn't even have to like anime to have to like Princess Mononoke. One watch and they'll be hooked. For Princess Mononoke is a gift to film lovers of all kind and deservedly one of the best films of the '90s.

This Is One Of The Best Movies Of All Time! The Animation Style And Writing Is Unforgetable! One Of Ghibli's Best Works!