Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: I keep reading how disappointed most other reviewers are with the lack of a Japanese/English subtitled track on the DVD version. I'll miss one as well, but I have to say that, as English dubbed versions of anime go, this one was far, far above standard. At least with the English version, my daughter can follow it. It's harsh for kids, no doubt, but I think it teaches incredibly important lessons about balance and shades of grey. Humankind and the natural world are, for better or worse, forced to cohabit. How we do it so that we can all survive is the question. I think this film goes a long way toward examining that question, and it finds, as in reality, no easy answer. Sometimes the best answer is...I don't know. Maybe our kids will figure it out where we've failed...maybe they'll even do it with the help of insights gained from this amazing film.I agree with others in that it's no movie for a typical kid--real depth of understanding of complex concepts and a somewhat thick skin are definitely required. Bravo Miyazaki! This will go on our shelves with every other wonderful film you've given us!
Rating: 
Summary: How Could Disney Do This?
Review: I agree with the comments below: I have been eagerly awaiting the DVD of this movie. I have the Japanese version on videotape, and I wasn't crazy about the dubbing in the American version, but I wanted to pre-order the DVD on the (mistaken) assumption that I'd get both the Japanese version and the American version, plus perhaps a Japanese version with English subtitles. What else is the point of a DVD? Geez, I'd have loved to have it in German and French, for that matter. It's always interesting to see how translations into various languages distort (sometimes necessarily, sometimes not) the original version of a film. But I certainly have no intention right now of buying what Disney is offering. Shame on them, indeed.
Rating: 
Summary: The original was GREAT, but the US messed it up
Review: Speaking about content, this movie is literally the best I haveever seen in my whole life. This includes anime and American movies.It is the most well-rounded film I've seen; the characters are great, the plot is stunning, and the movie stays with you long after you see it. If I were to rate the movie, I'd give it 1,000,000+ stars. However, the English dubbed voices, as usual, were terrible. The beautiful original japanese acting should never be destroyed so brutally. The fact that the acting in this movie brought my rating from 1,000,000 to 3 should show something. Releasing a movie on DVD gives the opportunity to present the movie in many languages, but this opportunity wasn't taken. This DVD not including a Japanese form is the very reason why I will not buy it, and one of the many reasons why I shun Disney.
Rating:
Summary: A must for environmentalists, anime fans, and, well, anyone!
Review: This is a truly beautfiul movie. I mean, it almost made me cry. In total honesty, though, it DID make me cry. The music, the animation, the GORGEOUS paintings and brilliant computer effects come together with a moving plot to create one of the best movies, in my opinion, ever made. You don't need to be an anime fan to appreciate a jewel like Princess Mononoke; you just have to be human. ^_^
Rating:
Summary: PRINCESS HOKEY-ONOKE
Review: It has been aptly described as some mutant lovechild born from an affair between Godzilla and Pokemon's yellow Pikachu - for indeed, Princess Mononoke is part cute and cuddly, part brute and ugly. Because of this it remains an ecological animated "epic" (so my friend Mitch claims) that is just too damn well-intentioned. Set in Japan's ancient past, the movie essentially unravels the tense relationship between man, nature and the divine spirit that unites us all. It is this core idea that powers the film. There is no good or evil here, no right and wrong. Rather, the journey for all the characters is to learn how to coexist, to create harmony from disarray. It's these somewhat spiritual ideas that are repeatedly beat over our heads, with constant eco-babble nonsense that wears thin on all but the most dedicated of tree-huggers. A quick visit to the impressive official website of Princess Mononoke the World Rests on the Courage of One Warrior." Fittingly this contradicts the message of the movie. For taking sides matters little, and life and death, we are told, occur as a result of the great and terrible aspects of nature symbolized by the hunted god of the forest. This none too subtle 2+ hour allegory is overloaded with a plot that is surprisingly ineffective. It moves by little fits and starts, sometimes even doubling back on itself and changing its characters' personalities, forcing them to act against what we thought was in their own best interest. These self-contradictions almost emasculate the power of the film. I don't think this is a fault of the translation, but of the conception itself. It's all much too much for the film to sustain, and there never is any consistency about what each individual or group needs or wants. There is a final battle, of sorts, between the demons and the non-demons, but what power it might have had is vitiated by the confused script. This was made so because there is an apparent attempt to incorporate a host of timely, nature in the face of unchecked business interests, the death of spirituality in the name of social progress, misogyny in its many manifestations. Princess Mononoke is a Zeitgeist potpourri, strung with late-20th-century fear and anxiety. Preachy, patronizing and paternal, Princess Mononoke, the movie as well as the character, lectures us on so versus nature, history, and the struggle of outcast classes, to name only a few. The purity of the land is continually spoiled by angry animal gods, scheming people who just want to prosper during hard times, and the usual suspects - greed and hubris. Contradiction is, by design, everywhere, but the viewers aren't allowed to make up their own minds. The notion that hate can consume you and make you do things you normally wouldn't is sound enough. But the prince's cursed "hate scar" that results in making him a better fighter which actually saves his life, is its own contradiction. Hate is bad, but hate can help - huh? At least in Alice in Wonderland the contradictions didn't fall into dizzying reiterations. The duplicity overwhelms and drags this movie from epic to saga. Have I mentioned that this movie is long? Had my watch arm not been holding and supporting popcorn this would have been a 5x watch glancing movie. This slow and dawdling movie at times seemed to trundle aimlessly across the screen, and I feared on several occasions as if it might never end. It's hard to say where exactly it goes wrong, but rest assured that it involves its brazenly insulting cheesiness. There isn't one conservationist idea that the adult audience didn't know already. That said, the movie lavishes incredible attention on each and every backdrop, and they are beautiful - exquisitely detailed and convincing. Yet they too face contradiction with the human characters who look like they just escaped from "Speed Racer". The scenery seduces with its magnificence, yet is juxtaposed against animation that is never to be able to break through the skin. With button eyes and geometric lips, the humans remind me of bad Sunday morning cartoons, as they couldn't even be held in comparison to Saturday morning cartoons. The one notable exception was the parasite infected demon-boar god in the beginning. While the eco-fable can be summarized in two seconds, it takes more than two lavishly stunning hours for the movie to get there. Like the traditional wood-carving works of art that inspired it (so I was told), Princess Mononoke's re-created world is simple-looking while actually being incredibly detailed and complex. Which leaves us with the glaring need for a more interesting story beyond an ecological plea. And I won't even get into the sorry voice dubbing by Claire Danes (no range) and Billy Bob Thornton (twang intact). I've given this movie one star since I can't assign it "zero" stars, indeed I cannot recommend this movie to anyone unless they are trying to get in out of the rain.
Rating:
Summary: What a waste and a shame....
Review: What a waste and a shame if the DVD release does not contain the original Japanese dialog and subtitles. Such a beautiful film deserves to seen and heard as it was originally done. Anything less is reprehensible. Shame on Disney.
Rating:
Summary: Poor voice acting (dubbing), no Dolby 5.1
Review: The movie itself, certainly in its original Japanese form, gets 5 stars in my mind. But this version is sub-par: the only Dolby encoding listed as of this review is 2.0(! ), and the voice acting involved in the English dubbing, as well as a lot of the script "translation", is horrific. Whoever was in charge of casting, and more specifically casting Billy Bob Thornton and Jada Pinkett Smith should lose that day job in a hurry; the southern drawl and South-Central L.A. accents invading the old-Japan setting of the movie are an assault to the ears and stomach. The only redeeming voice in the bunch belongs to the wonderful Minnie Driver, in her equally wonderful performance as Lady Eboshi. The English translation of the script is also a joke. It takes several creative liberties with the original story, with the laughable excuse of making it more "palatable" to North American audience tastes, which does Miyazaki's work a disservice and is an outright insult to intelligence. The greatest gift DVD fans of this movie can get is an original Japanese version of the movie with sub-titles available as an option, recorded in Dolby Surround 5.1.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie
Review: I am a complete anime freak and could not wait to see this movie. I heard about it from my friends and finally went and saw it. It was better than I ever thought it would be. I told everyone about it and now that it is coming out on video, I will be the first one to get a copy! This is the best movie! You must see it!
Rating:
Summary: Great for anime, but ...
Review: Every single review at Amazon gives this film five stars. I'm going to break with the trend, and give it three, which, let me point out, means that I like it. It's not a bad movie by any means. However, it is not the best thing ever, either. Let me say though, that for anime, this is one of the better ones. But I've seen a good chunk of animes, most of which weren't that great, so keep that mind. My main gripe with the film is that there's not enough action. You get some really good scenes here and there, but basically, the visuals are wasted. These kind of visuals are extrememly rare, and to use them for a lot of drama segments is not what I would recommend. As for the story itself, it's okay. A lot of Eastern religious themes, Buddhism, polytheistic type of thing which isn't my bag. Nor is the environmentalist indoctrination, which actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it's there nonetheless. The characters are decent, nothing memorable. Still, I recommend you see this film anyway, even if it's solely for some incredible animation. The rest of the film is overrated, in my opinion. But it's still thoroughly watchable.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Animated Film Of All Time
Review: I first saw this movie when I purchased the japanese version on VHS. It made hate Disney for the simple fact that this movie was all hand painted. not one computer was used in the animation. If only all american animated films were like this. I was so engrossed in this film that my friends said i liked it more then star wars.(i Love star wars)
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