What a movie!

Rating: 10/10 (6 September 2000)

I came into the theater with _soaringly_ high expectations for the film, and still found it to be a great work of cinema in the end. The animation was absolutely brilliant and gorgeous to look at, and the visuals of the various gods and forces of nature were incredible. The story is also far more complicated than anything American animation has imagined, illustrating the true nature of conflict and its resolution better than any of them. It also features a truly great character in Eboshi, whose motives aren't as black and white as western animation might have made it.
But most notable was the running time. No, not how long it was, but how short it felt to me. I really don't understand when others complain of it being too long. To me, not only did it seem that every scene was significant, but it actually felt like it was 25 minutes _shorter_ than it actually was, because I felt so compelled by just about every frame of the film.