A surprisingly good anime.

Rating: Null/10 (29 October 2000)

Although I may be burned as a heretic for suggesting it but I believe anime is for the most part an over rated genre filled with some of the worst animation I have ever laid eyes on. That said I have to revise my opinion now that I've finished watching Princess Mononoke. The animation in this movie is far from cheap , it was in fact astonishing, I loved every minute of it. I've watched for years as more and more people hop onto the growing fandom bandwagon of anime, it started as little more than a cult crowd but has rapidly grown into a popular medium, particularly among internet regulars. Through all of this time I've wondered repeatedly why it was so popular, from what I saw it was nothing more than hokey plot lines beefed up to draw adult crowds and animation that was hardly any better than a Scooby Doo rerun. Granted the Japanese have put a considerable amount of style and flashy backgrounds into their pictures but the animation is atrocious most of it is done in less than 12 frames a second and made by the lowest bidder and it shows through even if millions of screaming fans want to deny it. My opinion of anime as being entirely worthless was changed for me one day as I walked through the video store and noticed a shelf of Princess Mononoke videos staring at me, being pawned off as "Star Wars of animation!!" or some similar thing I decided I would check it out, I'm glad I did. The story turned out not to be as hokey as I had thought it would be it actually was moving, the animation as well was a cut above the rest, it was excellent animation, I have rarely seen better. Even if people don't like anime I think they will like Princess Mononoke as much as I did, the story was told superbly and with stunning visuals that are unparalleled in all of animation. You simply have to see this film it will change the way you see animation as a legitimate medium for story telling. Don't be surprised if this movie inspires many more like it to come over from Japan in the near future, I believe Princess Mononoke may be ushering in a new era of anime in America. Enjoy.