Don't miss out on this one!

Rating: Null/10 (5 April 2002)

My experience with "anime" (japanese animation, typically identified by characters with oversized eyes) was the series cartoons my children watched on the cartoon network. I wasn't impressed. I've been an animation fan since childhood, but i had become more demanding in what I expected from an animated feature. Disney and Dreamworks presentations were some of my favorites. I hadn't realized that some anime presentations were full length movies until my 7 year old was kept home with the flu, and my wife rented some cartoons to keep him happy while I fed him chicken soup. My son fell asleep, (the flu will do that to a kid) but I kept watching. The breathtaking artwork, and incredibly beautiful music had me hooked. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I watched the movie 3 times before we turned it in. Needless to say, I've been looking for anime movies ever since, and though I have found quite a few that are either dubbed in English, or have English subtitles, I haven't found one that comes close to Princess Mononoke.
No movie is perfect however, and I feel I must include the downside to this film. The characters are not what I would call fully developed. I find myself wondering about who these people are, and what makes them tick. This makes the story a bit confusing as it has many characters which are important, and doesn't focus on any of them long enough for you to get to know them. I am not extremely familiar with Japanese people, but I feel from watching many anime films that a lot is lost in the translation, primarily due to the differance in our cultures. One other thing to note is that although this film has a generally wholesome attitude, there is some very graphic violence involved. If you are concerned, watch it before you show it to your kids, or watch "Kiki's Delivery Service" instead.
If you've never thought very highly of japanese animation, give this movie a chance to change your mind. I'm still not an anime fanatic. There is a lot of it that is frankly not worth watching in my opinion, but there are a few gems like this one that makes it worthwhile to keep looking. (Also see, "Oh! My Goddess", "Ghost in the Shell", "Samurai X", "Laputa", "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Porco Rosso")