Disney eat your heart out!

Rating: 9/10 (14 July 2002)

Mononoke Hime is definitely the best fairytale cartoon I have ever seen. Not only is the animation outstanding, the story is beautiful too. At last the viewer is treated with an intelligent cartoon, as so many are made and so few distributed, especially in Europe (shame on the film industry!).
Miyazaki's style is wonderful. I have enjoyed this film thoroughly three times. It deals with the opposing forces of man vs. nature. This fact gives the film an extra dimension. Things aren't black and white as they are in mainstream American cartoons.
Some scenes are pretty adult in the portrayal of violence (then again if your a Japanese kid, no harm done right?) and the philosophical layer the story contains. At the same time it's plain fairy tale and warrior saga. Beautiful landscapes, amazing characters (don't you just love the little white silly forest spirits?) and exciting moments.
I can strongly recommend this film to many people. Some are hesitant about watching cartoons, they expect Disney style animation and storyline. This film is on a much higher level though. It deals with an element of human nature which has taken the worst of us. The essence of Mononoke Hime is the inevitability of human development, exploiting nature and taking the earth's destiny in our own hands. Hereby we have killed the forests spirit, as indigenous people's everywhere are very aware of. They are dying with it.
Take these dimensions of the film as you will. If you just want to enjoy a great piece of animation, without bothering to see the deeper meaning, be my guest and see this film too!