Long, dull, badly dubbed

Rating: 5/10 (8 November 1999)

THIS is one of the most popular Japanese movies of all time???!!! Yes, there's some excellent animation and enough plot for 7 films BUT, not all the animation is good, the plot isn't exactly interesting and gets real silly at times (I gave up when the tigers and boars started having conversations), and the film is WAY too long (130 minutes). Also, the dubbing of the American voices doesn't help at all. The only one who works is Billy Cudup who voices the young hero--his voice fits perfectly. Billy Bob Thornton is horrible--his Texas accent sounds a little out of place in ancient Japan! (Also his character makes no sense and disappears completely in the middle of the movie). Claire Danes makes the princess sound like a spoiled brat and Minnie Driver's English accent sound uproarious on an evil(?) Japanese queen. That's the problem, she reads her lines so unsurely I didn't know how to take them! This is definitely a movie that lost A LOT in the translation. Also there's some real gruesome violence, so this isn't exactly for the kids. A waste of time unless you're amine fan.