Delayed Reaction: Princess Mononoke

What I Guessed It Was About: After seeing Spirited Away, I know better than to guess with Miyazaki.

How I Came Into It: I've only seen Spirited Away among Miyazaki's work and, to paraphrase a friend, "I like it, although I'm not sure why". I kind of expected the same from this.

Why I Saw It: And, that sums up my thoughts on this movie too. I liked it. I'm not completely sure why. The characters were pretty good (I spent a little too much time playing "Guess whose voice that is") and the story is engaging. I liked all the women kind of hating all the men in the village. It looked great and the action was well done.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I'm not sure how much of it I followed. I get the sense that a lot of things are more deeply tied to Japanese culture that I don't know about, I don't say this as a knock on the movie. It did take me out of things a couple times. I get the feeling that Miyazaki movies are the kind of thing where the more of his movies I watch, the more I'll appreciate each of the movies overall. For example, I'd call this a three star movie, but watching this for some reason bumped Spirited Away up to a four star.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend