Princess Mononoke

The Excuse: I couldn't find it and the only time I had a chance to watch it was when I was playing a card game and I found it too hard to follow. Of course, she also set up the game in such a way that my back was to the movie and the sound was in Japanese.

The Review: This movie was beautiful, the story well-told, the voice-acting great, and I enjoyed it. Also, it's not hard to find; I was just dragging my feet because of the bad experience I had the first time watching it. Yeah, some advice: if you want to watch a movie with someone and it's subtitled, don't do something with them that requires concentration like Magic or Chess.

And this movie alone requires concentration, and not in a bad way. As you watch Prince Ashitaka try to make peace between the forest and Irontown your mind can't help but think about what this means, what his true motives might be, can the forest be saved, etc. And, of course, Lady Eboshi is incredibly intriguing as she employs ladies who used to work in brothels and uses lepers to make her guns as the men grumble about the women being spoiled and the women sing her praises. I wasn't that interested in the title character, though. I enjoyed following her story, but I was much more interested in Lady Eboshi, Ashitaka, and the wolf god. Actually, the only thing about the movie that I still find terrible is the title. The plot does revolve around her for most of the movie, but she's only doing what has to be done to save the forest. I guess it does make sense, but I think it sounds a little kiddish. Of course, that may just be my Disney-background talking.

Conclusion: 5 stars. Would watch again.

Watch it with: Jasmine Green Tea.