This adaptation of a 10th-century folk tale is less sumptuous than Ghibli maestro Hiyao Miyazaki’s surreal classics, yet it’s also more affecting than most of them. An allegory about the irrecoverable joys of childhood, it may make parents hug their kids now.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya(かぐや姫の物語)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2013
Rated PG · 2h 17m
Director Isao Takahata
Starring Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Nobuko Miyamoto, Atsuko Takahata
Genre Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her—but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Taking Eastern watercolours as inspiration, the aesthetic is impressionistic and painterly with a fluidity that imbues the piece with an intrinsic magic.
The A.V. Club by David Ehrlich
A devastating and deceptively simple tale adapted from 10th-century folklore, Isao Takahata’s The Tale Of Princess Kaguya distills a millennium of Japanese storytelling into a timeless film that feels both ancient and alive in equal measure.
Slant Magazine by Elise Nakhnikian
The soft colors, graceful movements, and clean lines together embody the ineffable beauty of life on Earth that is one of the film's main themes.
The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin
It’s a lovely piece of work.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a visionary tour de force, morphing from a childlike gambol into a sophisticated allegory on the folly of materialism and the evanescence of beauty.
Throughout The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya, even when it gets bogged down in too much story, the animation is so gorgeous that any given frame could pass for a masterwork.
The Playlist by Oliver Lyttelton
It's a remarkably gorgeous piece of work.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
Emotions and moods are anchored to specific moments of stillness, and we feel them all the more intensely because of it.
Users who liked this film also liked
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
(風の谷のナウシカ)
A young girl's love called forth miracles.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan, United States • 1984
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Sumi Shimamoto, Ichirō Nagai, Gorō Naya, Yōji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Iemasa Kayumi
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Princess Mononoke
(もののけ姫)
The fate of the world rests on the courage of one warrior.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1997
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijô
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Spirited Away
(千と千尋の神隠し)
A ten-year-old girl must save her parents from hostile spirits.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2001
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Bunta Sugawara, Yumi Tamai, Ryunosuke Kamiki
- Genre Animation, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Howl's Moving Castle
(ハウルの動く城)
A young woman cursed with old age seeks the help of an insecure magician and his companions, who live in a moving castle.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2004
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashūin, Ryunosuke Kamiki
- Genre Fantasy, Animation, Adventure
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
My Neighbor Totoro
(となりのトトロ)
Sisters and spirits come together in this magical tale.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1988
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Noriko Hidaka, Hitoshi Takagi, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Sumi Shimamoto, Tanie Kitabayashi
- Genre Animation, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Perfect Blue
(パーフェクトブルー)
A retired pop singer starts to lose her hold on reality when she is stalked by an obsessive fan.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ōkura, Yōsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya
- Genre Animation, Thriller
- Available on Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Shudder Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Castle in the Sky
(天空の城ラピュタ)
Two kids race to find a lost civilization and keep a magic crystal out of the wrong hands.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1986
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Keiko Yokozawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Minori Terada, Kotoe Hatsui, Fujio Tokita, Ichirō Nagai
- Genre Adventure, Fantasy, Animation, Action, Family, Romance
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Ponyo
(崖の上のポニョ)
A fish makes herself human to return to a boy on land, but she must fix the disastrous consequences of her magic.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2008
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Yuria Nara, Hiroki Doi, George Tokoro, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Yuki Amami, Kazushige Nagashima
- Genre Animation, Family
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Grave of the Fireflies
(火垂るの墓)
Can these two siblings beat the odds?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1988
- Director Isao Takahata
- Cast Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, Akemi Yamaguchi
- Genre Animation, Drama, War
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Only Yesterday
(おもひでぽろぽろ)
Is the life you have now really everything you imagined it to be?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1991
- Director Isao Takahata
- Cast Miki Imai, Toshirō Yanagiba, Yoko Honna, Mayumi Iizuka, Masahiro Itou, Chie Kitagawa
- Genre Animation, Drama, Romance
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Pom Poko
(平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ)
A community of magical racoon dogs fight back against urban development — with hilarious results.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1994
- Director Isao Takahata
- Cast Shinchou Kokontei, Makoto Nonomura, Nijiko Kiyokawa, Shigeru Izumiya, Kosan Yanagiya, Norihei Miki
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
My Neighbors the Yamadas
(ホーホケキョとなりの山田くん)
The Yamadas are a Japanese family in Tokyo, and we see them cope with life's little conflicts in their own way.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1999
- Director Isao Takahata
- Cast Hayato Isohata, Masako Araki, Naomi Uno, Tôru Masuoka, Yukiji Asaoka
- Genre Animation, Family
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Ocean Waves
(海がきこえる)
Taku glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train and recounts the events that brought them together.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1993
- Director Tomomi Mochizuki
- Cast Nobuo Tobita, Toshihiko Seki, Youko Sakamoto, Yuri Amano, Kae Araki, Jun'ichi Kanemaru
- Genre Animation, Drama, Romance, TV Movie
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Whisperer of the Heart
(耳をすませば)
Shizuki lives a simple life, dominated by her love of stories and writing, until one day she meets her “Prince of Books.”
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1995
- Director Yoshifumi Kondou
- Cast Yoko Honna, Issey Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Keiju Kobayashi
- Genre Animation, Drama, Family
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
From Up on Poppy Hill
(コクリコ坂から)
A group of Yokohama students fight to save their school's clubhouse from the wrecking ball during preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2011
- Director Gorô Miyazaki
- Cast Masami Nagasawa, Junichi Okada, Keiko Takeshita, Yuriko Ishida, Rumi Hiiragi, Jun Fubuki
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
The Wind Rises
(風立ちぬ)
We must live.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2013
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura, Stephen Alpert, Morio Kazama
- Genre Animation
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
When Marnie Was There
(思い出のマーニー)
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2014
- Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- Cast Sara Takatsuki, Kasumi Arimura, Nanako Matsushima, Susumu Terajima, Toshie Negishi, Ryôko Moriyama
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
The Theory of Everything
His mind changed our world; her love changed his.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Japan, United States • 2014
- Director James Marsh
- Cast Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, FlixFling, AMC on Demand
Your Name.
(君の名は。)
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2016
- Director Makoto Shinkai
- Cast Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Masami Nagasawa, Etsuko Ichihara, Ryou Narita, Aoi Yuki
- Genre Animation, Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Beautiful animation with a tragic ending that leaves a bitter aftertaste, in the way of old folktales.