Rarely does any film, animated or otherwise, immerse you in such a vivid landscape and engage your senses so strongly.
Princess Mononoke(もののけ姫)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 1997
Rated PG-13 · 2h 14m
Director Hayao Miyazaki
Starring Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi
Genre Adventure, Animation, Fantasy
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
While protecting his village from a rampaging boar-god, the young prince Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a deadly curse. He journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest Spirit's realm, searching for a cure, where he meets San, a girl raised by wolves. Caught in the middle of a battle between humans and the forest dwellers, he must figure out a way to stop them from destroying each other.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
A big movie for the ages, full to the brim with sympathy, imagination and sheer visual delight.
A must-see for animation fans.
TNT RoughCut by Christopher Brandon
Like a lot of anime, it's overlong and gets way too metaphysical at the end, but ultimately, this is a Princess worth worshipping.
It's Miyazaki's use of sound--and silence--that takes your breath away
Its breadth, profundity, and stunningly rendered vision make idealism seem renewed and breathtaking again.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
The film's storytelling and heartfelt pantheism are both impressive.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
One of the most visually inventive films I have ever seen.
Washington Post by Stephen Hunter
As spectacular as it is dense and as dense as it is colorful and as colorful as it is meaningless and as meaningless as it is long.
Exceedingly imaginative, beautifully realized animated epic adventure.
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, Fandango At Home, 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, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Trainspotting
Choose life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1996
- Director Danny Boyle
- Cast Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Kevin McKidd
- Genre Drama, Crime
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Pluto TV
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, Fandango At Home, 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, Fandango At Home, 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, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Porco Rosso
(紅の豚)
When pigs fly...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1992
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Sanshi Katsura, Tsunehiko Kamijô, Akemi Okamura, Akio Otsuka
- Genre Comedy, Animation, Adventure
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, 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, Fandango At Home, 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 Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
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, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
The Cat Returns
(猫の恩返し)
After Haru, a bored schoolgirl, saves the life of an unusual cat, her world is transformed beyond anything she ever imagined.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2002
- Director Hiroyuki Morita
- Cast Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Aki Maeda, Takayuki Yamada, Hitomi Satô, Kenta Satoi
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, 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, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Kiki's Delivery Service
(魔女の宅急便)
A young witch goes on fantastic adventures as she runs her own delivery service.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1989
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda, Mieko Nobusawa, Kôichi Miura
- Genre Animation, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Family
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store
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, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
The Secret World of Arrietty
(借りぐらしのアリエッティ)
Do not be seen by humans. That's been the law of children of the underfloor.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2010
- Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- Cast Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Tomokazu Miura, Keiko Takeshita, Kirin Kiki, Shinobu Ōtake
- Genre Fantasy, Animation, Family
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, 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, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Wolf Children
(おおかみこどもの雨と雪)
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2012
- Director Mamoru Hosoda
- Cast Aoi Miyazaki, Takao Osawa, Haru Kuroki, Yukito Nishii, Momoka Ohno, Amon Kabe
- Genre Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
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, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
(かぐや姫の物語)
A princess's crime and punishment
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2013
- Director Isao Takahata
- Cast Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Nobuko Miyamoto, Atsuko Takahata
- Genre Animation, Drama, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Breathtakingly beautiful visuals paired with a complex narrative that both breaks my heart and makes me think deeply about the world around me. I love that this offers no easy answers at the end.