Princess Mononoke Review: Miyazaki’s Masterpiece Belongs Back on the Big Screen

Some films get called masterpieces so often the word stops meaning anything. Princess Mononoke is one of the rare ones that actually earns it, over and over, on every rewatch. Nearly thirty years after its original release, Hayao Miyazaki’s epic is heading back to theaters, newly remastered in 4K, as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2026. It’s worth every minute of a trip to the cinema.

What’s It About

A curse changes everything for Ashitaka, a young warrior from a forgotten tribe. After killing a demon-possessed boar god to protect his village, he’s marked with a wound that will slowly kill him. Determined to find the source of the corruption before it’s too late, he heads west, out of his homeland and into a much bigger conflict.

That conflict centers on Irontown, an industrial mining settlement run by the fierce, complicated Lady Eboshi. Her people are clearing the surrounding ancient forest for resources, which puts them in constant, violent conflict with the forest’s animal gods — wolves, boars, and the unknowable, forest-ruling Great Forest Spirit. Fighting alongside the wolves is San, a human girl raised by the wolf god Moro, who the people of Irontown fear and call Princess Mononoke. Ashitaka gets pulled straight into the middle of it all, cursed, wounded, and somehow the only person capable of seeing both sides clearly.

The Review

What separates Princess Mononoke from just about every other environmentalist story ever put on screen is its refusal to pick an easy side. Lady Eboshi isn’t a cartoon villain bulldozing nature for profit. She’s given Irontown’s lepers and former sex workers a home and real purpose, and she genuinely cares about the people under her protection. The forest, meanwhile, isn’t some untouched paradise either — its deeper parts feel dangerous and ancient in a way that suggests humans were never meant to go there, and its animal gods are just as capable of hatred and violence as the humans they’re fighting.

That refusal to simplify carries all the way through the film. Nobody here is purely good or purely evil. People do terrible things, but almost always out of fear, greed, or a stubborn refusal to see things from the other side, rather than pure malice. It’s a far more honest, far more powerful way to tell this kind of story than the usual “nature good, industry bad” framing most films settle for.

Ashitaka works as the perfect lens for all of it, because he’s the only character with enough distance to see both sides clearly. Everyone else is too deep in the fight to notice they’re only making things worse. His relationship with San becomes the emotional core of the film — two people who represent opposite sides of the same conflict, slowly, cautiously finding something like understanding in each other, without the film ever cheapening San’s very real hatred of humanity by having her abandon it too easily.

The Craft

Even by Ghibli’s own extraordinary standards, the animation here is something else. Every movement feels fluid and alive in a way that’s rarely matched, and the CGI elements — genuinely impressive for a film from 1997 — blend so seamlessly into the hand-drawn work that you’d barely notice them if you weren’t looking. The forest itself is rendered with an almost overwhelming level of detail, giving the whole film a sense of scale that still holds up on a modern screen.

Joe Hisaishi’s score, as always, does enormous emotional work, mixing sweeping orchestral pieces with quieter, more intimate moments exactly when the story calls for them. And while this isn’t primarily an action film, the battle sequences carry real weight and brutality. Miyazaki’s well-known anti-war stance comes through clearly here — nothing about the violence is glorified, and the larger battles are chaotic and genuinely hard to watch in the way real conflict should be.

Why See It on the Big Screen

This is a film built for scale, and a newly remastered 4K theatrical run is genuinely the best way to experience it if you can. Details in the forest, the texture of the animal gods, the sheer size of Irontown against the wilderness around it — all of it lands harder on a big screen than it ever could at home. Studio Ghibli Fest screenings also include both the original Japanese version with subtitles and the English dub, so you can pick whichever suits you.

The Verdict

Princess Mononoke isn’t just a great animated film — it’s one of the most thoughtful, morally complex adventure stories ever put to screen, animated or otherwise. Its refusal to offer easy answers about nature, industry, and human conflict is exactly why it still resonates so strongly nearly three decades later. If you’ve never seen it, or haven’t seen it since it first hit theaters, this re-release is the perfect excuse.

Rating: 5/5

Watch the Trailer

Quick Facts

• Title: Princess Mononoke
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Studio: Studio Ghibli
• Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Adventure
• Runtime: 2h 18m
• Rating: PG-13
• Original release: 1997
• Screening as part of: Studio Ghibli Fest 2026, presented by GKIDS and Fathom Entertainment
• US screening dates: September 26–30, 2026
• Formats: Japanese with English subtitles and English dubbed versions

Where to Watch

Princess Mononoke is screening in select US theaters September 26–30, 2026, as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2026. Check GhibliFest.com or Fathom Entertainment’s site for showtimes near you.

Final Thoughts

Nearly thirty years on, Princess Mononoke hasn’t lost an ounce of its power. It’s a film that trusts its audience to sit with complexity instead of easy answers, and that trust is exactly why it still feels essential today. Catch it on the big screen while you can.

Have you seen “Princess Mononoke”? Share your thoughts in the comments below.