Most critics respond warmly to Princess Mononoke, with praise clustering around its detailed animation, forest creatures and the scale of its action. The reviews repeatedly single out Miyazaki’s combination of folklore and environmental concerns, finding images of nature and spirits especially memorable. Several also value the complexity of the conflict between humans and nature: the characters have competing needs, and the film resists a simple division into good and evil.
The reservations concern how clearly those ideas emerge and how appealing the animation remains across different subjects. The AV Club offers the strongest dissent, finding the ecological allegory muddled and the grand scale costly to Miyazaki’s offbeat charm, while still admiring the drawing. The Guardian is less persuaded by the animation style, particularly the human faces. Time Out’s reservation about the music is smaller, leaving a spread that runs from wholehearted enthusiasm to qualified admiration, with no outright rejection.