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Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) |
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Audience Feedback about the Miramax movie trailer |
Last update: 99/10/04 00:10 PDT (GMT-8)
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Sun, 12 Sep to Sat, 9 Oct 1999 18:38:20 -0700
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Reactions to the trailer | About the film | Reactions to the film |
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We asked you to tell us what you thought about the trailer and we have compiled your messages and asked Miramax to read them here.
[99/10/03] Thank you for your letters to Miramax! It's been a month since the trailer was first made available here on Nausicaa.net, and the response has been terrific! Thank you all for writing in, but I'm afraid I'm quite swamped with mail and haven't had time to post it here. To help me catch up, please stop sending us new mail to be posted on Nausicaa.net for Miramax's attention. Miramax have read your letters about the trailer! They want to use your letters on their official Princess Mononoke web site. They haven't told me exactly how they'll use it, where they'll post them, or when, however. I'll let you know here if I find out. Otherwise, why not head over there to check up on what they have made available already? |
Disclaimer: The messages quoted here are from fans and members of the public. They do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Miyazaki Mailing List or Nausicaa.net.
Editor's notes: In places, you will find text [surrounded by square brackets]. These are comments by Team Ghiblink staff to provide clarification or context when deemed necessary. No attempt has been made to correct errors of spelling or grammar.
Dear Miramax, Thank you for reading these comments from people who have downloaded the trailer from Nausicaa.net or one of its mirrors. We hope that you will be able to take heart from the positive comments and hopefully address some of the negative comments (within reason).
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Dear Visitors, Thank you for writing in with your comments about the trailer. We hope that you will write to us again when the film becomes available in theaters so that we may learn more about your impressions of the film as a whole. We will be happy to publish your comments in our dub impressions page.
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Positive comments | Negative comments |
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Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 14:15:48 -0500
From: Liesl Christman, liesl@umr.edu Rolla, Missouri. I just watched the Miramax trailer for Princess Mononoke. For the most part it was very good; the characters' voices were well done compared with other English dubs, and the trailer seemed to portray the story well. My only complaint is the announcer's mispronunciations. It looks really bad for your company if you can't correctly pronounce the title of your movie in the previews. Liesl Christman OK MIRAMAX Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 18:34:24 -0400 From: David Higbee, dhigbee@nortelnetworks.com Simi Valley, California. Hey, I just thought that I would say that Mononoke Hime was one of the best anime I have ever seen. I saw the fan-subbed version at a friends house not too long ago. I loved it, I would like to buy it, but unfortunately it hasn't come out yet in America. If Miramax would release it in theaters or at least a theater near Simi Valley, California. I know about 80 people who would go see it instantly, not to mention the people who would go and see it just because it's anime. Thanks for listening, ^_^
Dave Higbee
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 03:29:15 -0400 From: M Weiss, mweiss@javanet.com New Milford, Connecticut. I watched the theatrical trailer for the English-language version of Mononoke Hime with mixed reaction. (I must preface my remarks with the mention that I am a fanatical purist when it comes to anime, preferring the Japanese language versions over a dub in case after case.) The first thing that struck me odd about the trailer was that the music in the first few minutes was unrecognizable. This was not the wonderful Joe Hisaishi soundtrack that I so adored hearing in the original movie and original theatrical trailers found at the end of the Mononoke Hime laserdisc from Japan. I was relieved to see that at least SOME of the music of Mr. Hisaishi DID make it onto the trailer for the US version. I sincerely hope that the movie makes full use of the Hisaishi soundtrack, rather than replacing it with something cooked up over here. My second impression is more positive: some of America's better acting talent made it into this US dub. From the short theatrical trailer, I could see that the dub has great potential. Although they can never replace the original Japanese version, I was pleasantly surprised with the caliber of the acting by Billy Crudup, as Ashitaka. If it's this way consistently through the film, I think that even serious anime fans will find the dub the most tolerable of dubs to date. Studio Ghibli's strictness with the translation paid off. I hope this movie gets promoted in ALL the movie theatres--not just the ones in major cities. Viva la anime! Sincerely,
Mark A. Weiss
OK MIRAMAX Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 12:24:59 -0700 From: Jared Rosenthal, aeka@earthlink.net Ontario, California. I want to see this at the Onterio mills mall theateres(Edwards 22 or AMC) in Onterio, California. OK MIRAMAX Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 23:11:37 +1100 From: Kristel Proctor, kyp@echostation.com Troy, Michigan. To Miramax, I have watched with some degree of anticipation as American anime fans have welcomed the release of Princess Mononoke to a select bunch of theatres. However, I have yet to hear of an Australian release for this beautiful film. I have been lucky enough to see a Japanese version of the film and have been awaiting the chance to show it to many of my friends who appreciate animation but do not speak Japanese. I sincerely hope that you do release it internationally, for you have given such dedication to this film and the delicacy in which the dubbing was done. It would be a shame to limit its potential to only an American audience. The preview looks fantastic - please follow up with an Australian release date, please! -Kyp.
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OK MIRAMAX Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 19:18:59 -0700 From: Troy Williams, stylusx@earthlink.net Murrieta, California. Miramax, the trailer for Princess Mononoke was beautiful. I mean that in every sense of the word. The part that I liked the most was when the theme song kicked in just before the end of the trailer. You picked the perfect line to precede it, and the perfect time to play it, and the beauty of it literally brings a tear each time I watch the trailer. The music you played during the middle of the trailer during all the action was also excellent, and it delivered a good feeling for the action and the drama. The line "Now watch closely. I'm going to show you how to kill a god." was excellently chosen. I am only upset that none of Gillian Anderson's lines made it to the trailer (unless the line about meeting fate was her... but it didn't sound like her), and of course, the announcer incorrectly pronouncing Mononoke was an honest mistake. Just try to get it right on the TV commercials, ok? (There will be TV commercials, right?!) Miramax, I just want to say thank you. I hope you will consider releaseing it in more than just the top 20 markets between now and October 29th. OK MIRAMAX Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 10:36:28 -0400 From: Henry D. Archut, Racso1983@worldnet.att.net Mantua, New Jersey, USA Hello, I have just now seen the trailer and I must say that it wasn't too bad. I agree with others about there being too many spoilers, and the pronounciations were bad. Never the less, it seems much better than I thought, and feared it would be. The voices I heard so far seemed to work okay, though none could be better then the originals of coarse. ^_^ For future trailors and tv ads, please try to get Peter Collen to narate them, and let your current narator go back to the Discovery Channel. This isn't a documentary your releasing! ^_^; This might be a little too late, but please remember that this film could make or brake the chance of anime entering North America's mainstream. Please treat it as such, the choices you make when promoting Princess Mononoke will make all the difference.
Henry D. Archut
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 02:08:38 EDT From: XSuuChanX@aol.com. Dear Miramax, I am, for the most part, pleased with the trailer for the movie "Mononoke Hime" (Princess Mononoke), but I am very disappointed at the mispronunciation of "Mononoke." It is really not that difficult a word to pronounce and I do not see why you can't make the extra effort to correct this error (and any other errors of pronunciation.) You should respect the japanese language and pronouce the words as they are, otherwise stick to the subtitle format. If the announcer for the movie cannot pronounce these words then I suggest getting a new announcer for the trailer. The voice actors (though I've only seen a few minutes) seem to take on their parts well. While they do not have the strength of the original japanese voice actors, they are doing a good job (it is one of the best anime dubs I've seen so far even if it's just a trailer.) Hopefully the rest of the movie will live up to this standard. Though I greatly wish to see the movie in a subtitle format, I will be willing to see the dubbed version. -G.I. Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 00:04:45 -0400 From: Richard Foley, buddha@idt.net Dumont, New Jersey. I have been looking forward to the English release of Miyazaki's films in the United States. Why has there been so little publicity for his films? Entertainment Magazine rated Kiki the number one video release of the year (1998), yet to the best of my knowledge, Kiki was never advertised! What's the point of releasing these films if so few know they exist? Is Disney anxious at the possibility a Miyazaki film may just surpass one of their own animated features? A similar situation appears to be the case with "Princess Mononoke". Where is the publicity and advertising for this film? If Miramax would make a reasonable effort to promote "Mononoke" as they did with "Shakespeare in Heat" and "Life is Beautiful," then this film will stand a better chance of success in its theatrical release.
Richard Foley
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 11:52:23 PDT From: "San Ashitaka", lady_eboshi@hotmail.com. I was utterly blown away by the Mononoke trailer. Please bring Mononoke to the Philadelphia area. We have many, many anime fans here, and we NEED to see Mononoke on the big screen! This movie will finally bring genuine anime to the American mainstream moviegoing audience. Don't let this opportunity pass you by, Miramax! Sincerely, Lady Eboshi Philadelphia, PA OK MIRAMAX Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999 23:41:20 -0400 From: ROB RITCHIE, flippyfrog@home.com. I would love to finally see an anime on the big screen at long last!
Sincerly,
OK MIRAMAX Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 18:06:07 +0200 From: Andreas Paleologos, andreas@palegolas.se Sweden. At last the high quality animated movies from Japan get a truthful face outside Japan. I really hope we'll see all Miyazaki's movies, and all the other ones as well, go worldwide, like any Disneymovie would. Because this is quality far beyond the movies from Disney and most other studios. It would be sad if they stayed unavailible for the rest of the world. In other words, good going Miramax, keep it up, and thank you. What was that mainstream Hollywood soundtrack in the trailer? It made it fade into something... just normal. That's too bad. The music already there is really good stuff isn't it? And it does catch ones mind. I trust you not changing the music score too much. That would be really sad.
Andreas Paleologos
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 08:08:13 EDT From: Jarrod Lawson, Jarrodal@aol.com Seattle, Washington. gosh, nothing more than the usual adulation, I suppose. I've been looking forward to all of the state-side releases of Studio Ghibli ever since I first heard the news years ago. Saw "Kiki" premier at the Seattle International Film Fest and hope to see every other release on it's opening night. Am most grateful and pleased to have seen the trailer, it's a nice way of getting a chance to see what fantastic things are waiting for all of us on this film's release... I was also wondering if it were possible to release these various films on digital video disc? As this is the only film-playing device I have, I was just curious... thanks for your time and consideration.
Jarrod Lawson
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 21:25:40 EDT From: Neal Hobson, SDFMacross@aol.com Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hello! My name is Neal Hobson. I am currently attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania and I am the president of my school's anime club. I am a big Miyazaki fan, and I'd like to show the members of my club Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) in a theatre. I have the Japanese LD and a fansubtitled copy of Mononoke Hime to show them, but a theatre experience would be much better. I'm sure other anime clubs in the Pittsburgh area would agree, and attend many showings of Mononoke Hime if it was showing in Pittsburgh. The only problem is, Miramax isn't showing Princess Mononoke in any cities in Western Pennsylvania. So, what I'm asking is if you could please, please, please bring Princess Mononoke to Pittsburgh on the 29th of October! About the trailer, all together it's a very good trailer, but the only real discretion I noticed is the mispronunciation of "Mononoke." But you probably know this already, so I'll leave you alone about it. Thanks to Disney and Miramax for Bringing Miyazaki's classic films to the US! Just have Pittsburgh as one of the cities you open Princess Mononoke in. A great many people would appreciate it. Thanks for your time. Neal Hobson Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999 23:04:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Bryce Lynch, bryce@telerama.lm.com Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To whom it may concern: It has been some time since the announcement that _Princess Mononoke_ (nee _Mononoke Hime_) would be released as a dubbed movie in the United States. With bated breath, its premiere' has been awaited here, particularly in the area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I would like to humbly request that this movie be licensed for public showing in Pittsburgh. I have seen the original Japanese version and fell in love with its complex plot and beautiful animation, and it would be a great service to the public if it were more widely viewable. Please, please release this movie in the area, so that it may capture the hearts and imaginations of the people.
Sincerely yours,
To summary of positive comments. |
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 03:45:17 EDT
From: Scott Lahn, Mappyman@aol.com Jacksonville, Florida. Ok, for almost half a year now i've been waiting for some sort of translation of Mononoke Hime, and this is what I get? A shot revealing every scene in the film I don't want to see because it will ruin it for others. A little background: I've been a Miyazaki fan since Nasicaa, and have watched every film since. Mononoke Hime i got from a friend who paid $80 for the laserdisc, which included the English trailer which was 10x better than this one. Some dubbs I actually liked. Kiki's Delivery Service wasn't too bad (aside from Phil Hartman constant talking out of term) and Laputa was so so. But to really make a point: celebrities don't make a movie. The Blair Witch Project had complete nobodys and the movie grossed so much money. Storyline, acting, and media hype are what make movies nowadays. Mononoke suffers from Celebrity overload. Like the saying goes "Too many cooks spoil the batter" is the case with Mononoke. Get people who can play the part, for instance giving Lady Eboshi a British accent? Uhhh..no. Her character is harsh and b*tchy, not sweet and Spicegirlish.Another message that should have been more emphasized was the adult nature of the film. This isn't some cartoon you take your 5 year old kids to see and buy them Happy Meals with movie characters later. This is PG-13, and for a very good reason. Make it official, and show the severed arms scene, or at least some sort of violent display. It didn't help that they played the scene of Moro ripping off Eboshi's arm either, as it spoils the fact Moro dies. What about Billy Bob's line about his posessed power? That's not his line, in fact I don't remember him even watching Ashitaka fighting. He was talking about Ashitaka being courageous is all. "The Fate Of The World?" I don't think San decides the world's fate, just her safety actually. That sounded like Hollywood exaggerated a tad too much. I'd hate for this movie to go Box one week and be at the dollar theater the next. I want it to strike people with strong meaning and make them think, like it did in Japan. I'm ever so glad Anime is Finally making it to the big screens and I hope it does more often (I'd love to see movies such as X, Vampire Hunter D, Evangelion, and Ranma 1/2), but if the trailer shows the movie as its going to be in the final version, then the Anime Cinema idea will die out fast. The Pokemon movie will definitely be a hit, as it has already attracted a large audience and is based on an already running Dubbed television show and game, but Mononoke Hime stands alone as the single adult anime theatrical title. Spend more time working on a perfect translation and less on finding celebrity voice actors. Phil Hartman did NOT make Kiki any more popular, and neither will the voices in Mononoke unless they perform at an exceptionally good level. The English trailer on the laserdisc did it perfectly. It introduced every main character, had NO voices, and showed scenes to get you interested, not to spoil the story. A type of "Lure you in to this new type dramatic movie", not "We have celebrity voices and can show you explosions". We've seen enough of that in US theaters, and its getting old. Sure, people saw Wild Wild West because of its big explosive previews and plethora of stars, but did they go home and think about how great the plot, directing, and meaning of the movie was? No. Music. Thank you SO much for leaving the vocal track, now don't translate it to English and we have a perfect soundtrack. Changing even one song would just ruin the entire story. The musical score in this film was amazing and any change would alter it to the point that it would change the entire feeling you get after watching it. Again, no translations; people like Opera, as its really good for setting a dramatic tone. So in closing, this can be a breakthrough for theatrical Anime in the US, but seeing as the main title was mispronounced and this movie seems to have undergone extreme celebrity overload, i fear the worst. I will watch it, and i know friends of mine will to. We will all watch it because its Anime, and its different. So far, its attracted enough people to make it attract a crowd. But 1 week of popularity doesn't last, and if this movie is to become as popular as it was in Japan, then its going to take a lot more than a couple of star voices. Accurate translation, great musical score, and Storyline, Storyline STORYLINE is the essential key to making this movie a hit. This email (im sorry to say) is more of a complaint than compliment. I was expecting to see the trailer and see the same brilliance i saw in the laserdisc English preview. Instead i see Hollywood hype, explosions, and other repeated scenes from every other US theatrical preview ive ever seen in my life. The voices are decent, enough to sit through and actually listen to what they have to say, but the actors don't seem to really get into the part like they did in japanese. When i sit through the first 5 minutes i want to hear Billy Crudup running away from the Tatarigami, shouting at the top of his lungs for it to go back to the forest, not reading from a Q-card. Please try and make this Otaku proud of Miramax and the Pricess Mononoke staff!
Best Of Luck On The Mononoke Hime English Translation,
OK MIRAMAX Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 07:03:50 EDT From: Tong Phan, Golgo333@cs.com Redlands, CA. What ever you do don't let Princess Mononoke slip through your finger. I was dissapionted at the marketing scheme for this movie. I have not heard or seen any advertisement about this movie on TV, magazine or newspaper. Where is the TV commercial , and where are all those press exposer for this film???? And this movie suppose to due out in Oct. 29 ??? Is almost the middle of September for god shake......What are you waiting for???? I seen one little press report about this movie on the ET program, and its only last barely 30 second....Puh Plea!!!!! I really really really LOVE this movie. I definetly think it should receive the attention like STAR WARS does. Whatever you do don't let this masterpiece slip through your finger. I'll probably go see this movie 5 times or more. Please Please Please show the trailer of Princess Mononoke in the theater, please. I will probably go there to see the trailer only, but what the heck.
Sincerely
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 13:22:14 -0700 From: Seán L O'Rear, greenkelly@juno.com After seeing the trailer for the English dub of Princess "Mawna-Nokey" I actually wished that the movie would never be shown to the English speaking (parts of the) world. It could've at least been called "Princess of Monsters" as I would've done if I had anything to do with it. My other worry, pronunciation-wise, is that of Áshitaka's name. I worry that he'll be Awshee-Tocka even though they say AH-shtuh-kah in the Japanese version. ["ah-shtah-kah", actually - MichJ] Also, I didn't notice anyone mention that in the real pronunciation of Mononoké, the stress is on the -ke part: mo-no-no-KAY. Another point of stress ('cause I worry about this movie): I'm displeased with the trailer in its entirety because it tells too much and I hate the voice of the narrator, which seems to be the same voice used in the previews for b-movies. No narration (by that guy, at least) during any future trailers, PLEASE. The "fate of the world" depends on San and Ashitaka? That's B.S. Sean O'Rear OK MIRAMAX Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 18:40:11 -0400 From: Thomas P. Schreiber, reggie@columbus.rr.com Columbus, Ohio. The dubbing sounds OK, except the voice of the princess should be less fluent. The original made her sound more simple (almost illiterate). She sounds too well versed. Also, PLEASE learn how to pronounce MONONOKE correctly. Thomas P. Schreiber OK MIRAMAX Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 15:43:48 -0400 From: Ian Barclay, ianbarclay@home.com Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. My god!! for the most expensive dub EVER you think they'd do a better job, pronouncing the names correctly would have been a good start. Honestly the most disappointing thing I've seen since that Episode One thing. Please don't bring this [expletive deleted - MichJ] anywhere near my city. Disgusted with Di$ney in Ottawa Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 18:14:23 EDT From: Joe Fang, silverwolf1@hotmail.com. I believe that import movies should be sub-titled and not dubbed. Why? Because the creator of the movie selected specific people to act out the parts, for a specific reason. If you choose the wrong people, or any person for that matter, and he/she creates a bad idea for the audience of the movie. It's so much better to see a movie presented as it is, and not what some people think of it. That's a flaw in dubbed movies. OK MIRAMAX Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 00:04:55 -0700 From: Ken Fujiwara, fujiwara@angelfire.com Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The trailer got me excited but I was not pleased because...The music for the trailer was noise. Mononoke was pronounced wrong at the end of the trailer. San's voice is really bad. (She is not supposed to speak perfect English she is like a Tarzan.) I hope this movie does really good because I'm a really big fan of Ashitaka. (his voice was ok)I hope you don't change the music at all. The Japanese music gives the movie a Japan feeling. Good luck.
Mr. K. Fujiwara
OK MIRAMAX Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 01:05:26 +0100 From: Luis Canau, Luis@Canau.NET Lisboa, Portugal. Movies are always subtitled in Portugal except when they are meant for kids, like Disney animation. Even then there's always a subtitled version because many adults want to see it too. Anime is yet to be popular enough to be seen on our movie theatres, but I'm hoping that the success of this film in the US and the fact that it is being distributed by a big studio, will allow it to be released here. Since we normally have two versions of children's films, dubbed in Portugal and subtitled, I'm a bit worried that Miramax isn't stressing that "Mononoke Hime" is NOT a children's film. I just hope that a ridiculous situation wouldn't happen, like having an "original" version in English with Portuguese subtitles side-by-side with a dubbed version in Portuguese. Dear Sirs at Miramax, don't sent the dubbed version for markets that are supposed to subtitle it, please. There's many Hong Kong films dubbed and censored for American audiences, some from Miramax, that some local companies have released and it is such a terrible thing. And if the film is not for young kids why don't you just try to make the original version more popular, that is, not as a "special edition"? (What's "special" about it?) The film is Japanese; the characters should speak Japanese. I find funny that some people in this web page are complaining about the mispronunciation of 'mononoke' but seen to be comfortable with the characters speaking in English, though some are commenting on their accents. You are talking about the _altered_ version, aren't you? If you don't like those sort of things, just DON'T SUPPORT DUBBED VERSIONS, thus making original versions more popular. Films should be seen in its original form. No dubbing. No censorship. No formatting. concerning this, it's also quite ridiculous that the US trailer is in 4:3 format with animation CUT on the sides - if the director is so important (an he obviously is), like the beginning of the trailer says, how can you mangle is work? - reverting to the approximated original format to show the names of the people that dubbed the voices (!) I don't think you should need those names to sell good animation and good films, especially when the names are irrelevant and are NOT a part of the (original) film. Thanks for reading, and please make a DVD available as soon as possible, since I don't really know if I will see it on a Portuguese theatre. Subtitled. NOT in English.
Luis Canau
OK MIRAMAX Date: Sat, 9 Oct 1999 18:38:20 -0700 From: The children of Michael and Lisa Bade, bade01@sprynet.com. First, this is not Michele or Lisa Bade, this is there politically active , environmentally active and hyper active kids. Sorry for the confusion. Second we were not threatening violence simply outlining the consequences. And lastly, a good amount of profanity can really strengthen writing, we are showing passion. But just for you, here's a censored version: Ok guys, listen your sitting on a gold mine of movies, the, shall we say, Miyazaki chronicles, that with proper care I would bet could make you more money than Titanic did. Princess Mononoki is a incredible movie that the Amerikan populous would love, and think about it what you've got here is a grass roots cult movie that cost you practically nothing and that there will be a huge turn out for, provided you don't @#$% up the voices, which you've done. If you don't change them now your anime-goth movie-goer's (the only ones who will be coming at this rate) you'll not only be beat down with many pieces of re-bar (Note this is not a threat, merely a prediction, or piece of cynical humor) with cement on the ends, but they'll all say "@#$% this" and get a @#$% fansub which, believe you me is one HECK of a lot cheaper than even going to see the stupid movie. Now if you go one small step farther and just advertise for the thing (your current trailer is pretty good) not only will you get your turnout of anime freaks and goths, but you may very well capture much of the populace also. And if you go one step farther than that, and actually get good voice actors (Hint:Japan has the best in the world) you may find, that some people will go back again to see the movie, instead of back again to BE VERY MEAN TO your headquarters. The potential for the princess Mononoki, is so great, due to the fact that it has adventure, romance, action, you name it... everything that today's movie-goer's want that as I said earlier, it could make as much, if not more money than titanic. I'm telling you man (is that offensive, I mean, does it hurt you, when I call you man?), you're sitting on a gold mine, and you're gonna blow it! To summary of negative comments. |
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