Editorial by Chris

November 2, 1999

If there is one area of entertainment where opinions vary the most it is definitely feature films. With this in mind, I was very disappointed with your review of Princess Mononoke in your November 8th issue. Aside from the fact that it was relegated to a minor portion of the page, the 'review' by Tom Gliatto reads like amateurish commentary by a middle school child. I cite his reference to the God of the Forest, who apparently "Looks like your old aunt stuffed into an elk suit has its head blown clean off." And below the image from the film the tagline reads "Iron magnate Lady Eboshi doesn't give a hoot-she pollutes."

To a person who might not know anything about this film, reading that misrepresented review could lead them to believe that Princess Mononoke is a non-sensical slaughter fest, which it is not. I can understand that everyone has different tastes in films, but this is shameful. Leah Rozen's review of The Insider in the same issue is professional and well written. Coming back to the issue of taste, in the television section of your Picks and Pans, a show entitled "SpongeBob SquarePants" is featured and given an excellent review. How could a show about a sponge in a business suit ever compare to Princess Mononoke, which is one of the highest grossing movies in Japan and one of the most talked about movies in the world now? 

It's all right with me if Tom Gliatto and the writers of People Magazine don't necessarily like Japanese anime, but the films reviewed in your magazine should be given the respect they deserve and at the very least a professionally written article that was sorely lacking. If I presented that review in a university journalism course, I am sure I know what the grade would be: F. And that is what I give your review of Princess Mononoke. In the future, please try to be more objective in regards to how you review films and present them to the public.

Note: I wrote this letter to People in response to their review of Princess Mononoke, which was along the same lines as the previous one by Entertainment Weekly. No reply was ever received.