Princess Mononoke (1997)
もののけ姫
Adventure, Fantasy, Animation • 2h 14m
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yuko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijô, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, Hisaya Morishige, Sumi Shimamoto, Tetsu Watanabe, Makoto Satō, Akira Nagoya, Kei Iinuma, Tsuzuki Kayako, Kimihiro Reizei, Yoshimasa Kondo, Akira Sakamoto, Shirou Saitou, Daikichi Sugawara, Takako Katou, Ikuko Yamamoto, Kiho Iinuma, Michiko Yamamoto
2026 Japan Studio Ghibli (remastered) Blu-ray
Video format
Best English-friendly release · updated 3 days ago
UHD tiers
Top-notch 4K restoration, proper colour correction, especially compared to past releases, and the original theatrical 5.1 mix restored in its unaltered form. The only issue is that the disc is not English-friendly, though the included remastered Blu-ray is.
Overview
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.
Director: Jean Vigo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton & Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
France Rimini 4K Blu-ray see caps vs Artificial Eye Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)
Director: Otakar Vávra
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review
Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD
Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
Director: Basil Dearden
Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion
2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray announced for a November 25, 2026 release
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray/US GKIDS Blu-ray
English dub (Disney): 1998 US Disney VHS has better sounding vocals despite altered music and sound effects, the US Disney LaserDisc has limited audio, and 2003 DVD is a fake 5.1 upmix
Releases from 2010 onward have the original music and sound effects, but distorted vocals
English dub (Streamline): 1996 Japan remastered LaserDisc, available in Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection boxset
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray or US Disney Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
2014 "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Japan Blu-ray
Comparisons: https://slow.pics/c/6JWnlfit
All sources are within margin of error. Comparisons: Japanese, English
Alternate Streamline English dub is available only on 1994 Fox LD.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Studio Ghibli The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki Blu-ray
The Ghibli ga Ippai SPECIAL Short Short 1996-2016 Blu-ray has a different video transfer that has a tealer tint and slightly tighter framing.
2017 US GKIDS Blu-ray has better detail and grain, 2014 Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray from the Hayao Miyazaki box set for MGVC with added bit-depth for supported players
2011/2014 Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray for original 6.1 audio mix, Cinema DTS for the English dub
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
2014 Japan Hayao Miyazaki boxset Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan Hayao Miyazaki boxset Studio Ghibli Blu-ray has 6.1 discrete
English audio: Cinema DTS-ES, 2010 US Disney Blu-ray as an alternative
Director: Luc Besson
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.
StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps
2007 Sony Blu-ray or LaserDisc AC3? (TBC) https://fanrestore.com/thread-7303.html
The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.
Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.
Director: Roman Polanski
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray see caps. Much better contrast and grain exposure but the grade is a bit questionable as it skews heavily towards magenta in some caps and the encode looks low-pass filtered.
Atmos Remix: Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray
Original 5.1: Imprint Australia Blu-ray or StudioCanal Germany/France Blu-ray
Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray encoded the "Original 5.1" as lossy Dolby Digital, which is very different from the AC3 on the original DVD. This new "Original 5.1" may in fact be a downmix of the Atmos track. FWIW, the original DVD AC3 still sounds very good.
Director: Roman Polanski
Kino Lorber disc has audio pitch errors
Director: Celine Song
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the better release. Plaion Italy 4K Blu-ray has macroblocking and chroma noise issues, and the US Lionsgate Blu-ray has elevated gamma levels and macroblocking https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22310555&postcount=31
Director: Carol Reed
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal/LG UHDs
StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source
StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray
Director: David Lynch
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and doesn’t have the low-pass filter the Criterion 4K Blu-ray has.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD
Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL
2D: Spain Emon Blu-ray
3D: US Lionsgate, Germany StudioCanal, or Netherlands Entertainment One 3D Blu-ray?
The old discs use a significantly worse transfer with faded colors, color fringing and a strong green tint throughout.
Director: Joel Coen
Poor Criterion 4K Blu-ray https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879
Theatrical cut only on LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
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vanshady,cbc,DISKANBGR8,Daniellemgm,Hydra Spectre· last reviewed 3 days ago
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