Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

kavabanga I really appreciate Otomo's Anime works. A thing I can not say about this adaptation of the manga and anime series. Having finished the anime series just a few days ago, I feel utterly disappointed with the movie. While the anime is able to create a meditative and spiritual journey never seen before in anime, Otomo's movie seems to be based at creating a traditional movie about Japanese traditions. Adaptating the manga in this way could have also been interesting, but Otomo completely blew it. However, after reading some of the other comments about the movie my expectations were already low. And I found my worst fears confirmed in the opening scene: If you want to make a traditional movie about feudal japan, don't use a didgeridoo. It is unbelievable ignorant. The next shock came with the appearance of Ginko-San. Seldom have I seen a more displaced actor: Jô Odagiri does not show an inch of the magic charisma of Ginko as he is presented in the anime. In the anime Ginko is constantly smoking (for a reason) and never appears to be weak or making mistakes. Hell, he does not even show emotions most of the time. But in the movie he looks like an average-weirdo and mostly plain stupid. But as if this wouldn't be worse enough, the script seems to be written by a complete ignorant person. Frankly: The way the movie is told doesn't make sense at all. It looks like Otomo or the scriptwriter has taken a scissor, cut the manga and then rearranged it in a way that neither fits to the anime/manga nor makes a good movie. For people who haven't seen the anime, the scenes do not seem to make much sense as there is no real background story. Making things worse for those who have seen the anime, they are using different episodes, but weave them into each other or explain them in a very senseless way. (Like the rainbow episode who seems to have taken the burden to glue all the short-stories together) Something that does not go along well with the anime or manga, as it looks in comparison dull and illogical. If you haven't seem the anime you are therefore completely lost. I gave the movie 2 stars, 1.5 for the beautiful scenery and 0.5 for the music, which isn't that bad. I can't recommend watching this with a good heart. But if you do, it would be wiser to watch it after you have seen the anime, as I think most people wouldn't give the anime a try, when they have seen this flick before. And this would be a shame, as Mushi-Shi is one of the most beautiful animes, ever.

Mushroomman I am incredibly happy that Mushishi was made the way it was - calm, beautiful, moody and seemingly almost timeless. That it doesn't get a higher score is just because I'm exceptionally stingy with my 9:s and 10:s, and I feel Mushishi could've been even more subtle than it was, for example with the music and sounds: instead of using those to provoke dramatic effect, sometimes simple silence is best. I also feel that there was a little too much of forced narrative coherence towards the end, and would rather it had kept just flowing along - which it otherwise succeeded quite well at. Like the mushi themselves, for big parts, the film just is.And of course, I'm incredibly happy that things were kept mysterious, without superfluous explanation. It's interesting to read the comments of people who haven't read the manga or seen the anime though, as many seem to think that Ginko is a manipulator of mystic energies. He isn't. He just knows a little more about certain aspects of nature than most people. But that really doesn't matter, I think it's nice it's actually vague enough to allow for such interpretation.I love the final shot. Simple, suggestive and beautiful. And I love the dampness and dirt. Wandering hills and forests can be muddy.

plutinium The movie 'Mushishi' requires a certain amount of patience to watch, if you're expecting fighting and major heart-racing theme then this is not the movie for you. Mushishi is a beautiful movie, got me to tears. Simply the movie is slow-paced but has a lot of positive points like the animation being used and color textures and mostly being pointed out by viewers are the scenery. At first the movie gets a bit boring but it does get interesting later, it took me while to figure out the scenes with the woman and the little boy was flash-backs of Ginko's past, and the flash-back did play a powerful role in the story of the movie.If you're a patient type of person with a broader understanding and tolerance for films, Mushishi would be a film for audiences like so, but if you're searching for fighting scenes or something that makes your heart race from Mushishi then make a pass on this film.Another thing is that please do not even comment on films just because you simply hated it or it did not have what you wanted because it's pretty useless to comment on something that doesn't hold your interest, instead simple make a pass and forget about the movie, it'll help calm your unsatisfied heart.

Tyrone_Slothrop I think that the negative comments here don't do this movie justice. First of all, I didn't watch this movie with any kind of expectations but that it would have beautiful shots of nature in it, which it did, in fact, these alone would be a reason to watch this movie if you are someone who loves nature.Not knowing the manga of which this is an adaptation, I still had little problems understanding what was going on (admittedly, it took me a while to figure out that the little boy's storyline was in fact a flashback of the protagonist's youth, but once I got that, the characters' backstories and relationships were as clear as they needed to be to appreciate the story). A lot of the commenters here also complain that it is never made entirely clear how the "mushi" came into existence. I think that that is not an attitude to watch a movie that deals with mysterious, supernatural things (although the mushi are, in this movie, explicitly not supernatural, but feeding off the very source of nature's energy itself). It is not necessary to know how, for example, the Rocky Mountains came into existence to admire their stunning beauty. Actually, the best mystery movies leave the explanation to the viewer. To have everything explained is boring. If this confuses you and you can't handle that, then you should consider not watching any more fantastic movies. (One commenter honestly criticises: "Imagine watching Star Wars with little or no explanation of "The Force" - things just happen, and you move on." As a matter of fact, it is explained in more detail what the mushi are than Star Wars ever bothers to explain about the Force. Anyway, it doesn't matter what the Force is or what the mushi are; in the film's universe, they exist, end of story. Same applies for any fantastic movie.)This movie is not the eye-candy, roller-coaster ride that a vehicle like Star Wars is. If you want to see CGI overkill, this is not for you. But the visual effects of this movie were all convincing, beautifully done and served the cause. So what if the mushi are not fire-spitting dragons or undead creatures with horribly distorted faces? Furthermore, it is true that this movie is slow-paced. But I was never bored at any point, because there was always a plot that was being pursued - yes, the ending left me wondering as well, but as I said above, there's nothing wrong with that, because I like movies that trust in the viewer's intelligence and ability to cope with "sense of wonder". The plot being, among other things, about a search for the inner self, it's obvious that this doesn't take place in a straightforward manner. To have hectic cuts and a fast-moving plot in a movie that is about nature and human, the way they interact and how they can co-exist wouldn't fit.