Princess Mononoke Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Princess Mononoke Blu-ray Movie Review

Through a distribution deal with Studio Ghibli/GKIDS, Shout! Factory has re-released Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke as a two-disc Blu-ray and DVD set. The extras mirror those on Disney's 2014 BD but Shout! has added a nice eight-page leaflet. More importantly, authoring and compression advance past the previous release.

This Blu-ray & DVD Combo Pack comes with a slipcover and an Elite case for the discs. Cover art on the slip and keep case covers is the same (see #s 1 and 10). For thoughts on the acclaimed animated feature and critique of a/v specs, you can see my colleague Kenneth Brown's review of Disney's BD/DVD twin pack here.

Slip cover front and back cover of BD case.

Princess Mononoke Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Princess Mononoke appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on an MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. Whereas the prior Buena Vista disc averaged a video bitrate of 22416 kbps for the main feature, Shout! has elevated theirs to 29000 kbps. The images look quite stunning. For the full disc, the bitrate clocks in at an average of 40.42 Mbps.

Shout! has alotted twenty-eight chapter stops for the movie.

Princess Mononoke Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Princess Mononoke's sound track options comprise the original Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround, an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 alternate mix, and a Dolby Digital 5.1 dubbed in French. Audio codecs on the Disney disc sported mean bitrates of 3986 kbps for the native track and 3982 kbps for the English version. Shout! has produced maxed out bitrates that eclipse both: 4324 kbps for the original language recording and 4344 kbps for the English track.

There are three subtitling options: English SDH for the English sound track, English subtitles for the original language version, and French subtitles.

Princess Mononoke Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplements come with English subtitles where needed.

• Feature-Length Storyboards (2:13:28, 1080p)

• "Princess Mononoke in the USA" featurette (19:54, 1080p)

• "Behind the Microphone" featurette (5:11, upconverted to 1080)

• Theatrical Trailers (14:20, 1080p)

• TV Spots (11:33, 1080p)

• US Theatrical Trailer (2:03, 1080p)

• NEW 8-page Booklet with Producer's and Director's Statements - In addition to the statements, this slender leaflet contains four color pictures.

Princess Mononoke Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

With Disney's BD/DVD combo of Princess Mononoke out-of-print, this re-release courtesy of Shout! Factory is a blind buy for those who don't already own it. All bonus materials are replicated from the other individual BD releases previously available across the globe. Technically, the audio and video encodes are superior on Shout!'s disc but discerning viewers may only notice small differences when watching on a very large screen. In any case, this is the version to own and comes VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.