Doasnow95 I've always enjoyed this movie. I first saw it when I was little and it was one of my favorite animated movies as a kid. I had it on VCR and just watched it on and on. I'm Icelandic so I saw the movie in Icelandic growing up. Some years ago I tried to watch it in English but I didn't enjoy it. But, that's just me. It's just become a habit seeing it so often in Icelandic. Now that I've watched it again in Icelandic, I still enjoy it but I have noticed that the animation isn't really that perfect. It could be much better but it doesn't really bother me.I really like the storyline, it's very good. In my opinion this is a very enjoyable movie for kids.

stagedlined466 I only first saw this movie a few months ago, and I've got to say it really is a mixed bag. I've not yet finished the book in which this movie is based on so I'll judge this movie on it's own. First I must talk about the animation. The animation starts off pretty good, not Disney quality but it's passable. However it's one of those animated movie, you know the one where the quality seems to get worse as the movie goes on. Those kind of movies really bother me. I know animated films are painstakingly hard to make but I just feel this approach is lazy. But a good story is a good way to cover some flaws, and how is that? The story is actually good, it's well paced, it ties up the loose end and it managed to do so with an 80 minute running time. Not to mention this is the story that really helped influence Tolkien and C.S. Lewis to right The Hobbit and Narnia. So props to that. With that said a good story can't be saved unless it has good characters to carry it through and this is were it gets mixed. First things first, the Goblins. Everyone knows goblins are the most devious creatures of all fantasy, how are they portrayed in the movie? How do I put this nicely.... THEIR ANNOYING!!!!!!!! Seriously goblins are versatile, open to many possibilities but this movie decided to go to lowest denominator. The supporting characters are not very good either, the guards, the nanny etc. are very annoying. Fortunately to the movie's credit the two leads Princess Irene and Curdie are actually likable. They share a cute chemistry and you do want to route for them. In conclusion The Princess and Goblin is lukewarm, A good well paced story with two likable leads, but annoying supporting characters and inconsistent animation. So in the end I'm glad I saw it, but I won't be rushing to see it anytime soon.

jestanfield Many reviews say this is a "charming" movie and a good adaption of the book. I think a movie that completely changes the message of the book is not a faithful adaption. It was most likely an attempt to secularize it, which I think would make George Macdonald roll over in his grave. It would probably make the biggest Macdonald fan in the world, C.S. Lewis, start spinning as well. It's not even like the book is extremely overtly religious, so I don't get why they had to sterilize it. You don't even have to watch the movie to see that the message is not the same. The summary on IMDb says it all: "Irene must rely on her own magic to save Curty, and in turn the entire kingdom." The focus is for her to solely rely on herself and her own power. That's actually the exact opposite message of the book, which is much more charming than this crappy movie.

impulseyj Before I go further, ask yourself, when did Little Mermaid come out? Then ask yourself, when did Jurassic park come out?1989, 1994. Aladdin? Here's the kicker.. 1992, same year as Princess and the Goblin.The reason I bring those films up is because, not only because of their success, but because of the sheer technical brilliance of the animation. Sure, some of Jurassic parks dinosaurs were made with robots, but it was also the starting points of major 3-D Animation. Which means back in 1992, they had the skill to produce a good movie. Not three years later did the first all CGI TV show premier on Saturday morning.The point is, the princess and the goblin was gipped. I can see the potential for a good story here, but with shoddy characters and character design, and the only good quality this movie had to boast about were the background and water animation..Let me continue on with the characters. Irené, the leading lady, was dense as a pickle. In fact you got more from a pickle, like, spice, pizazz. this kid has no personality, and was the poster child for cliché animated mannerisms. IE, every single girlish pose, she does in this movie.Next is Curdie, who's a broken record, repeating himself over and over with the key to stopping the goblins with not a witty repartee in the mix. He was NO Aladdin. Honestly this movie reminded me more of early low budget anime made in japan then it did a feature film.The villains, actually, had the most potential, I thought, they fought dirty, they were dark, but, yet again, they were brought down by the poor presentation. Froglips, as stated in his name, had this horrible lisp which only stole from his character. The mother I rather liked to a point, more towards the end of the movie, though, when she was fighting. Pacing and flow were something I gawked at. They would take a character away from a scene and often have no follow up scene to show any characters were effected by it. In short, this movie is so driven by plot that it ignores character development.In short, this one's better left to clips on youtube.