Princess Arete (2001)

This is a quiet, gentle fable with elements from Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Atlantis and numerous other tales and legends. Wikipedia reports that this movie is based on Diana Coles' 1983 story, “The Clever Princess”.

I found this movie involving, but do not feel that it would engage and hold most children’s’ attention unless they had a strong interest in anime. The quality of the animation is delicate, almost like a pastel/watercolor painting. On this site the dialogue is voiced in Japanese with English subtitles.

WARNING + SPOILERS: there is also a questionable factor that occurs during the first half of this movie. Adult males are interested in marrying what looks like a child, admittedly to gain wealth and power, but still hard to watch. The Princess is not touched or hurt. She appears to be far smarter than any of these men.

The story seemed a bit all over the place with the Princess supposedly cursed to remain a child. The tower in which she resides is due to her father’s (the King) wishes. However her isolation may be actually due to the Princess’s own wish to avoid emotional pain. There is a resolution by the Princess at movie's conclusion although it did feel that there was more story to tell.

I recommend this movie to teens or adults already interested in Japanese anime.