Takes awhile to get going, but once Mifune is introduced the film gets some new life and it becomes much more interesting. The 2 peasants got on my nerves sometimes but they never took me out of the film. The scene where Mifune fights the 2 guys on the horse was amazing.

It's a fun film for the most part, it looks good, there's a really fantastic fight scene involving lances and some really exciting moments and good scenes, however at over two hours it did drag a bit, the two peasants who we follow for the whole film got on my nerves with their attempts at humour most of which fell completely flat for me and I can't say I'm over the moon about Uehara's performance as the Princess (she was good when she wasn't speaking...). Very good but not a favourite Kurosawa.

One of Kurosawa's most enjoyable adventures. Beautifully shot landscapes add to its timeless, epic feel. The famous lance duel is a tightly choreographed spectacle that has obviously influenced a slough of future filmmakers (chiefly Lucas). Because its told through the eyes of two bumbling peasants instead of the god-like General Makabe, the story offers a cogent (if not simplistic) exploration of man's greed. The Princess is best when she pretends to be mute. Fun with little pretense.

This is a comedy about greed in the guise of an adventure lead by Mifune's Makabe. However, the film's insight and humour stems from Chiaki's Tahei and Fujiwara's Matakishi, a pair shiftless peasants. The cinematography augments this characterization by accentuating the chasm between Makabe's nobility and the base nature of the peasants, whose trials, and the constant misery with which they endure them, reflect both the universal desire for happiness and greed's deliterious effect on that goal.

I agree with the sentiment that this is "lesser" Kurosawa. While it has a captivating grandiosity of the struggle and adventure of this group of people, it's also missing something that is present in Kurosawa's better films. A simple way to describe it is a respectfully indignant satire on humanity that usually carries a hint of optimism. The Hidden Fortress still has that but it's just not as powerful.. there is a lighter, comedic tone.

A gritty fairy tale (said to be the inspiration for _Star Wars_)

Yes, it's good, but I'll take Star Wars over this anyday.

A bit too whimsical at times, and having two comic relief characters dominate most of the running time gets tiring, but Mifune is wonderful and the plot is interesting enough. I guess I was expecting something more epic.

Lots of fun!

A combination of adventure yarn, comedy, period drama and, with its two peasant characters who start and end the film, a character piece looking at the good and bad in human beings. Its humanist genre cinema stunningly made and with a great cast. One of Kurosawa's less talked about films, though there are even lesser know works, but it still outshines other films of its type.