To me, this movie completely misses its (presumed) point. SYNOPSIS: The creators try to get the viewer feeling nearly as bad about all the suffering in the world as Siddharta/Buddha does, they failed for 2 reasons: - rushed simplification - the use of a lot of violence to ENTERTAIN the viewers, which (out of complete paradox) contradicts the primary purpose Being about the life and struggles of Buddha I just expected something completely different. Before watching it I didn't know that the producers planned it to be the start of a series of films, I also do not know the manga. My expectations were nurtured by two books: 'Siddhartha' byHermann Hesse
+
'Old Path - White Clouds' by Thích Nhất Hạnh
Even with keeping these good books and my perception of Buddha out of mind this first movie is rather weak, misconceived and filled with... yeah, fillers that add nothing to the story of Buddha.

It doesn't go into philosophical depths, which it could at least try (while being about Buddha), but maybe I can free the makers of some of their debts here because most of the philosophising sure is supossed to happen in later phases of Siddharta's life.

By the end of the movie he makes a really strong and hard decision. But the way he asks himself questions about the world and its cruelty doesn't get me convinced about his decision at all (unlike the non-movie Siddharta - which is, by the way, annoyingly called SHIddharta throughout the movie)
His unsettlement seems rushed and WAAAAY too simplified to me.

Also, I feel like the movie character Siddhartha directs his questions/views just too much on the material world (war/sickness/dying) and too less on the suffering of mind+soul.
With all the violence in this movie the producers couldn't have aimed for an 'all-family' audience and therefore its depth, its philosophising could and SHOULD be more profound.

As I said above the side-stories don't add depth or entertainment to the story. One can clearly see why the creators included them into the movie: to give us a clue about the sorrows Siddharta is feeling, but because of their simplification and stereotypy that just didn't work out at all.

The art and music is pretty solid. What you'd expect from a Tezuka adaption: strong, sometimes even a little too loud colours, not even ONE more pencil or brush stroke than necessary to depict a character and solid animation (only with lots of animals and warriors in the picture the animation was somewhat jerking).

All in all...... a HUGE bummer! (that didn't get me interested in a continuation)
5/10