Princess Mononoke

Reviewed By:  Mario Aguilar

DVD Miramax

What it’s (basically all about:  Ashitaka, a prince, is infected with a disease by a dying boar demon who once was a god.  He ventures out of the village to the East seeking the help of the forest god.  When he arrives to the forest, he is caught in the middle of a struggle between the humans of an iron mining town and the animals of the forest.  He also meets Princess Mononoke, a human girl who was raised by wolves and who now seeks to rid the forest of all humans.

Nitty Gritty:  Despite having only modest theatre numbers here in the United States, Princess Mononoke has become the gold standard in anime films.  Most anime lovers in the America have all watched the movie and rave about it.  And lets not forget about Japan, where Princess Mononoke shattered box office records and became the top grossing feature ever in Japan, and was only knocked off later by, you guessed it, Titanic. 

What makes this film so great is that it takes an old tale type, man versus nature, and twists it and contorts it so the viewer is left wondering who is right and who is wrong.  The characters are all filled with ambiguous actions and motivations.  Take for example Princess Mononoke.  She was abandoned by her parents at the feet of wolves after they were going to attack them.  The wolves raised her and she now swears to kill all humans and rid the forest of them, even though she herself is a human.  The wolves too, throughout the movie show ruthless abandon for humans, yet they had the mercy to save the baby instead of eating her.  At the very beginning, the boar demon seemed to be nothing more than a demon, but it is learned he was poisoned by the bullet of a human and was spreading his pain and anger all over the countryside as revenge.  What we are left with is a tennis match of sorts.  One minute we are on one side and the next minute we are on the other.

While the story alone is worthy of praise, the animation and voice work takes it to that next level.  While many anime films now exploit the benefits of special effects to the point of overkill, Miyazaki limited its use to only 10 percent of the film.  The rest of the film was hand drawn, with Miyazaki completing roughly 80,000 of the 144,000 hand drawings.  Needless to say, the film is breathtaking and smooth throughout.  The voice work is also nothing short of great.  An all star cast of Hollywood actors was assembled to complete the film and it worked.  Voice stars included Billy Bob Thorton, Minnie Driver, and Clair Daines among others. 

Through the whole film, there are instances of violence and violent threats.  The wolves seem to have a thing about biting off human heads.  Ashitaka too, when turning into a demon also has the knack for cutting heads off with a single arrow.  The curse words are minimal and at the lower end of the forbidden list.

The special features include a theatrical trailer and a featurette with actor and writer commentary.  It also delves into the plot and themes that are prevalent in it.

Survey says:  The only real questionable material in the film stems from the violence.  There are a few severed body parts in the battle scenes and the curse words only go so far as “damn”.  This is an absolute essential for a collection and would best fit in a YA section.

Personal ad:  There always seems to be a line between watching anime and watching say an Oscar nominated film.  I feel that this film had the positive aspects of both.  The stylized animation and the incredible plot and characters ensured this one a place in the anime history books.  Many have criticized Miyazaki’s films as too slow moving, and I too have been guilty of this from time to time.  Princess Mononoke is anything but slow.  There is always something going on in the scene, but it is never too busy.  Each frame is a work of art in itself, literally.