Princess Mononoke

When someone talks about the directorial works of Hayao Miyazako, three films often come to people’s minds, the cute and harmless “My Neighbor Totoro,” the Academy Award-winning “Spirited Away” and “Princess Mononoke,” released in 1997, an over two hour long fantasy adventure without a real antagonist, along with an environmental message, on top of an anti-war film and also is a masterpiece.

The film is about a warrior named Ashitaka, who saves his village from a demon who has been consumed by a giant boar God, Nargo, but also gets cursed in the process. After being banished, Ashitaka goes on his powerful red elk to try to find the Great Forest Spirit who controls life who can release him of this curse. As he tries to find the Spirit, he is stuck in a controversy between the people of Iron Town, a mining town that has guns who had terrible lives until they built where parts of the forest once were, the animal Gods who lived there first but got weaker by day and the main person Princess Mononoke (Skyler Queen noted, “a symbolic mocking nickname meaning monster or spirit”) actually named San who was raised by the Wolf God, Moro, who represents a joining of worlds whether she is for it or against it.

Queen said, “There are many characters in the film that want the Great Forest Spirit for their own reasons and even if they don’t the other character’s motivations tend to be entangled with the characters that are off looking for the Great Forest Spirit anyway. The motivations become clear from character standpoints but there is no true person who is completely wrong in this story so that, as well as the fact that there are so many characters and plotlines to keep track of it, may be harder to process for some than others.” When Lady Eboshi, the matriarch of Iron Town asks Ashitaka what he would like, his response his, “to see with eyes unclouded by hate.” That is one necessary message in this film. Queen noted, “Yes, there is an environmental message in the film about how we need to be better to the animals and earth around us but Miyazaki’s well-documented pacifism is clear in this feature.” We are supposed to learn not to hate any other human or animal. We are all selfish and vacuous, but we all have our reasons why, to start off. Life will only be easier once we learn not to hate. One of the miracles, among so much in Miyazaki’s creation, however, is telling that type of message in a convincing, entertaining way and not sounding preachy while telling it.

Queen is right when he said, “If you expect cute animals and magic in this film because of Miyazaki’s lighter fare you may be a tad surprised by the kind of story this is, including the violence included such as decapitation and arms being severed however don’t be too afraid as this film does feature quite a bit of magic involved too, such as the Kodama spirits that signify the health of the forest, the Forest spirit’s Nightwalker transformation and Ashitaka’s elk, Yakul (or Yakkuru in the Japanese version).”

The American Dub of the film has a script written by author, Neil Gaiman, and voice actors of 90s Hollywood actors Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Jada Pinkett Smith and Billy Bob Thornton. Queen credited, “Most of the actors give these parts all they have in them and work very well despite the obvious constraints they are working against dubbing the film rather than creating a character from scratch.” Make sure to listen closely for “Futurama” and “Adventure Time’s” own John DiMaggio in an early role as the rough bodyguard Gonza and the always amazing Keith David as the opening narrator and blind boar God, Okkoto.

The film runs 2 hours and 15 minutes; something that Miyazaki himself admits in one of the extras is very long. Queen noted, “The length however long for animation has since become more or less the norm for feature-length run times in the past 20 years. Even if that change in culture hadn’t happened the experience breezes by you in what feels like an instant.”

As I had stated yesterday, this is my second favorite Ghibli movie. This was probably the fourth Ghibli movie that I saw, and I absolutely fell in love with it. It’s much different from the other Ghibli movies; I can assure you that, in the sense that it’s a war film of humans against Gods with the severing of limbs. Never before had I ever imagined an anime movie being capable of pulling this off. This gets a high recommendation from me because I loved this movie, as it is one of my favorites. The animation, the characters, the world, the messages, everything in this movie is just perfect. If this is anyone's favorite Studio Ghibli movie, I hear you and more power to you because I love this movie a lot as well. Don’t read this review, go and watch it if you haven’t because you’re missing out on an amazing movie that combines so many traits in it.

Now that we have talked about that, check in tomorrow where I review another “slice-of-life” film, that is also, quite possibly, the weirdest movie released by the company, in “Studio Ghibli Month.”