Princess Mononoke - Short Review

Just to clarify, this review is for the English audio dubbed version, not the Japanese dubbed or subtitled version. I'm also pretty unimpressed with it, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.


Princess Mononoke tells the story of two young people, San (Claire Danes) who is desperately trying to save the forest and all it’s spirits and Gods from human destruction, and Prince Ashitaka (Billy Crudup) who is exiled from his hidden village in order to find a cure for a curse put upon him.

This film is breathtaking, not only in it’s visuals but in it’s story. The breadth and scope the story has is truly astonishing, not to mention a lot of relevant social commentary.

After saving his hidden and remote village from a Boar God-turned-Demon that injured him with a curse, he is forced to accept exile and leave the village forever. He is told to go west, in an attempt to find what caused the God to turn evil and, in doing so, save himself.

Along the way he comes across San, who is the adopted human daughter of the Wolf God, Moro. The forest Gods are fighting a ferocious battle with the humans, who are attempting to cut down the forest and mine it. Naturally, the Gods take offence to this. In the midst of all of this Ashitaka and San begin to fall in love, and in between trying to stop the fighting, they also seek a way to be together.

The film does very well in actually not dwelling on the love story here, deciding to focus more on the role of the two protagonists in the war surrounding and engulfing them, as they desperately try and find a way to bring peace and harmony to all creatures in the forest. But you can't help but get sucked into the will they/won't they aspect of it, you really do hope it works out.

This film is so intriguing in that it is one of the most successful anime films of all time, it grossed over $157million dollars because of it’s domestic release, and it really helped but anime films in the international cinema spotlight. The casting in the film is also a matter of interest, John DiMaggio, Jadda Pinket Smith and Minnie Driver star in roles in the film.

Princess Mononoke combines amazing visuals with a story and characters I have never come across before in a film, whilst also making an excellent social commentary about the dangers to the environment and earth of mining and de-forestation, and the consequences of such activities. It makes a nice change from ‘animated’ films of today that are in fact, mostly, if not all, CGI. With so many ‘Final Fantasy’ and ‘Ghost In A Shell’ like movies coming from Japan, it’s nice to see a film that is completely animated, and it’s easy to see why they chose to do so. Although being released before CGI became a viable option for animated films, it's easy to see that to do so would have ruined the majesty and gasp-inducing visuals it has. Animation just has more...heart.

What really wins me over in this film is the Gods, Demons and monsters. The sheer breath-taking imagination that has gone into these characters is truly overwhelming. It’s just not something you see enough of in films anymore, it puts del Toro, Neville Page and H.R. Giger to shame.

In conclusion, this is a classic and imaginative film, something not often seen anymore, however I do not think films of this genre will ever be as popular in the West as Disney films, which is a shame, as I would show Studio Ghibli films to my children over a Disney film any day.

Empire magazine, here I come, huh?

P.S. This is the part of the review I have written for Jay:

What the Hell is with those naked, white-ass dickbags in the trees?..Running around.

Second, I don't wanna see no bitch-ass midget riding a camel around a fucking forest or some shit, with his bitch-ass sword, and his bitch-ass bow and arrows. How about that deer God pulls out a 9mm and starts capping some mothers? Huh? JEEESUZ.