Ah, Princess Mononoke. Not only is this one of Miyazaki's most loved movies, it is quite possibly one of the most loved animated movies of all time. Generally, if you ask what Miyazaki's best movie is, Mononoke is one of the 2 possible answers, with Spirited Away being the other. It's the 4th highest grossing anime movie of all time (all of which were made by Miyazaki), it was in Ebert's top 10 of 1999, it was included in a list of the best 500 movies ever in 1998 by Empire Magazine, and it has received numerous other accolades and awards. Truly this movie is an anime classic - let's see what makes it one.
Our story leaps right into the action as a small village is attacked by a demon that looks like a mass of crawling worms. After our hero Ashitaka strikes it down, the demon is revealed as a dying boar god cursed by a wound from an iron bullet. Ashitaka was cursed during the battle as well and he leaves his village in order to find the source of the curse that threatens his life. Along the way he meets a mysterious monk named Jigo and finds out that his curse is fueled by hatred and rage. Shortly after this he rescues 2 men from a group that was attacked by 2 wolves and a young woman, San, known as Princess Mononoke (Mononoke means monster or spirit) . He escorts them through a forest full of powerful spirits and brings them safely to Iron Town.
There he meets the town's leader, the cunning and determined Lady Eboshi. He also learns that once the town exhausted their supply of iron, they moved to the forest, clearing large sections of it and killing the boar god Nago. However, Eboshi has also taken in prostitutes and lepers and given them better lives. Hearing about the forest angers Ashitaka, and later when San invades the village and tries to kill Eboshi, Ashitaka intervenes with his curse's strength and saves them both. However, he sustains near-fatal wounds and San takes him to the Forest Spirit's spring to heal him.
While in the forest, he learns that the boars, led by another boar god named Okkoto, are planning to attack Iron Town. At the same time, Jigo is revealed to be an Imperial mercenary seeking the head of the Forest Spirit for the Emperor's immortality and Eboshi is helping him so her town will be protected from a samurai lord. A massive battle erupts between the animals and the humans, and during the ensuing chaos Jigo and Eboshi go to hunt the forest spirit. With both sides facing devastating losses, Ashitaka must find a way to achieve peace for both sides and prevent the ruination of the world.
Get used to high praise, cause this film excels in most every way. The story's up first, and it's amazing. It's a classic battle of good and evil but which side is which isn't always black and white. For the most part you'll see the side of nature as good and the humans as evil. However, Eboshi is very sympathetic, taking care of the people society usually overlooks and simply doing what she has to to protect her village. Likewise, the animals have their bad moments, with their violent rejection of the humans and the times when they turn demonic. The plot is very predictable, but it is strong enough that this isn't really a problem. Unlike most of Miyazaki's films, this film has a lot of external conflict but still maintains the internal conflict with San unsure of her place in the world. The plot is stronger than any of Miyazaki's films I've reviewed so far and is definitely as good as any I've seen in an anime movie.
Like the story, the characters are all top-notch. Ashitaka is a great hero - courageous and heroic, serious while remaining idealistic. He's faced with a life-threatening curse, but instead of worrying or getting depressed, he faces it and tries to find a way to fix it. He also stands as a bridge connecting both the natural forces and the humans. San is also an interesting protagonist. She acts like how you expect a girl raised by wolves to act - fierce and wild - but she also gets confused when she is faced with a good human like Ashitaka. All the animal gods sound wise but at the same time manage to be intimidating and fearsome. Eboshi is, as I said, very sympathetic while also suave and intelligent; she's the kind of villain who's always in control. Jigo also stands out as a well-done "hidden talons" type who knows more than he lets on. Really, the only characters who annoyed me were the townspeople, but they're pretty minor and easy to ignore.
Miyazaki's art and animation is always beautiful, and Mononoke is no exception. It retains the beautiful traditional look even with a bit of computer animation mixed in and everything remains very fluid, particularly the action and the demon effects. Princess Mononoke in particular shows off one of the things I love most about his work: the backgrounds. All the scenes in the mountains and the forests show the gorgeous attention to detail that Miyazaki always gives his backgrounds, with some shots looking like they're straight out of paintings. The one thing that stood out as laughable to me though were the lost limbs. One man lost his arm with a clean cut from a cannon blast, and there are several arrow decapitations. It's really laughable and detracts a bit from the action scenes, but not enough that the movie isn't still a visual feast.
The soundtrack stands out to me as one of the best from his films. Whenever an action scene rolled around, the music always sounded grand and fast paced; it really got me pumped up for the action scenes and left an impression. The remaining music was softer and really fit the movie by sounding very natural and traditional. Disney knocked the dub out of the park again. Billy Crudup provided a serious air of determination and caring for Ashitaka, and Claire Danes made San sound wild and rough. Minnie Driver was the stand out role to me, giving Lady Eboshi the perfect air of sophistication, refinement, and cunning. I even thought Billy Bob Thornton did a good job as Jigo, sounding like a rough old rural monk while still sounding good in the serious moments. I did have one BIG problem though, and that was Jada Pinkett Smith. She just was not good in her role. She sounded far too modern both in tone and dialogue, ruining her character for me.
Nothing is perfect, and Princess Mononoke certainly has some flaws. These are minor though compared to the whole package, and Princess Mononoke definitely delivers as a whole. There's no major area that fails as a whole and the failings are small parts of larger fields. It deserves all of its acclaim and really is a masterpiece. Every anime fan should see it, and I'd recommend it to anyone regardless of taste, even people with no anime experience.
Next time we've got the only anime to win an Academy Award, Spirited Away!
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