This movie is being played on IFC every few weeks.
I managed to catch the end of it at a friends house one day, and being a non lover of any Japanimation type shows I didn’t give it much of a chance. But after watching the last hour it was really spectacular. Its just…something about it really is beautiful and strong. Even if it didn’t really make sence.
I hope I can see the full movie soon.
I’m not a fan of anime either but this movie had some beautiful ideas and good characters. The animism of Shinto works well.
It is good, isn’t it? The first scene is really cool as well. The English voice actors in this weren’t very good. so you really should rent the DVD so you can listen to the Japanese and read the subtitles.
It’s incredible and one of my favorite movies. You should rent it and see the entire film.
One of my favorites too. Excellent movie.
What I especially like about Japanimation (compared to American animated movies) is that he characters are so much more fully realized. American films the difference between evil and good is black and white. In films like Princess Mononoke many of the ‘bad’ people are in a much more ‘gray’ area. Lady Eboshi, for instance, does bad things but she is not really a bad person…just misguided but doing what she thinks is right for her people. Even the clearly evil characters in the movie (the corrupted animals) are driven to their evil because of the harm being done to them by people like Lady Eboshi. They are not evil just ‘because’ that is how they are.
If you liked Princess Mononoke you might consider giving the movie Spirited Away (also by Hiyao Miyazaki…same guy who did Princess Mononoke) a chance as well. Totally different story but an excellent film nonetheless.
Yakul is my favorite. He rocks! And I have to say that despite the bad dubbing, Yakul’s performance shines through equally well in both the English and Japanese versions.
I consider Princess Mononoke a towering masterpiece and one of the two or three best films of any kind that I have seen.
I could write a whole essay about it but I will be brief. As noted above one of its strengths is the refusal to draw its characters in black and white. Similarly it refuses to offer any pat solutions to the complex issues that it raises about the relationship between Man and Nature. Despite this it gives us a powerful and satisfying ending. The trick is that it resolves the main story arc about the curse of Ashitaka and ifs lifting but leaves the other threads of the film open-ended. I think this is much more satisfying than tying up everything into a neat happy ending a la Minority Report.
The film also has some terrific action scenes especially San’s attack on Irontown. I think George Lucas should be forced to sit down and watch this scene and learn how to make an action scene with drama and emotional meaning instead of just throwing special effects around with little purpose. The Wachowski brothers as well after Matrix 2.
Finally there is Joe Hisaishi’s music which lends grandeur to the big moments and off-beat charm to the smaller ones.
"Yakul is my favorite."
Mine is Lady Eboshi. A truly memorable and unusual character. I would love to see a prequel which shows her backstory. (not that it’s going to happen)
Thank you Whack a mole I will definetly check out that movie as well.
BTW is there a technical difference between japanimation and anime or are they two terms for the same thing? Also I meant to elaborate on why I liked the characters but everyone else seemed to have touched upon it. It’s one of the few movies where you find yourself routing for people on both sides of a fight. It’s a shame that so few anime artists have chosen to draw from the rich mythologies of Shinto and instead have gone the way of robots, cyberpunk and technocabals.
All of Hayao Miyazaki’s stuff is awesome. My favorite by him has to be Porco Rosso, a movie which is seeing a North American Disney release in 2004, or you could pick up the DVD.
I, too, love the movie.
That ancient boar god is sweet. Come to think of it, I want an army of boars. We’ll see how well a 1920’s style “Death Ray” stands up to that.
KidCharlemagne:
Japanimation is the old American name for anime, coined back when people didn’t know the Japanese word. Anime is the Japanese term for animation, and the word is in fact based on the English word. Although outside of Japan, the word anime specifically refers to Japanese animation, in Japan it refers to all animation. Thus, the anime DVD shelves at my local Tower Records includes the Studio Ghibli films, the giant-robot TV series, Tom & Jerry, Snow White, and The Simpsons…
As for choice of subject matter, although there is a lot of robots, cyberpunk, and technocabals, there’s also a lot of romance, “harem” (like Tenchi Muyou! and Love Hina), fantasy, and historical and mythological anime – although I too wish that there were more of that last, but it’s like wishing that there were more Hollywood movies about Greek myths and early Christianity. Interesting for some, but the big companies are gonna go with what sells…
…which also means that most of the anime that is exported is of the aforementioned robots, cyberpunk, and technocabals themes.
>sigh<
Rob
(who wonders how Disney would handle a dub script for Pom Poko…)
What I don’t get is how he popped those guys’s heads off with arrows. Were they arrows of awesome power?
The curse was turning him into a demon with super strength,the arm he used to draw the bow was where the “infection” started.
I thought “anime” came from French, not English.
My wife hated anime (and I didn’t care much for it myself, having seen a lot of unimpressive examples back when they were still calling it japanimation). But I had heard so many good things about Monomoke that I rented it when she wasn’t expecting it.
She loved it. As did my daughter. Then we rented Kiki’s Delivery Service.
She still hates anime – except when Myazaki is involved.
“Japanimation” was the term first used when the films started reaching the US (not counting the Astroboy-8th Man-Gigantor etc. boom in the 60s). “Anime” is the upscale term for the same thing. If you say “japanimation,” the anime snobs will sniker and think you’re a rube.
Cool, is there any other neat things we could of missed?
Oh, and I managed to catch the whole movie later on in the night. Yay!
check out ‘Laputa- Castle in the Sky’, also by Miyazaki. that film blew me away when i saw on TV in about 89. only have to wait til the end of october for it on DVD. princess mononoke is currently winging its way to my house by mail order as we speak.
and on saturday, im going to go see spirited away at the cinema, instead of watching it on a 4 inch by 4 inch quicktime window.
great films all
You may also want to watch “My Neighbor Totoro.” also by Miyazaki. I love the countryside scenes and the catbus.
Did anyone notice how at one point in the English soundtrack one of the voice actors spoke the line of the next character? I’m not imagining it am I?
Of the Miyazaki films this one is my 2nd favorite after Spirited Away.