Movie Review - Princess Mononoke
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1997 / 133 Minutes / PG-13
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz
It is rare that a movie chooses to take us to a time and place that we have never been before. It is even rarer when that movie takes us on a journey to a place that only exists in someone’s mind.
The story of “Princess Mononoke” is drawn from the ancient past of Japan. I suspect that it is partially based on tales handed down from generation to generation, yet I also suspect that a great deal of it is absolutely original. Hayao Miyazaki has been called the Walt Disney of Japan, and the Disney studios themselves have credited him with being a great source of inspiration, but I think that there are more comparisons to be made than just to Disney. His talents also owe a bit to Kurosawa, I think, and a hint of Tolkien. Imagination is the chief virtue of this movie, and the reason that it is such a breath of fresh air. The movie is animated simply because it is too large, too imaginative, and would be too difficult to be realized with real actors. It would be the most expensive movie ever made, I think, and the final film would be hard-pressed to do justice to the images within Miyazaki’s mind.
The film begins with an angry demon attacking a small village. The prince of the village (Ashitaka, voice of Billy Crudup in the American dubbing) slays the beast and, in the process, is tainted by it. It is then decided by the village elders that he must track the source of this beast, leaving his tribe and everything that he knows. He must discover what has turned a boar god into a bloodthirsty demon and, in doing so, perhaps find a cure for his curse.
Thus begins Ashitaka’s amazing journey. He finds a woman who has been adopted by wolves and, like the wolves, has no trust for her own kind. He will find a clever and shady monk (voice of Billy Bob Thornton) who reminds one a bit of Eli Wallach in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and has some rather dark motives for a monk. He also discovers a place called Irontown, which is destroying the forests for its own greedy ends and is ran by Lady Eboshi (Minnie Driver). All of these characters are wonderful creations in that they are not created in terms of black or white. Each of them exists in an area of gray. They are extremely well-developed characters, and they have the bite that this remarkable fantasy needs in order to fully enthrall the viewer. This is not the story of “good vs. evil” that you have seen so many times before, nor is it a simple “Don’t Mess With Mother Nature” message, though it retains elements of both. No, “Princess Mononoke” is something deeper than both. Many of the characters in the film find elements of good and evil within themselves. They are as likely to confront an enemy within their own souls as they are on the battlefield. I must say also that the battle scenes and the action sequences in this film rival “The Matrix”. We care about the participants and we care about the outcome. We forget that we are even watching animation, so filled with life is every gorgeously drawn frame of the film. This movie transports one to a time that never existed and makes us care what happens. It is a beautiful and unique myth with immense power and visual splendor.
I blasted “Titan A.E.” not too long ago for one basic reason. I felt that “Titan” could not quite figure out if it wanted to be an epic film that just happened to be a cartoon, or if it wanted to please every demographic and perform the way that a Disney film does. In doing so, I felt that it aimed too far toward the latter. It had moments of inspired imagination, but too many moments that felt boringly familiar. “Mononoke” is filled with the former and, happily, lacking in the latter. It is bloodier than a lot of live action movies, and bloodier than any American cartoon (though tame by anime standards) but it delivers the sort of rousing mythical entertainment that George Lucas used to supply before he sold out and became more interested in marketing toys than creating lifelike characters. Then again, not even his old movies had characters as strong as the ones here. And his imagination perhaps never matched Miyazaki’s.
Yes, “Princess Mononoke” is just that good!
