Overall Rating
  Awesome: 74.11%
Worth A Look: 12.5%
Average: 8.04%
Pretty Bad: 0%
Total Crap: 5.36%
4 reviews, 88 user ratings
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| Princess Mononoke |
by iF Magazine
"Intensely interesting if not wholly overwhelming."
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As the apex of anime, Hayao Miyazaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE is the perfect prism to see what is great and gaudy in the matured and eminently interesting Japanese art form. Unlike America, where animation was born and then emasculated by several generations of filmgoers stunted by Disney's narrow but lush vision of what the animated medium from could be, Japan has seemingly single handedly (and that hand could well be Miyazaki's) saved any hope for adult animated stories.Miyazaki's greatest vision, MONONOKE (Japan's highest grossing film of all time) is an electric remembrance of tradition, the lost wonders of an almost pre-history Japan, and such a brilliant expression of Miyazaki's unpredictable storytelling it's no wonder Miramax bought it and re-dubbed it with American voices.
In its American incarnation, MONONOKE follows the adventures of Ashitaka (voiced by Billy Crudup), a warrior from a small village attacked by a forest demon. In a galvanizing opening, he saves his village, but is infected with a lethal sickness that will first make him evil, then kill him. Forced to leave his village, lest he go mad and murder the ones he loves, he journey's far from home to discover the source of the corrupting evil.
Along his quest, Ashitaka runs into Lady Eboshi (Minnie Driver), a feudal ruler raping the land for the materials to build guns that will let her conquer her enemies. Unfortunately for all concerned, Eboshi's schemes have angered the forest gods, let loose hateful demons, and angered a clan of wolves which populate the local hills. The wolf leader also is the "mother" of Princess Mononoke (Claire Danes) who alternately hates and wonders about the encroaching humans, and the warrior, Ashitaka, who seems intent on making peace among everyone.
Above all, MONONOKE is poignant not so much for an almost by the numbers romance, but the death of the culture of the wild, the loss of magic. The varied storylines of the wolf leaders, monkey men and forest, well, not exactly sprites, bring home a sense of wonder and almost animalistic understanding of the wild that echoes with the most base part of a viewer's brain. Or maybe it's just me.
While the first half of the movie seems to have clear and compelling motivation for all involved, the latter sequences, and the ending in general, seems to me to be a muddle of contradicting compulsions. Ashitaka seems to first identify with the warrior lord Eboshi, then seems to believe she's the source of all evil, then again seems to fight for her against the forces of the forest. And Mononoke's attraction to Ashitaka seems thin and contradictory as well. Here's the part where I have to bow to the best expression of political correctness: My disconnection with the latter parts of this could just mean my sensibilities of storytelling are so different from Miyazaki and his natural audience (well, Japan) that the emotional impact of the events just gets lost for me in the translation. It's obviously not an accident this movie seems to have colonized the national imagination of Japan.
Now, a word on the look. While not on par with Disney's latest $120 million efforts visually, the best praise I can offer is that MONONOKE's better is Disney. And the swift actions, rocketing movements and gritty attention to detail accomplish in spades what all good movies must first do: transport the viewer to another realm.While not as amazing as I'd been led to expect, MONONOKE is an accomplishment intensely interesting if not wholly overwhelming. - Christopher Allan Smith - iF Magazine - http://ifmagazine.ifctv.com
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=1574&reviewer=119
originally posted: 11/23/99 22:45:39
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USA
29-Oct-1999 (PG-13)
DVD: 20-Jul-2000
UK
N/A
Australia
08-Feb-2001
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