Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)
                                                                          Created by Hayao Miyazaki
                                                                         Copyright 1997 Studio Ghibli
                                                                      Review by Nicole C. {Magami} 2005
                                                     Note: No spoilers here, but this is a detailed review anyway.

Synopsis: Long ago during Japan's Muromachi era (1392-1573), life existed even within the realms of constant shogunate initiated samurai battles all across the landscape. In a small northern Emishi village, a young man named Ashitaka( meaning tomorrow?) defends everyone from a demon feeler(tatari) infected boar god, gone wild. He is in turn cursed by the dying enraged god. The curse is a scar which will slowly infect his body and kill him. In order to live, Ashitaka makes the difficult decision to be cast out of his village and travel to the forest of the Shi-shigami( Deer God), down south, in order to find a cure. He leaves taking only a bow & arrows  and his Emishi elk creature named Yakul.

            On the way, Ashitaka realizes his scar his giving him a powerful rage that makes him a perfect killing machine, as seen when he defends himself. After meeting a suspicious monk named, he finally begins to experience the beauty of the forest, which eventually leads him down the path of a wondrous village residing next to it, known as Tatara Ba. (Iron making place, Iron Town) A women of high stature named Lady Eboshi runs everything, equalizing power for both genders in this early period and giving work to former brothel maids and everyone lives well there. But she also puts the forest in jeopardy with the constant drilling for sand to make the iron, clearing the trees away. As one event unfolds into another, this journey starts to pit Ashitaka in a grave situation between the Mononoke(animal spirits or and people trying to live as well. But a mysterious young women named San (Third), raised by a talking Okami(wolf) god, named Moro no Kimi, and her pups, pulls at his heartstrings. She becomes a link between the two worlds, a human fighting for the forest and Mononoke. While she despises humans for what they do(most recently Lady Eboshi using guns to drive boars out of the forest, turning them into horrible tatari monsters because of the poison bullets) San gradually begins to trust Ashitaka at least. Both help each other throughout the course of the fighting, blurring the concept of who's right and who's wrong, for both sides. The actions these two takes influence the entire course of the movie, including Ashitaka  meet with the Shi-shigami, who could possibly cure his curse, as stated by Jiko-Bou, who has his own ulterior  motives for seeking the God. But with life itself becoming a curse for all involved, everything is at stake between the battle of man vs. nature, as well as each parties' dealings with life vs death. Both sides mount in death. And a hard but good lesson is learned in the end. But will it be repeated? At least within this story, find out!
 
Review: Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) was created by the world renowned Japanese anime director and artist Hayao Miyazaki's. Telling Disney and Miramax this movie's violent parts could not be cut has far reaching effects. (Editors note: I actually heard he sent a note to Disney with an expense katana saying “no cuts”)  Today, we're getting Miyazaki's older and even newer works with far less issues, partially thanks to both this film being shown in theaters (very limited) here with all the violence intact, and then the popular Spirited Away to win an Oscar.

Mononoke Hime is comparable to Miyazaki's famous older work, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and I can understand  that. The theme is the same (for the most part, until MH becomes more complicated), the character designs resemble each other (Asbel and Ashitaka are played by the seiyuu even), and animals/nature play a big role in both (more so in MH, as they are gods and can converse) the main message is given within the context simple word: Live. Ashitaka constantly states that word as he goes about conversing in both sides. A clear literary device is shown in the comparison of living with a curse, that Ashitaka must bear, what the suffering lepers must bear("Life is cursed, people are cursed"), and the Mononoke suffering as tatari monsters. But like anything in life, the actions show what good can be done. while there's nothing particular new in that lesson, the way the story crashes into this ideal is truly interesting and watching that fold into the nicely add ending is as well. Miyazaki's ideas about humans living in a perfect harmony on earth had faded way at this point and in this movie we clearly see how both sides have their pros and cons, how both affect each other, both good and bad, and how the fighting may never actually come to an end. It's just too much of human nature and society to shape the land to their own needs, and that will always have an effect in some way. Just continue to have the will to live. If this was a spoiler analytical review, I could pull some nice quotes, oh well. ^_^;

Overall:

+Beautiful cell animation that truly conveyed the sense of the time period and environment, a feast for the eyes that only got better with Spirited Away..

+Has a clearly understood message, theme, and ending, it's not rushed
+Epic soundtrack, BGMS wonderfully conveyed the moods of the film. And of course, the beautiful (male!) voice of Yoshikazu Mera signing the theme Mononoke Hime was really nice on the ears.

- It is rather long (133 minutes), and watching fully can become tedious and tiring as the movie changes gears. My suggestion is to watch it in full for the initial viewing, then after a while, watch the first halve during a certain period of time(you be the judge of when this begins), and the second halve another time. Watching in sections is good as well. Ah, the wonders of DVD chapters :P

-Not much background is given on the characters, they were defined by what they said and did. But a visual (flashback) or too once in a while (we got one in Nausicaa) would've been nice. Too fully understand some mechanics this movie, research is needed at times, which some don't like.

-Lack of wonderful extras that came with the R2 release, as well as the types of extras seen in Spirited Away, Nausicaa, etc. This was the price this film had to make for being one of the first Miyazaki films brought to DVD uncut, and not much was put into it by Buena Vista.

- The sub translation is a good A-, the dub a B, not do to the voice acting, more of how the script was sometimes changed.

American MPAA rating-PG-13. Contains scenes of violence and some minor language (is that another thing that makes this movie stand out for me.) Note II-This is merely my opinion on this movie, it may be different from your own It may not be a favorite of everyone's, but there are many kinds of fans out there. Enjoy what you will.
Screencaps: A picture's worth a thousand words. If you liked this review/pictures, let me know.