About.com Rating
The year was 1997. We listened to "Barbie Girl," Jock Jams and "MMMBop" on the radio. Titanic took the Oscar for Best Picture and we lost Chris Farley, Princess Di, Notorious B.I.G. and John Denver.
We watched Men in Black, collected Beanie Babies and repeated "Oh My God! They killed Kenny!" at least one too many times. Oh yeah... and Hayao Miyazaki brought us Princess Mononoke. How could we forget?
The Gist
Ashitaka, the last Emishi prince, contracts a deadly curse when he kills the Boar God Nago in an attempt to save his village. In the hopes that he can find a cure for the demon mark on his arm, he travels to the lands of the West - Nago's home - to search for the origin of Nago's demon curse. There he meets San, a human girl who was raised by the Wolf Goddess Moro. She is in a deathly battle with Lady Eboshi and the people of Irontown, as they seek to destroy the forest for mining, and San and her wolf people hope to save it.
Ashitaka tries desperately to bring peace between San and Lady Eboshi, but instead finds himself caught up in the ugly battle. When Lady Eboshi and the people of Irontown decide to kill the Forest Spirit, Ashitaka and San know that they must act quickly or the forest will be gone forever.
The Review
Princess Mononoke is perhaps one of the most riveting anime movies you will ever see. Created by Hayao Miyazaki himself (Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away), Princess Mononoke is a compelling and powerful flick with plenty of good vs.
evil battles to keep the action fans happy.
It's graphic, it's brutal and it's absolutely and beautifully astounding. The film features a number of notable voices include Gillian Anderson (X-Files) as the Wolf Goddess Moro, Billy Crudup (Big Fish, Sleepers and the "Priceless" MasterCard guy) as Ashitaka, Claire Danes (Terminator III, Romeo + Juliet) as San, and Billy Bob Thorton (Slingblade, Astronaut Farmer, Bad News Bears, Bad Santa) as Jigo. Jada Pinkett Smith also did the voice of Toki and Minnie Driver was the Lady Eboshi.
Rated PG-13 for its notable violence and gore, Princess Mononoke is nonetheless a brilliant piece of work from Miyazaki and one that every anime fan should see. Even now, the concept of man vs. nature resonates as something true and personal, and even after having seen it so many times before, I found myself enthralled watching it again for this review. Two thumbs up, A++++, five stars.
Details:
Release Date: Japan - July 12, 1997, U.S. - October 29, 1999
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli
Produced by: Miramax Films
Genres:
Supernatural, fantasy, thriller, action, adventure