Foreign Film February Presents: Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Brief Detail

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Genre: Animation/Action/Drama/Thriller

Plot

The Tagline Reads: The Fate Of The World Rests On The Courage Of One Warrior.

Ashitaka is a warrior who got a curse put on him while defending his village. Now he sets out on a journey to find the cure and along the way meets San (Princess Mononoke). He finds a mining colony that San is fighting because they are destroying the forest to mine and Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a battle between the two sides. He takes it upon himself to restore peace between the two sides and save the world.

Performance

The voice acting is great in the Japanese version. It was interesting to watch the movie with the original Japanese dialogue rather than the English version. The excitement seemed to be heightened a lot as well. Because this movie is animated the true talent comes right back to the writer and director along with the animators.

Cinematography

This movie looked much like the old school cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. There is no CGI and I welcome it. There is not a lot of amazing visual presentation, but it does the job and allows you to concentrate on the story and characters. The animation is refreshing after watching so many CGI movies lately. It is also of note that Hayao Miyazaki also redrew most of the final animation himself.

Directing

The directing brings together the characters in Princess Mononoke. Hayao Miyazaki was the writer, director and even did some of the drawing for the film. He was truly the filmmaker of Princess Mononke and did an excellent job. The conversations seem natural and flow well along with the story. Princess Mononoke has just the right blend of excitement and slow story telling mixed with action to make for an epic animated movie. The soundtrack is excellent; adding the music that makes the story pull you in with its vast landscape and epic sound combined. This is not a typical animated movie because the depth of the characters and story is much more involved. In addition to being more involved, Princess Mononoke is also more for adults than for just kids. There is some gore, but it can be taken easily because of the animation. It therefore has a large potential audience. This film is more geared towards guys, but it could appeal to any age.

The Real Deal

This movie shocked me when I first saw it. I was not expecting an animated movie to be as good as this was. It was already a huge hit in Japan by the time it came to the U.S. and when I saw it I watched it with the English soundtrack. When I watched it again for this review, I watched it with the original Japanese soundtrack and subtitles. I can honestly say that it made the movie at least twice as good. It is interesting that Princess Mononoke was animated rather than simply a live action film. This obviously catered more to the Japanese audience, but anyone that is looking for a great movie that changes the pace a little then this is a great one.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 852,192
Sharon Movie? No

Supplied by Dave’s Movie Reviews

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