Princess Mononoke

The first thing I have to say here is that I’m flying kind of blind on this review. I don’t have access to the Internet anymore because U.T. finally caught up with me and canceled my access. This means that I can’t go to the IMDb and find out who played what, etc. (Awwwww.) This also means that this review will probably be pretty old by the time I actually get it on the site. Oh well. Life goes on.

The third movie I’ve seen at the Austin Film Festival (the first being Body Shots and the second being The Book That Wrote Itself which didn’t really merit a review) probably should have been the best. I’ve been hearing about this flick for months and finally got a chance to see it. While it was very good it had too many flaws to say that it was really better than Body Shots.

Princess Mononoke is the third feature that I’ve heard of from anime director Hayao Miyazaki. (The first two were My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service–neither of which have I seen, by the way.) I’m not usually into anime, but I thought I would give this one a try because of all I had heard about it.

It’s the story of a young prince (voice by Billy Crudup) who is infected by the evil that was inside an animal god that attacked his village. If he doesn’t get to the middle of the forest and the Forest Spirit quickly he will die a horrible death. Right now it’s only in his arm, but it will spread until it takes over his soul. (Sounds a little too much like Idle Hands/Evil Dead, huh?) On his way he runs into a seemingly nice monk (Billy Bob Thornton) and a city populated by ex-prostitutes, their men and their leader (Minnie Driver). Unfortunately for the forest, this village is called Iron City. You see, they are mining iron out of the mountain and, therefore, clearing out the forest. They aren’t exactly bad guys, though. The leader is trying to help bring the world into the Iron Age and help a few lepers in the process.

Meanwhile, our young prince also meets the title character (Claire Danes). She was raised by the wolves of the forest and has learned to communicate with the gods and animals. She also has this annoying little habit of hating humans. She fights them whenever she gets the chance and is particularly un-fond of the leader of Iron City. She does, however, start to form a bond with the prince. (Why can’t a find a wild woman to bond with? Where are you?!?!)

The animation was amazing! Of course, most of us have already figured out that the Japanese are masters at animation. If they could only make their people not look like Mexican paintings. Apparently, Miyazaki is one of the best animation directors in the world. If so, I can totally see why. There’s not a movement that doesn’t ring true and so many beautiful shots that I felt like I was actually there with the characters looking at magical forests. The story (also written by Miyazaki) was great. I’ve always been inclined to like fantasy films like this, so I was already into it before I got to the theatre.

Here’s my problem with the film: the English script. I really hope that Mr. Miyazaki didn’t come up with lines like, “I didn’t know the Forest Spirit made the flowers grow!” and “My ugly, beautiful daughter.” What the hell were the American writers thinking? I also had a problem with the ending. It ended on kind of a bittersweet note, which is fine. In fact, that’s much more realistic than the happy endings of most American animated fare. The problem I had was with one of the characters. He’s been evil and conniving the whole time, but suddenly, at the end, he says, “Ah, to hell with it. I’ll be good.” Not very realistic at all. Of course, it did have the message that a little head can do everyone good. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist. See the movie and you’ll know what I mean.)

This is, so far, the most popular anime feature in the history of Japan. I guess someone finally beat out Akira. (Was that really that popular over there? Who knows.) I can kind of see why, too. The story is pretty universal, and a popular subject for Japanese animation (man/progress vs. nature). The characters are real and it’s definitely very Japanese. I think that, even though it’s not as realistic, it gives a better portrait of ancient Japanese culture than, say, Mulan. (Although Mulan was a very good movie I wouldn’t show it in a history class.)

If you have any interest in Japanese culture or animation in general you should see this flick. As long as you can overlook the bad translation you’ll enjoy it. I wouldn’t say it’s much of a kids’ movie, though. I know Totoro and Kiki were both very kiddiefied (Kiki was even distributed by Disney), there’s a reason that Disney decided that Miramax should release this one. There’s no sex (which seems to almost be a staple of Japanime), but it’s pretty violent (an even bigger staple). There’s lots of beheadings and be-armings all over the place, quite a bit of it for comic effect. (A group of Samurai sitting on their horses saying that they need to kill the prince when one of their headless cohorts gallops over and falls off of his horse.) It’s not as graphic as most anime, but it’s enough to keep the kiddies out.

This one should be released pretty soon, so go see it if it comes near you. Definitely worth checking out if you’re up for a two-hour animated movie.