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Reviewer: Tom (Webmaster)
Based
on: Whole Film
UK Distributor: Miramax (DVD & VHS)
Excellent visuals, excellent music and an excellent plot
make up one of the highest grossing films in Japanese history.
A startling achievement from Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke is one of the few anime
which manages to retain a serious message throughout and does no waver into the
realms of humour and fantasy as he does not need to. Never talking down to it’s
audience and never obviously revealing the film’s message. However, the film’s
greatest strength is also it’s downfall.
This is because the film often becomes too serious and preachy for its own good.
Although none of the characters are truly good and evil, the script does not
allow for the viewer to decide for themselves who is exactly right and wrong in
the film as the main character – Ashitaka – is obviously the embodiment of all
that is good and being affected by the demon's evil clearly has not changed his
thinking at all. It is a shame Miyazaki decided to place such a one-dimensional
character as the lead and then create several other characters which reflect the
battle between Man and nature throughout the film. Ashitaka sometimes seem to
close to being a Christ-like figure for my liking. Miyazaki fans may draw
comparisons to his earlier creation Nausicaä, which contains a main character
(named Nausicaä) similar to Ashitaka but unlike him has a light-hearted touch
that makes the character much more easy going and her character is a celebration
of life where as Ashitaka is like the vegetarian who will not stop telling
others that they should be as well.
Despite being one of the best known, this is actually Miyazaki’s least
accessible film not only due to it’s lack of fun that all his other films
contain but also due to the fact that it’s story is based heavily around
Japanese myths and legends. Miyazaki’s other films are based in his own fantasy
worlds that everyone can access easily, but Princess Mononoke may prove a
challenge to anime newcomers.
The above criticisms are minor however and are mainly based on comparisons to
Miyazaki’s other works. What I mentioned earlier about none of the characters
being truly good or evil must be applauded though as it is very rare to see a
serious film – anime or otherwise – which can achieve this. Miyazaki is one of
the few that can pull it off. Also there are not many anime which this can be
compared to in terms of it’s grand and epic scale that will take breath away.
Princess Mononoke is a very very good film which I always enjoy very much when I
watch it but I cannot describe it as a masterpiece due to a few faults. And it
cannot be denied that Miyazaki did the same story much better with Nausicaä.
Feature:
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