Tentacle-Free Anime: "Princess Mononoke" (1997) Review
If "Shonen Jump" magazine is the Disney of Japan, then "Studio Ghibli" is definitely PIXAR. For decades the company has been ran by two legendary directors/animators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and has produced widely acclaimed movies that can do almost no wrong to the general anime fan it seems. But of the two men, Miyazaki has created the most well-known movies to the west and will be the first name people who are introduced to Ghibli will recognize. When I was growing up, my first introduction to these films was in the form of the now famous "Spirited Away", followed by "Kiki’s Delivery Service" both airing on Disney Channel. And then one year Cartoon Network decided to host a month of Miyazaki where I was shown four of his most acclaimed works in the span of a month. One of these was "Princess Mononoke", definitely Miyazaki’s most fierce and bloody movie to date.
If that summary above has you baffled when it comes to the title of the film, never fear, it just gets worse from here. But that’s not to say anything bad about this film, it’s just that (unless you have some basic knowledge of Japanese demonology you wouldn't know this) the word ‘Mononoke’ loosely translates to a kind of demon or tainted spirit, meaning the title is saying “Princess Spirit” or something to that effect. I do not know the exact translation of the word myself, but I know it’s in the ballpark. If anyone would like to sound off below in the comments concerning this, then please go ahead.
With Mononoke, the theme of the story is one that Miyazaki seems to always be running back to, and one it seems he can never stop saying enough about: that theme is the balance of human technology and nature. As humans begin to advance we begin to wash nature aside and claim as our own instead of nurturing it like a sibling and figuring out the best way to live with it. From the beginning to end of the film, Ashitaka wants nothing more than for than for nature and mankind to live in peace and sees no reason for us not to be able to. He isn’t persuaded to turn on his beliefs nor does he ever question his beliefs, leaving the moral low ground and true character development to fall on two of the other main characters, the females San (Princess Mononoke) and Lady Eboshi.
San and her Wolf-spirit siblings surrounded by Kodama (forest spirits).
San is a human girl that has been raised by wolf spirits since birth, with a not very fleshed out background and a vendetta against Lady Eboshi, who runs an iron and firearm making factory/village. This story taking place back when the gun was very VERY new, the wolves are being threatened by Lady Eboshi, who is set on wiping them and all the spirits of the forests out so that mankind may take over. Both characters come from two sides of the same coin but learn to grow as the story goes on, though one could argue they do so in the most quick, unexplained way possible. One second San hates every human alive, and then suddenly she wants to save them in the span of a couple of scenes. Perhaps I missed something, but it seemed too quick for me. 
The mysterious Spirit of the Forest.
Like a lot of Ghibli films, the story feels as if it is a day in the life story, not to be confused with a slice-of-life story, but that the conflict that has arisen feels as if it is brand new and then quickly being fixed by the main characters, instead of being a long brewing war of some kind. I will say however that Princess Mononoke feels much more epic on scale than most Ghibli films with a similar feeling. I said earlier that the movie is Miyazaki’s bloodiest and most fierce movie yet, and this holds up to be very true. Miyazaki tends to tell more light-hearted tales of friendship and young love instead of sweeping battles, where people get their arms blown off or cut in half with blood spurting everywhere. To many, who up until this point had become quite familiar with his work, it must’ve been a real shock at first. The English dub is alright, but some of the voices don’t feel as if they fit the characters very well. Lady Eboshi for instance is voiced by Minnie Driver and has an English accent, and then another minor character named Toki is voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith who has a New Jersey accent, so as you can tell the accents in this movie are very eclectic. San’s Wolf-mother is portrayed by Gillian Anderson, which effectively turns the character into a female, whereas in the original Japanese version the wolf was actually San’s adoptive father. Other English voices include Billy Bob Thornton as a character named Jigo, Billy Crudup as Ashitaka, and Claire Danes as San; with Claire being the best of the bunch in my opinion. 
Ashitaka and his trusty steed.
All in all, Princess Mononoke is one of those films that are so deeply rooted into the anime culture and the film culture in general, I would call it the kind of movie you should definitely see once in your life. I personally do enjoy it, but after having watched it recently, I have its flaws more overbearingly. It is a great movie to introduce people, who are non-anime fans, or those who just love movies in general, to the wonderful world of Studio Ghibli. There are many themes in it that can fly over your head without basic knowledge in Japanese mythology, but they won’t hinder your enjoyment. Also, like the majority (if not all) of Miyazaki’s movies, the entire thing was hand drawn by the man himself giving it a more personal look into the mind of the madman who created it, and that in itself is a great achievement, especially when you begin to notice that very rarely will you see any characters in the background or the foreground remaining static throughout a frame. It should give you a higher appreciation of all the creepy crawlies you’ll find within this flick. Final Score: 3 Demon Boars out of 5 Have you seen "Princess Mononoke"? Enjoyed the review? Let us know in the comments! 
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