Princess Mononoke
|
| Reviewed by Chris J. Magyar |
 |
|
|
Breaking out nationwide in just a few weeks, Princess Mononoke is the most visible and critically acclaimed of all the works by Japanese animation maestro, Hayao Miyazaki. The film had similar success in Japan as Titanic did in the rest of the world, and for many of the same reasons. The effects are incredible (in an animation style that has been killed by Disney in America, but more on that later), the story is complex and has resonance on many levels -- social, political, romantical, etc. -- and the characters are highly memorable. The biggest difference between Princess Mononoke and Titanic is that there are no clear villains and no clear heroes. While "Titanic" eventually plays itself out as a glorified vaudeville melodrama (and there's nothing wrong with that, considering the time-period and the perspective of the narrator), Princess Mononoke is about as easy to figure out as "Hamlet." And I'm definitely not diminishing "Hamlet" in that comparison.
Here's the complicated story-line in a nutshell ... a big nutshell. Apologies for not having all the cast at my disposal, but I didn't get a chance to memorize the credits and IMDB hasn't completed the American cast yet. Prince Ashitaka (Billy Crudup) gets a horrible curse when he's slobbered by a large pig-demon that's attacking his peaceful village. Even though he manages to slay the beast (who you know is a demon because he's covered in slimy black blood worms), the curse has afflicted his arm, and he is doomed to die of it unless he seeks out the forest spirit and begs to be healed. Basically exiled (honorably discharged is more accurate) from his dying tribe of peaceful natives, Ashitaka heads west in search of the forest spirit with his magnificent red elk.
 |
|
he leaks sparkle toothpaste for kids. |
Meanwhile, Lady Eboshi is driving her Irontown citizens up a slippery mountain with rice supplies. Some wolves attack, but Lady Eboshi and her warriors kill them handily with the latest in technology -- rifles. She even manages to get a shot into the wolf goddess, Moro (Gillian Anderson). A few of Lady Eboshi's men are hurled off the cliff in the scuffle.
Ashitaka comes across the wounded men in the valley below, and being an anime hero, decides to haul them back home to Irontown. While helping the men he notices some cute forest spirits, which look like the Pillsbury Doughboy after a crash diet, and the wolf goddess. Tending to the wolf goddess (by sucking on her blood!) is Princess Mononoke, or San. Ashitaka tries to make contact, but they run away.
Ashitaka journeys through the magical forest with the help of the little forest spirits, who are the most imaginative and interesting little critters in the movie, and finally arrives at Irontown. Here we get a broader introduction to Lady Eboshi, who makes rifles with the help of lepers and whores, which somehow casts a humanitarian glow about her. It's a tricky act the script plays, using Lady Eboshi to do all the villain work without casting her as the villain per se. Also introduced are a host of town characters with lives and sub-plots all their own, but there's no way I could sum all that up. Suffice to say, Ashitaka takes a liking to Irontown.
 |
|
|
For the rest, you'll have to see the movie. And I do mean the rest. The action I've described so far is about the first third of the movie, and I left a lot out. The politics and situations of the script are so complex that even the characters have to stop and ask Ashitaka whose side he's on. They don't say it as an accusation; they're genuinely not sure. Truth is, Ashitaka's on everyone's side in a multi-faceted war that makes most European history look as simple as a game of Chutes and Ladders. The plot-driven action, combined with a huge multitude of memorable human and non-human characters, keep this movie interesting despite its nearly two-and-a-half hour length, another parallel to Titanic.
The visuals of Miyazaki are out of this world. I was impressed by Prince of Egypt and some of Disney's latest attempts at animation, but while American animators seem intent on blowing the audience away with wow-factor, Miyazaki works hard to create strange and beautiful images that change the way you look at the world. The rough-line style, which has been slain by computer animation in America, warms up the characters and somehow makes the most fantastic sequences seem more real. I don't think I'm a freak when I say that I'll believe a good hand-drawn fire explosion more than a CGI-blue screen representation of fire. It's just less intrusive upon the imagination.
 |
|
your wolf princess also doubles as a flotation device. |
Another smaller criticism is the translation of the love theme. This is not a musical, but there is one song in the soundtrack that serves during a quiet moment between Ashitaka and San (no physical romance, though). The words, as translated, are about as corny as your fifth grade science teacher. I was literally wondering if my fifth grade science teacher, the one who told bad jokes during worm dissections, wrote the song. He didn't. Nonetheless, Disney should been bold enough to leave the song in Japanese, which to American ears would have made it artsy instead of fartsy.
Also beware that the dubs were done with Japanese cadences, making it sound like the actors are running all their sentences together. (Do the Japanese have punctuation?) Seasoned anime veterans won't even notice this, but being in wide release, expect a lot of Americans to laugh at inappropriate times because of the flow. I think this is because America still associates Japanese speech cadence with bad kung-fu dubs, even when the lips have been remastered to match the dialogue and the words are witty.
Overall, the magical moments heavily outweigh the tiny flaws, and I would give it four and a half lava lamps, but I wouldn't want to ruin the carpet with a half a lava lamp spewing poisonous goo all over the place now would I?
Read the Stomp Tokyo review of the original Japanese version.
