Princess Mononoke review
Adam Wade
Do you want to see Princess Mononoke? If you plan on seeing it you might want
to read this to find out why or why not you should see it. I will review Princess
mononoke giving you the good and the bad of the movie.
Synopsis
This anime movie starts off in the forest, the outskirts of the village that the main
character Ashitaka lives. When a boar god comes thrashing through the forest running
towards Ashitaka’s village, he quickly realizes it needs to be stopped. He does kill the
demon god, but not before it touches him. This is bad Ashitaka is told by his tribal elder’s
that it will be a slow painful death with this touch. The only way to stop it is by going
into the forest and finding the forest spirit and asking for the forest spirit to save him.
While Ashitaka goes on his journey to the forest spirit he runs into some injured
men from Iron town. These men are workers for the town that had been attacked from the
Wolf god and San (Princess mononoke). The Wolf god and San attacked them because of
their town, it is hurting the forest so they want the humans gone. Ashitaka takes the men
back to Iron town where he meets Lady Eboshi and see gets a tour of Iron town.
While Ashitaka is at Iron town San decides to attack and try to kill Lady Eboshi,
but the Iron town men created a trap fro San and they were going to kill her until
Ashitaka stepped in and saved San, while getting shot. San then returned the favor and
saved Ashitaka, she took him to the forest spirit where he healed his wound, but not the
demon that was taking over him.
After this Ashitaka stayed with the Wolf god and San, while there Ashitaka and
San create a sort of bond. The Wolf god does not like humans and does not like Ashitaka
so he kicks him out. This is when Ashitaka learns that Lady Eboshi and troops are going
to try and kill the forest spirit.
Animation
I will tell you why the animation in this movie makes it a great movie. The detail
that the creators put into these move is incredible.
This anime movie details that I saw were something that blew me away. The
details and the time that it had to have taken for this movie should not go unnoticed. It
just makes the movie that much easier to watch. Trust me I am not one to watch very
many anime movies because of this, but this movie blew me away.
Of course I don’t expect you just to believe in me I will give you a few reasons as
to how I now they did an amazing job at this movie. It was awarded Best picture in the
Japanese Academy Awards. This is big because that Japan is big in Anime movies, so
was one of the best of its time.
Another way I believe that it shows it was a great movie for anime was the way
they created the demon look. It made you know that something was seriously wrong with
the God. It might be over looked, but I think that this made it different and made the story
line a long. Instead of going with a possessed look, they went with what looks like worms
coming out of whatever it posses.
Finally, another way that I think they took the animation to another level was the
emphasis on the detail of what the demon spirit did to Ashitaka. The way they showed his
arm muscle and definition of when he was firing his bow and arrow at people. Also the
way it just ripped the persons head off was something that really showed detail of how
the demon spirit affected him.
The art was a very good aspect of the movie, but in my opinion they really
botched some of the aspects that could have really made the film better. For instance the
Forest spirit, they picked out an animal that really has no power in real life. They should
have picked something that shows its power like having the wolf be the forest spirit, or
because the wolf was crucial to the movie they could have gone with a tiger.
Another part of the art that really bothered me was the gore, because a lot of kids
are going to watch this film. It was incredibly gruesome especially when he would
decapitate them with a single bow and arrow shot spewing blood shooting up in the air.
Not only is this unbelievable, but in my opinion it is way too violent for any child to see.
Some other parts of the art that really bothered me were the way that they
depicted the demon that takes over the gods, except for Ashitaka which I will get into
later. But they were worm like creatures that encompassed their entire body, in my
opinion this does not really get the point across that it is a demon taking them over. They
should have had come up with something more creative than a bunch of worms covering
the gods bodies.
The art had its good and bad spots, with a few simple changes the art of the movie
could have been outstanding. But instead because of the few mess ups, it brought the
movie down. Unfortunately this was not the worst of the movie, instead the acting was
one that brought the movie down.
Acting
Some of the people that they had chosen for the actors were really bad choices for
the movie. One of the choices that had really stuck out in my mind was the use of Billy
Bob Thornton. This made it very hard to get into the movie for me, because your hearing
a Texas accent in the body of a monk. Granted, he does make a good villain in most
movies, but in this movie his voice does not fit the part. How many Japanese monks do
you know running around with Texas accents? This was not the only problem with the
acting though, they had also done a horrible job giving their parts life.
As the movie progresses, their voices do not have enough emotion to fully capture
what is happening on screen. It is like watching a character jumping up and down in
excitement, yet hearing the voice say in a very uninspiring way “Yay”. The acting in
anime is something that really sets the tone for the movie, and when you do not get a
stellar performance from the actors it can turn a great movie into a horrible movie. I
would suggest if you would like to watch this movie to get the Japanese movie with
English subtitles, so that you are not subjected to a horrible English dubbed version. The
acting unfortunately was not the only reason you should not see this movie, also there
were some issues with the art.
Although the English actors did not do so well on the movie, the way that they
kept your attention was through the story line. This really made the movie easier to watch
because you were intrigued by what was going to happen to the characters.
Story Line
The story line of this movie is incredible, Miyazaki also really brought this story
line alive through out the movie.
Throughout this movie you will be intrigued till the very end wondering what will
happen next. The way the creators put this movie was outstanding, they did a really great
job of building up the story. They also, what I really like about the movie, was started off
with a great beginning. They didn’t just introduce everyone and start building from there.
They started off right away with a possessed god coming in and disrupting the life
of Ashitaka and his clan. Then they really started building up the story line. Once they
were midway through the movie what you expect to happen doesn’t always happen in
this movie. They do twists and turns throughout the story line to keep you wondering
what will happen next and the ending will be something you will be remembering for a
long time.
Another reason you can tell that the story line was put together nicely was that
you weren’t predicting the movie throughout. Some things you can see coming but really
throughout the movie you were not. Like the monk turning out to be a guy who has some
bad intentions like killing the forest spirit. Also the ending I did not see coming or what I
had anticipated happening at all.
This is a real intense movie to watch that will keep you on the edge of your seat
through out, because of this great story line that Miyazaki has created. The next a final
reason this movie is something that you might want to see is the character build up.
Character Buildup
The way the film builds up the character really plays off of the story line and
helps push this movie into a great film to see. The way they build the characters is really
different from most other movies in ways.
They do this by really all of them running into each other in certain ways and the
bad interacting with the good in ways you really would not see in other movies. This
really adds more drama into the movie.
Also it has more of a realistic feel, not with the whole ideas of forest spirits and
gods living with the humans, but the way certain things people do effect others. Like the
way Iron town effected the gods, and the way Ashitaka effected the way the wolf gods
viewed humans. In a way this was more realistic and made the movie better in my
opinion.
Another reason the character buildup was so great was because really the worst
person you see as someone good in the beginning. So they kind of fooled you and makes
you like him at first and really hate him in the end. This also happens with Lady Eboshi,
you really dislike her at first because of what she is doing to the forest god. But then you
realize that it was not only her doing it and that there was actually a worse person in the
movie.
Yes, these few reasons might make you want to watch this movie, but there still is
another part of the movie that you might want to think about first before you go running
out to watch this movie.
Unbelievable Scenes
Like I had stated before in the paper, there were some pretty unbelievable scenes
starting with the demon spirit. First off, the demon spirit some how immediately could
take over the god’s body, but when it came to Ashitaka, it took a lot longer. To me this
sounds a little strange and really brought down the movie, a normal human being
basically outlasted a God.
Another unbelievable scene was when Ashitaka, possessed by the demon spirit,
completely decapitates a person just by shooting him with a bow and arrow. Yes, I know
that this is a movie and that it is depicting how much strength this demon spirit gives him,
but did it really need to go that far? Not only did he decapitate the man, but he also was
shot numerous amounts of times and he could walk and save Princess Mononoke. I can
understand over-exaggerating for effect but I like my movies to be, in my eyes, possible
in most aspects. Yes, I know that God’s would never roam the planet, but did they have
to go this far into make believe to get the point across.
The unbelievable scenes for me was something that really turned me away from
this movie. It really took the movie down a notch with unnecessary scenes of showing
how powerful the demon inside of him was.
Conclusion
This movie is a movie that I would recommend to people who want a to watch a
movie with a good story line but with bad acting. It was a good movie it had some really
good art, mixed in with some bad decisions on what they chose to use as certain
characters (i.e. the forest spirit).This movie has some really good points and some really
bad points, but I think that the good outweigh the bad and is a movie that I would suggest
you see. You should see this movie, if your old enough, because it really teaches you a
lesson on the environment and how much you and I are hurting it. It also is a really
thought out and great story line with amazing character build up. This makes the film
very easy to watch, if the acting and some of the scenes, and art were better planned this
film would be a top movie. This is why I suggest you watch the movie, but do not have
really high expectations of the film.