Arcane Reviews: Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here to end Movie Month with this new review. Now this month has been pretty fun, watching all these badass movies. Now when I started this month I began the reviews with a Hayao Miyazaki film, more importantly his first film. So now I end Movie Month with arguably Miyazaki's best film and for a while his last film. I present to you my review for Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. Let's begin shall we?

Story:

The story follows our main hero, Ashitaka. A prince from a far away village that is living in seclusion. His village lives in peace until one day when a giant boar demon comes into his village trying to harm the citizens. Ashitaka fights off the demon and kills it but only to be cursed by the demon by touching his right arm. He soon finds out that the demon is actually a god that was shot in the side with a bullet and the pain caused him to turn into a demon fueled by rage. Now Ashitaka must travel to a far away land and sort the caused of the boars pain. He ends up in a huge battle between the humans and gods for the right of the forest. This story is probably the best set up in any of Miyazaki's films. The story has a very strong message of trying to preserve the forest and that we as humans should try to do our best to protect the beauty of the world. Is the story very simple? Yes. But does it diminished the overall quality of this film? Not at all because not only does this movie out do all of the other "save the forest" films but it actually gives it sub-genre some much needed balls! This film does not hold back when it comes to violence and it's just awesome to watch! All though I did notice that Miyazaki had quite a bit of a arm losing fetish going on in this film. The story felt like a very mature fairy tale, it had some graphic imagery and doesn't spoon feed the audience about the message and it doesn't flat out tell you who the main villain is. Well because there really isn't a villain. This film makes every other character aside from our main hero in a moral grey area. Every other main character has a real reason for fighting that can't really be considered good or bad. They all have legitimate reasons and it just gives more depth to both the characters and story. This movie's story is just so rich with depth and it comes off as a very mature story that was just so refreshing to watch.

Music:

The music in this movie is really damn good. Joe Hisaishi is the composer of this film and he did a damn good job with this film. The way the music makes assists with the visuals of the scenes is just breath taking to watch. What the music really does that's cool is that it can really up the scale of tension with it's music. It has this tracks that are made to put you in the high stakes situation that our heroes find themselves in and it can get the blood pumping at some points. The music can also bring things to a nice slow pace with it's very majestic and soothing tunes that seem to just put everything at ease. The music is just so damn good in this film and did an amazing job at putting the perfect mood for every scene in this film.

Characters:

Characters in this film are pretty solid. I already talked about them a bit in the story category but I'll talk about them a little more here. The whole cast are fleshed out pretty well in this movie, all the characters have reasons for what they do so everyone is set in a moral grey area. Lady Eboshi wants her village so thrive and for her people to live in peace, this isn't an evil goal but she is never treated as an evil character either. You have the secondary main character San along with the three wolf gods that are protecting the forest. The movie however doesn't present them as innocent, peaceful, or helpless. They're actually pretty damn vicious creatures that will and have killed anyone who endangers their home and that's the beauty of the this film. Nature in of it's self is a character in this film and unlike other films it doesn't down play nature. It isn't a small weak being that needs to be protected. No in this film, if you push nature it'll push you right back. Also the main character of Ashitaka is a cool character as well. He's isn't just a generic good guy that wants the forest to be saved, he actually started his journey so he can save his own ass. When he sees that war might start he tries to stop the war in the hopes that he can somehow save himself. But when everything does go down in the film he does see that he must take more responsibility then what he originally was their for. He's also not afraid to fight and will take up arms against an enemy that's in his way and he's not afraid to kill as well. He's a warrior through and through which helps with the films very mature tone just like of the other characters do as well.

Voice Acting:

Now seeing as how this is a Studio Ghibli it's pretty damn obvious that the voice acting kicks ass. The voice acting in this film is very solid with talents like Billy Curdup, Billy Bob Thornton, John DiMaggio, Keith David, and Claire Danes. All of them do fantastic jobs at presenting these character's personalities and certain traits to the English audience. I feel as though this is one of the best celebrity casts that has been assembled for a Studio Ghibli film that has gone unmatched until The Wind Rises which wouldn't be released until years later. Long story short, the voice acting is great.

Overall:

To end this review I'll just say that Princess Mononoke is my personal favorite Studio Ghibli film and is my second favorite anime film of all time. Going back to watch this film has showed me that this film is pretty much a timeless classic and it shouldn't be missed by an anime fan, period. So it's kinda obvious that I'm gonna recommend it. Now do yourself a favor and go watch this anime classic.

Arcane Reviews gives Princess Mononoke a 10 out of 10.

You can watch "Princess Mononoke" on:

Netflix(Dub and Sub, DVD rental only)