Amazon.com Essentials:
This epic, animated 1997 fantasy has already made history as the
top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its
combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals
tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological
anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, Princess
Mononoke represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator,
Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery
Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style,
vivid character design, and stylized approach to storytelling take
ambitious, evolutionary steps here.
Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki's original story envisions a struggle
between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark
iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces
explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed,
spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a
remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like
monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious "demon god,"
transformed by human anger. Ashitaka's quest to solve the beast's fatal
curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as
the more crucial battle between man and nature.
Miyazaki's convoluted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie matinees,
nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that
ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish
for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki's atmospheric world and
its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch. For the
English-language version, Miramax assembled an impressive vocal cast
including Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup (as Ashitaka), Claire Danes (as
San), Minnie Driver (as Lady Eboshi), Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada
Pinkett Smith. They bring added nuance to a very different kind of magic
kingdom. Recommended for ages 12 and older. --Sam Sutherland
