Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) is a 1997 anime epic historical fantasy
adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio
Ghibli. A beautifully realized tale of civilization versus nature, Princess
Mononoke is a true epic by Japan's master animator.
While protecting his village from a rampaging boar-god, the young warrior
Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a deadly curse. To find the cure that will save
his life, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest
Spirit's realm where he meets San (Princess Mononoke), a girl raised by
wolves.
It's not long before Ashitaka is caught in the middle of a battle between
iron-ore prospecting humans and the forest dwellers. He must summon the
spirit-powers and all his courage to stop man and nature from destroying each
other. From the Studio Ghibli Collection.
Special Features
- Alternative angle storyboards
- Princess Mononoke in the U.S.A. (Featurette)
- Original Japanese theatrical trailers
- Original Japanese TV spots
- U.S. theatrical trailer
Awards
- Won Japanese Academy Award for Best Film (1998)
- Won Mainichi Film Concours Awards for: Best Film, Best Animated
Film (1998)
- Won Blue Ribbon Award, Special Award (1998)
- Won Hochi Film Award, Special Award (1997)
- Nominated for Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for
Directing (2000)
Princess Mononoke Movie Reviews
“Princess Mononoke is more than a stunning artistic achievement. It
also provides a complex exploration of the uneasy balance between our human
culture and our status as members of a natural environment. Hayao Miyazaki is as
great as they all say he is—and this film more than proves it.” DVD
Verdict
“One of the most wondrous films I ever hope to see… It is a film for
all ages!” Roger Ebert
“A windswept pinnacle of its art, Princess Mononoke has the effect of
making the average Disney film look like just another toy story.”
Entertainment Weekly
“…a landmark feat of Japanese animation from the acknowledged master
of the genre, it's very easy to understand the film's phenomenal popularity.
Outdone only by "Titanic” as Japan's box-office champ, this intricate, epic
fable is amazing to behold. No wonder the filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki, is
acknowledged as an inspiration among his American counterparts who have
reinvented animated storytelling in the post-“Little Mermaid” era. “Not a
day goes by that I do not utilize the tools learned from studying his films,”
John Lasseter (“Toy Story,” “A Bug's Life”) has said. Barry Cook and
Tony Bancroft, whose “Mulan” shows strong evidence of Mr.
Miyazaki's influence, are on the record with “Miyazaki is like a god to
us.” “Princess Mononoke,” which was shown over the weekend as part of the
New York Film Festival (an unusual distinction for an animated feature),
explains what they mean. This exotically beautiful action film features gods and
demons locked in a struggle for the future of the unspoiled forest and an
elaborate moral universe that Mr. Miyazaki has created. As such, it is a
sweeping, ambitious version of the comic-book storytelling that engendered it.
Frequent battle scenes, graphic enough to make a sharp distinction between
“Princess Mononoke” and animation made for children, keep the story in
motion. These are often breathtakingly rendered, but it is the film's stirring
use of nature, myth and history that make it so special…" New
York Times
“it offers a complicated and untraditional view of gender and a highly
contemporary lesson about human economy and its inevitable effect on the
environment, along with a steadfast refusal to think in simplistic good-vs.-evil
equations.” Salon.com