Title: Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke) Released: 1997 Genre: Feudal Fantasy Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119698/ Rating: 8.3/10 (21,389 votes) from [[IMDB]]
- Animation:
The animation is what you would expect from a big selling film. The lighting is amazing and the shadows in the forest scenes are really impressive. No skimping has been made on the frame/sec and there is lots of fast paced action sequences which leave you stunned at the animation.
- Sound/Music:
The music isn’t anything uber special but that’s because it isn’t in your face, used more for adding atmosphere to the dialogue. The sound effects are ace, when Ashitaka is riding around on his Elk you can hear every hoof thump!
- Dubs/Subs:
The “English” dub is good but very American, with such great voice acting stars as: Gillian Anderson (as a wolf god) and Billy Bob Thornton. The Japanese is preferable as some of the American voice acting rubs in places, probably ok if you are American. The subs are again what you would expect of a film of this quality and standing.
- Story:
***WARNING THE STORY IS VERY CUTESY (apart from the decapitations)*** If you don’t have a sappy, hopeless romantic side to you like Ultima you might not appreciate this all that much!
Ashitaka a prince from the last surviving members of an ancient Japanese clan is forced from his home when a god turned demon poisons him. The only clue he has leading to his present fate is a lump of iron found on the boars corpse. Ashitaka heads out with his cool Bronze Age equipment and mad warrior skillz, accompanied by his supa kawaii pet Red Elk to find out what’s going on. The whole thing is set in the warring states era of Japan when the empire formed. All very feudal with war ravaging the land etc. The background characters such as the prostitutes of iron town add depth to the film, in some ways more so than the ethereal Ashitaka. The story is the tried and tested good 'v evil nature 'v technology. With Ashitaka stuck outside of time and inbetween these two ideals, fighting for everyone.
- What Ultima thought?
This film is worth watching if you like Anime or not it’s great as a film animated or otherwise. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki who became famous for this film and Spirited Away. I admit I’m a bit of a fan of Miyazaki’s but it’s because his films are so damn good! For any liberal #aber types this has plenty of technology + war = bad nature + humanism = good in it. I thought the ending was a bit of a let down considering how long this film is you kind of hope for something a bit more spectacular. It’s still great and worth grabbing a copy and sitting through all 128 minutes!
Jonneh says:
You can watch a better version of this film by watching Nausica and the Valley and the Wind, oddly another film by Miazaki, with almost exactly the same story, only it's a little bit older, adn doesn't have the fantastic dub job, but I like it more.