The story in Princess Mononoke does indeed have an epic feel to it, what with gods in the form of wolves and boars, a supernatural Forest Spirit, and demons that truly look like the epitome of repugnance. Soon enough, more alliances are formed, and the Forest Spirit enters the mix for what turns out to be a truly epic story. San herself attacks the town and, just like the opening action sequence, it’s a marvel to watch.
Additionally, a girl named San has aligned herself with the wolves, and the movie begins to take on an Avatar-esque theme of man’s exploitation of nature. Ashitaka learns that the boar he killed was once a god, too. The leader of the town, Lady Eboshi, is determined to destroy the surrounding forest so that her town can expand and prosper and, as a result, is constantly warring with forest gods in the form of wolves. I wonder how much video games borrow from anime.Įventually, Ashitaka reaches a town in the mountains that seems to revolve around the production of iron. Back to that whole video game theory – the demonic arm reminded me quite a bit of Nero from Devil May Cry 4. I wasn’t expecting violence this graphic to be found in an animated film, but hey, I’m definitely not complaining. Now, Ashitaka probably wouldn’t have too much trouble with these guys to begin with – he’s already proven his efficiency with the bow – but thanks to his new “demon arm,” he’s able to fire arrows so fast that they literally rip the samurais’ arms and heads from their bodies. On their way, Ashitaka and Yakul encounter some hostile samurai. Suffice to say, Yakul is friggin’ awesome. He also gave me an idea for a future post, but that’s neither here nor there. Ashitaka embarks on his journey accompanied by his great red elk Yakul, who’s loyalty and courage instantly made him one of my favorite non-human characters in any movie. His only chance for survival is to head West, from where the boar came, and search for a cure. A woman in the village tells him that he’s cursed and that, soon enough, the curse will spread through his body and kill him. For example, I thought the demonic snakes that enveloped the boar looked a lot like a pissed off Alex in Prototype.Īnyhow, during the battle with the demon, Ashitaka suffers a wound on his arm. In sort of an ongoing theme throughout the movie, I noticed a lot of aspects that have been borrowed – either intentionally or coincidentally – by video games. The demon itself – represented by thousands of squirming, demonic snakes – was animated with the aid of computers, but it’s a seamless blend into the 2-D animation and not a distraction at all. The “something sinister” turns out to be a giant boar possessed by a demon, but Ashitaka shows no fear, drawing the beast’s attention and soon defeating it with an arrow to the eye in a sequence in which the animation can be described as breathtaking. Ashitaka – the film’s protagonist – is startled by something sinister moving around the perimeter of his village and shows right away that he’s a badass of the highest order. Immediately, I was reminded of the gorgeous animation in Ponyo, although the animation in this film was significantly darker and more realistic, which was a good thing considering the subject matter. One thing’s for sure – the beginning of Mononoke is as intense as any live-action movie I’ve seen in quite some time. Keep reading for my full review there will be spoilers, as always. But the film is not without its flaws, and I think the praise Mononoke has received may be a tad bit overblown. So what’s the verdict? I definitely enjoyed Princess Mononoke, and I’d even go as far as to call some scenes amazing. From the comments I received on my Ponyo review, it appeared that Princess Mononoke was the consensus pick as Miyazaki’s best film, and so I was pretty excited when it arrived via Netflix a couple of days ago. My wonderful readers have made some terrific recommendations in the past – most notably on Primer and Timecrimes – so it goes without saying that I’m always eager to check out what you guys consider great. After watching and being thoroughly impressed by Ponyo, I was interested in seeing more films created by Hayao Miyazaki.
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