a terrifyingly mystical film

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2000)

The real miracle of Princess Mononoke is the design of the creatures. From the giant oozing demon in the beginning to the gray blind boar and the Spirit of the Forest (which looks like an antelope with a smiling human face), Miyazaki was able to tap into something very deep and provoking. The creatures are at the same time beautiful and terribly ugly. Like the race of the little white ghosts that inhabit the forest. They are some of the most achingly cute characters ever made (in fact, I saw dolls of these characters at a gift shop in Little Tokyo), but at the same time a little disturbing once you realize that their heads are like skulls and their bodies like Pillsbury Dough Boys. I found myself flinching in terror at the sight of the blind boar with blood gushing out of his eyes. On that note, I think that the violence of this movie really propels it to another level. It was the one thing that really got reactions from the audience. And I'm not talking the kind of gratuitous violence in action movies. The violence in Princess Mononoke is quite extreme, but it does so to portray the brutality of human (and animal) conflict.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the voice acting in the American adaptation. It was really a mixed bag. Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver, and Gillian Anderson in particular were fabulous, but I felt that Billy Crudup and Claires Danes did some typical cartoon overacting. Many may disagree on me with this, but I found it to be distracting and cheesy at times.
I would also like to comment on the current popularity of anime. With the slew of violent action movies being brought over to the states (Ninja Scroll, Gundam, etc.), people get the misconception that the appeal of anime is the mature content. But the real beauty and success of Japanese animation is in the way the artists are able to convey the smallest details of real human life. Hayao Miyazaki's work (My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service) is a prime example of this. Such as in Princess Mononoke in a scene where a leper, completely covered in bandages, talks about the tragedy of his life. You cannot see his face or tell by his voice that he is crying, but rather from the bandages over his eyes, where dark circles appear as his tears soak the fabric. It's scenes like this that make the film so impressive.