Miyazaki Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2012)

I was 17 when I had seen this movie for the first time, and I was blown away. For the longest time I had Star Wars as my number one movie, but Princess Mononoke instantly bumped it out of first place. The plot line was amazing, and the acting was superb. The voice actors, both the Japanese and the English dub did an amazing job of getting the emotion that needed to be portrayed felt by the audience. You could hear the subtleties in their voices that let you know there was a change in how the person felt. I great example was when Ashitaka was leaving his village his sister came up to say goodbye. She joked around with Ashitaka, but quickly became sad, and you could feel the mood change when it did. If you listen to how she talked her voice had a minimal change in sound, but it was just enough that you felt the pain in your heart of how sad it was that she was never going to see Ashitaka again.
Another time you can see, actually hear, the amazing voice acting is when Ashitaka talks to lady Eboshi for the first time. The power in his voice when he says, "to see with eyes unclouded by hate," drives home the feeling that he is serious about what he does and that he lives by that phrase. Watching other animated movies, I had never felt the emotions spoken so well as I did watching Princess Mononoke. Thinking about it, another part that helped drive emotions home was the astounding soundtrack composed by Joe Hisaishi.
The soundtrack that plays throughout the movie is beautiful. It helps bring to life the emotions felt and helps tell the story. You feel like if you closed your eyes, turned off the dialogue and just listened to the soundtrack, you would still know the story. It almost seems like the soundtrack tells the story as its own entity. The swells of the strings, the woody vibrato of the Oboe, the shimmer of the harp all bring the spiritual world shown in Princess Mononoke to life.
The final point I want to make about this movie is the images that you see. It astounds me how every frame of this movie was hand drawn. 160,000 frame cells were drawn, a number I can't even fathom. Miyazaki brought to life the world he envisioned with the moving art that he called Princess Mononoke. When you see the forest gods walking around you can't help but be in awe. I suggest you buy this movie and watch it over and over. It brings great fantasy and happiness while bringing powerful ideas to the table. A 10 out of 10 is still not enough to talk about how amazing and powerful this movie is. I say to you,"GO WATCH IT NOW, YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!"