Alas, a movie of higher quality than can sell to Americans.

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 1999)

The film that I most anticipated this year was Star Wars- Episode I. As some of you may have noticed, that movie was intensely disappointing. Perhaps Lucas got greedy, but I was turned off of movies for a time, until I learned that the best movies are frequently not made by big Hollywood studios. Do animated films from Disney seem simplistic? There's the strong, individual protagonist; the totally vilified enemy; the small, cute, funny sidekick; and the formulaic plot; not to mention the irritating versions of the songs that you will never avoid for the rest of the year. Or, do the romantic comedies leave you embarrassed for the characters and annoyed at the writers? Do action films leave you disgusted at the glorified violence? Predictability is a staple of big studio American films, and personally, I am no longer surprised that my two favorite movies this year came from overseas, Lola Rennt from Germany, and Mononoke Hime from Japan. We begin with a spectacular blend of detail and simplicity in the animation style, and we are drawn into the film with a village attacked by a demon, defeated at a cost for our hero, who is sent to find the evil's source-- and then good and evil fade in to shades of grey that are rarely seen in American films. Characters have too many dimensions for our country's movie viewers, and we are disturbed by the frustratingly unpredictable sequence of events. And yet one scene seems to follow naturally from the last. Virtually every aspect of the movie was astonishing, and almost all of those were pleasantly so. If only Hollywood would give us some credit.
Of course, this movie is not for everyone. This movie wasn't sent to America for years because the Japanese creators of the film knew that true American movie themes were not honored very respectfully. Only after it became the second highest grossing film in Japan was an American release considered. If you find talking animals in an animated film disturbing, then you may find this one to be too much for you (along with most Disney films, which have little in common with Princess Mononoke in other respsects, which I'll get to next). If you want to know the end of a movie before it happens, or if you want to focus on the romance between the male and female leads, or if you want the bad guys to die and good to triumph in a blood bath, or if you love the countless other elements that thrive in American films; well, don't see Princess Mononoke. It's not for you. Otherwise, I'll see you at a film festival sometime.