mind-shattering anime; my favorite of Miyazaki's films

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2006)

Some might watch Princess Mononoke and find ambiguity at times. It's goes beyond formula into something that challenged me, the interplay between the forces of nature where sometimes the seemingly 'good' side is not what it seems, until the bigger, darker picture comes into view. It's a purely imaginative effort, with a level of dramatic- more over cinematic- power that I'd compare with Kurosawa on a level. Princess Mononoke, in its uncompromising way, details the violence without pulling away while also being rather anti-violent in the process. It is also hard to pinpoint on any one level.
Visually it's got so much going on to practically experience the abstractions that Hayao Miyazaki folds up into the rest of the story. The story itself trails along with the best of epic fantasy, with this crucial, earth-shattering quest that works on that level of action-adventure (possibly more for adults despite the PG-13 rating here in the States) as well as the mythological side of things. Some have written that it is a bit of a complex film in structure and storytelling, bordering on confusing. I would disagree, though I can see what they mean- you have to pay closer attention than usual of more American films. But on a more profound level, if one could call it such, it's really not hard to follow.
The hero of the film, interesting enough, is the type of tragic hero, though with one clear sight amid the chaos on the two sides he encounters- peace. He is cursed by a sort of wormy-jelly demon that runs unyielding in the darker recesses of the world. He searches for something to rid him of his scars while on the human side at some points (mostly dominated by the women impressed- or against- his skills), and with those of the wolves on the other side. The title character is part of the latter, though also human, bringing a little more of the underlying symbolism with a character. Then there are also the boars ready to destroy the humans, even to their demise. Amid the battles that rage on, leading to the significance of a certain 'Deer God' as the centerpiece of the balance of the forests and civilizations, not too much is made explicit. At the same time, the side taken by the cursed hero is even questioned by one character, and with that part connected with the others the story trumps what could have been a kind of smothering over-symbolic representation into what is necessary and spectacular about the film.
In fact, I would estimate on just the near bravery of what Miyazaki is achieving in the film, it's one of the best films of its kind. And 'of its kind' in this case is the animated film that breaks conventions and the typical 'good vs. evil' logic. Many times the suddenness of things had me wide-eyed, and each creature or little variance on the creations- both good and evil- are elaborated with out compromise. The digitally-animated worm-Jelly type monsters are some of the more memorable ones, to be sure, as they book-end the picture in different extraordinary ways (the climax in particular probably ranks with the best of the last decade or so). The tiny bobble-headed alien creatures are also a delight as they rattle and gather and multiply and flee all around; this is the kind of scene that is dream-like to a truly weird and bright sensibility. And many scenes that have more of that samurai-movie quality to them (again, Kurosawa) are extremely well-done on their own as then they become mixed around again with the fantasy elements.
To say that the film is really a 'family' film might be not entirely accurate, as some of the battle and attack footage is pretty graphic in its own ways, if not as much as other more adult anime like Fist of the North Star or Ninja Scroll. There are even moments I would say that, had I been little and watching some of the more twisted and macabre scenes, I might have cried from it. But this is a credit to Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli; for older kids this could mark as something that is, indeed, foreign to their expectations, at least American ones. It is a work of art, not just animation, that takes chances and isn't afraid to go for the right twists and leaps of creation and at the same time keeping its message noticeable but not overbearing. It's a film I can't wait to see again, and likely my favorite of the filmmaker's too, with the same cinematic drive as in the other works I've seen but reaching the ambitious heights it intends.