Miyazaki's genius gives credence to "animated" films.

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2000)

Akira Kurosawa once lamented that Miyazaki's talents weren't being used in live-action films. Yet amusingly, Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) is a film that most probably COULDN"T HAVE BEEN DONE using live-action. Like most Miyazaki films, there is a subtle, sublime perfection here in every frame that is almost impossible to realize with live-footage (though Kurosawa DID achieve this in a number of his own films). I mean face it, a live-action "Snow White" just doesn't do the Disney film justice.
Beyond the beautiful and sometimes brutal visions presented by Mononoke Hime, there lies a story that seems to be about the preservation of nature on the surface, but underneath it's really about people.

After finishing watching this movie, you should ask yourself, "Who was the bad guy?" While it may be tempting to point a finger at Jigo, in some ways EVERY character was a bad guy (except maybe Ashitaka) and a good guy as well (including Jigo). To me, this was the point of the movie: In our world, there really are no good guys or bad guys, just people like San, Eboshi, Jigo, you and me just trying to get by.