Odd and Unpredictable

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2003)

If you can look beyond the hype, this film is fascinating and radically different from its U.S. competition. It's an odd rambling adventure, and contains a good deal of violence that makes it too strong for very young viewers. I would recommend it for middle-school children, but for adults its chief charm is its unpredictability.
What happens in this film is never what you might expect. Standard Hollywood ideas of story development, in which bad behaviour brings about its own punishment and difficulties are valuable learning experiences, are largely ignored and the film does not end with all problems resolved. Most of the characters are not at all complex, however, and, with a few key exceptions, are relatively standard for contemporary Japanimation (anime.) There is nothing that could really be described as character development, there isn't really much of a plot, and the story just sort of ambles along to a puzzling ending.
Other reviewers have encapsulated the story. Prince Ashitaka is the beautiful, stern young protagonist standard for anime. He rides a red elk and contradictorily fights with the power of hate, which provides the movie with some wholly unnecessary additional violence. Princess Mononoke is the pretty teenage heroine likewise standard for anime. She has been raised by wolves and consequently wears a fur stole (er - wolf fur?) and white jewelry. The most interesting characters are the rascally monk/imperial agent Jigo, and Lady Eboshi. Why does the emporer support Lady Eboshi in creating Irontown? Why is she building up a powerbase? Does she form a society of lepers and former prostitutes for humanitarian reasons, or for their loyalty?
These and many other questions are never resolved, which adds some intrigue to the story. However even the theme of the film, that humanity is out of touch with nature, is handled in a vague and contradictory way. Are the humans supposed to embrace nature by putting on warpaint and riding wolves, or just not be in the forest at all? Just how natural ARE boars that talk and wear warpaint? Is the willingness of the wolves to let the boars die, or the attitude of the monkeys, meant to cast an ironic light on Princess Mononoke's faith in solidarity with nature? The film also makes vague gestures in the direction of immanence but again, nothing is very clear.
None of this is necessarily BAD, but it's hard to derive an ultimate meaning from all these tantalizing puzzles. Still, it's a lot more intriguing than anything I've ever seen from Disney.