Story:
When looking at the story, I considered this movie to be split into two different scenarios rather than one. (Two for the Price of one, Yay! xD) The first scenario dealt with a prince who had been bestowed by a curse and must travel the mountains to find a cure by a Spirit God. The second scenario dealt with the animals living in the mountains waging war against the humans who constantly destroy their forests as well as hunt for the Spirit God. In the end, the two scenarios merge and conclude together. To start off, the themes of this story are powerful morals which are displayed wonderfully and provokes discussion way after the credits roll. The first half of the film dealt with the pursuit of Peace and to abolish all hate for one another since the curse fed off the people's hatred. The last half of the film focused more on trying to save the environment and wildlife; as well as to live in harmony with one another. The actions in the story show strong symbolism that's easily understandable and may change the way you look at forests differently. This is for sure a movie that both kids and adults can enjoy!
The negatives I had with the show lie more on technical and execution issues. The first problem being the pacing. The first half of the film had a dramatically slow pace; as we saw our hero travel to different lands, showcasing his journey to get to the forest. We see our hero converse with others in wonderful dialogue; but I never truly got that feeling of urgency that the protagonist might be in any danger because of his curse, since he would occasionally stop to help out injured people. I could tell that Miyazaki tried spending the first half showcasing the setting our hero would be involved in, but even still, this movie took quite some time to get going. The second half of the film is where we see the action begin to pick up as war is broken loose between the animals and humans. The pacing of this segment does pick up, but like the first half, I never felt any urgency when we would see the two sides waging war or experience the impact when a person or an animal would die. This is all due to the fact that the second half is based on several different point of views. Because of this, I found the story to be convoluted as it would jump to various battles; making me confused time to time as to what each person's specific goal was. Another issue I had was the ending. By the conclusion of the film, all the situations were settled but I never truly felt resolution between the two opposing sides; even though the actions of the movie made me think other wise. Looking from it at a realistic stand point, the ending truly is fitting but because of this, it kind of contradicts the whole set up of the second half of the film.
7/10
Art:
The art of Princess Mononoke is standard level for a Miyazaki film: BEAUTIFUL! Since most of the film is in the wild life, the scenery of these forests are well done: full of lush greenery and very detailed animal drawings. Blood from a wolf or guck from a Boars mouth are very descriptive and for an action movie, the swings from a sword or a shot from an arro feels very realistic since time to time, body parts will get severed at a graphically gruesome rate. This is for sure one of Miyazaki's more mature styled films. The art of Princess Mononoke is something that tells a story on it's own and can even hold up with some of today's work in terms of detail.
10/10
Sound:
The sound of Princess Mononoke is probably one of the more disappointing aspects of the film, as I tend to even notice or remember any pieces from the movie. Instead I can only remember the noise that the Wild Life would make or sound effects such as the splashing made when walking in water. To me, I found the sound of Princess Mononoke was only there to compliment rather than generate any emotion than what it's future successors would do later.
6/10
Characters:
The characters in Princess Mononoke are interesting. To begin, you have your normal protagonists, Ashitaka and later, San. What makes this story interesting though was no side is truly evil. Along the way Ashitaka will encounter different people that you will later see again but as he converses with these people, you can tell that each one of them doesn't have a very deep negative intention. However, I think that many will side with the Animals when watching since they are mostly the underdogs (No Pun intended) and they simply wish to preserve their land. This is in comparisons to the humans who more or less want to destroy the entire forest near the end. This was a very original approach since in life, people are almost never laid out as: good or bad, and instead it's all on how we perceive it to be.
On the other hand, lack of a clear villain can also be considered a flaw to the movie. It can be difficult to invest yourself with the characters since you don't know which one to root for. Because of this, it may take you out of the experience. Character development was another problem I had. Ashitaka encounters plenty of people along his journey, but I never saw him or anybody else grow because of these encounters. Also, I never saw San, our female protagonist as a vital part to the film. To me she was only there to provide a love interest with our main character, Ashitaka and unfortunately, needless to say: she too also didn't get any development and in the end she remained almost as the same person we were introduced to as.
7/10
Overall/Enjoyment:
In the end, Princess Mononoke is not the best Ghibli movie out there. Pacing issues, lack of a grounded OST, and weak character development prevent this movie from being a classic Ghibli film that can easily earn my first recommendation. I found myself currently being pulled out of the experience and checking my watch time to time with the slow movement this film had. Still, looking at the film as a whole, I had an immense amount of fun while watching it! This animation just overflowed with it's strong life lessons that doesn't take an expert to figure out. This was also accompanied by daring original concepts the movie challenged itself with and has been defined in its age as being one of the best! In the end you won't be in an urge to check your "Ecological footprint" but I guarantee that this is an anime, you won't wanna miss!
7/10
