Princess Mononoke (screened in Japanese with English subtitles) is IMHO the perfect Japanese epic. For those that liked Crouching Tiger but wanted a more coherent story, Princess Mononoke delivers, and then some. The story is a simple folk legend (like the Aboriginal Dreamtime tales) set in medieval Japan when gods and humans walk the land side-by-side. The story deals with the time when this balance begins to change, and what effect it has on the world. Sounds a little “Greenpeace”, but remember this is a folk legend, and they usually always have a moral.
But what a way to express such a moral! The animation is so beautiful in parts you’ll think the forests and mountains covered in fog are real... and I don’t just mean CGI (of which there was none used in the making of the film), but it actually looks photo-realistic. The action sequences are a wonderful blend of traditional anime and lifelike fight & battle sequences. The music should have won an Oscar, etc. etc.. :-)
And to top it all off, this is no Disney flik!
No singing monkeys and dancing pigs to be seen here. The wolves have teeth, and use them. When someone is decapitated, they don’t get up again. And the emotions of the characters are real & subtle, as opposed to over-the-top goodies vs baddies.
If you like anime, go see Princess Mononoke now.
If you love anime, why haven’t you seen it already?
If any of this sounds remotely interesting and you haven’t seen Princess Mononoke yet, you should.
