Princess Mononoke [SUB] (1997) Review

 Princess Mononoke [SUB] (1997) 9/10

Hello and welcome to another movie review. As I’ve been revisiting old reviews and altering them, some of them I have felt the need to revisit altogether for one reason or another. One of those movies is Princess Mononoke. This movie was released on July 12, 1997, with the director being none other than Hayao Miyazaki, with his animation studio Studio Ghibli producing the film. Princess Mononoke is regarded as one of Miyazaki’s best movies and I firmly agree with that.

Princess Mononoke is a movie that I have seen only once before. Although I enjoyed my initial viewing, I don’t think I fully absorbed what the movie was trying to tell me, so my original review always felt off. Now that I’m a bit more mature, rewatching Princess Mononoke was a wild trip. I loved its story, characters, central themes, and animation a lot more this time around. I can even see how some people would say it’s a masterpiece. Personally I’m not going to classify it as a perfect movie, but it’s a damn good film regardless. Let’s begin.

This is the story of Prince Ashitaka. He hails from a small village that is not connected to either the shogunate or any rivaling feudal lords. In this world, spirits and mythical creatures exist, but they do not seem to get along with humans. The story opens up with Ashitaka taking down a demonized boar named Nago. During the fight, Ashitaka gets infected by the demon, and now he only has a certain amount of time before he dies. The town Oracle tells him that this didn’t happen for a random reason. Something made the boar turn into a demon, and whatever that thing is may also hold the key to saving his life from the curse. Ashitaka then begins a life changing journey to the west where he’ll be confronted with human greed, survival of the fittest, and a desperate god’s gamble to save his homeland from the invading humans.

What a story this was. Being based on Japanese mythology while throwing in its own tale of survival makes this one of the most unique movies I’ve seen in awhile. As I said earlier, I liked all the characters, with my favorites being Ashitaka and San aka Princess Mononoke herself. The other main character Lady Eboshi was a great character too, albeit a very stubborn one lol. There are a few side characters too that I enjoyed as well.

The movie has a few themes that you can take away. Environmentalism, anti-war, societal differences, and a few others, but these are the main themes. Unlike most of Miyazaki’s other movies, Princess Mononoke doesn’t shove these directly into your face. These themes are present from the get-go, but the way Miyazaki weaves this into the story was extremely well done. And a slight tangent, but the way this movie was paced and storyboarded was extremely well done too. I was HOOKED into the movie from beginning to end. Very well done.

As with all Ghibli movies, the art style is very soft and fluid at the same time. With quick reflexes with the combat scenes, beautifully smooth transitions and panoramic shots all throughout the film, this movie is just moving eye candy throughout its entire run. Animation is very well done. The movie is mainly hand drawn, but you can tell they threw in some 3D CGI in specific moments, but thankfully this didn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Princess Mononoke has a fantastic music score too. I especially loved the ending theme as the credits rolled. Also quick shout out to the sound design. All the animal noises, arrows flying through the sky, swords whipping through the air. It all sounded amazing. The Japanese dub was really great too. I was a bit thrown off by San’s mom, the giant Wolf Moro having such a deep voice despite being female lol. Best performances go to Youji Matsuda (Ashitaka), Yuriko Ishida (San), Yuko Tanaka (Lady Eboshi), Sumi Shimamoto (Toki), and Kaoru Kobayashi (Jiko).

Princess Mononoke is a brilliant movie that everyone needs to watch at least once. I can see why people love it to the moon and back and I can’t wait to add this to my personal collection. I highly recommend the movie and I am a bit excited to revisit some other Ghibli classics. Until my next review, stay frosty.

Thanks for reading.

This is Zorgak, signing off.