princess mononoke
For my next review, right after my Sonic the Hedgehog 1 review in which I discuss how excited I am for the future of the Sonic franchise, right after I watched Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the first time at home, and right before Sonic the Hedgehog 3 releases in December, all in tandem with the rerelease of Sonic Generations on modern gaming platforms, I will be taking a look at- Princess Mononoke. The most sensible movie for me to cover right now.
Before I met my girlfriend, the only Ghibli movie I had ever seen was Spirited Away. In the last eight or ten months, the list of Studio Ghibli films I had indulged in went from a single one to about seven, with multiple being rewatched in the same time frame. Shoutout to my lovely girlfriend for expanding my knowledge and familiarity with this fantastical and otherworldly set of artistic experiences.
Like Avatar after it, and I guess Fern Gully before it?- this is a story about humans destroying themselves by selfishly attacking and disrespecting nature for their own short term benefit, and it's so topical and real that it's worth a watch now more than ever. The simple but effective plot is compounded tenfold by its execution, in that nature is personified by wonderful and fantastical creatures. This is Studio Ghibli’s undisputed strong suit, as the company’s focus on showcasing artful, unique-looking, and frankly beautiful mythical beasts and critters makes the audience feel as if they are discovering them on a nature trek of their own. The Kodama were adorable, the Forest Spirit was mystifying and intimidating yet majestic, and Nago was a unique and powerful beast. In fact, The Legend of Zelda franchise (specifically, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom) seem to be heavily inspired by Princess Mononoke, in that Ganon is a large boar surrounded by dark rotting maggot energy, and Link, the main character, is cursed on his arm from the darkness, leaving magical patterns identical to the one Ashitaka obtains.
The world building here is remarkable, as there are characters littered about this apocalyptic, run-down world that spout off intriguing and world-expanding dialogue, yet never through boring exposition- it’s always natural sounding. Princess Mononoke’s world feels so lived in and fleshed out because of this, and it makes me care all the more when it is placed in jeopardy. The world, the characters, the flora and fauna, are all kingdoms- they’re all treated with such sincerity and seriousness by all of the characters. It’s almost Lord of the Rings-esque in that sense.
The presentation speaks for itself. There has never been a Ghibli movie that I’ve seen that does not place its animation and score on its highest pedestal, and the looks and sounds of this film are breathtaking as a result. Joe Hishaishi is a titan of his field, and elevates this film to epic proportions with his music.
Unfortunately, the underbaked, yet apparently iconic, love story feels out of place, mostly because of its inability to develop or really go anywhere. San is likely the least developed major character in the film, which is still extremely impressive considering every element around it is razor tight. However, if I had to nitpick, I would have liked to see her have slightly more to do.
Princess Mononoke is not a film I expected to be so invested in, but I was thrilled nonetheless. It follows a fairly simple story template elevated to expertise by its finely crafted world building, poignant dialogue, gorgeous animation, sweeping soundtrack, and cornucopia of unique and wacky creatures and monsters. It is a triumph in the field of animation and is a testament of sincerity and severity in filmmaking as an art form. One of the greatest animated films of its era, possibly of all time, Princess Mononoke is an experience that can’t be missed.
