Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)

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101). AnotherUniverse

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.anotheruniverse.com/comics/interviews/neilgaiman100199.html

October 1, 1999

Neil Gaiman, Translator of Princess Mononoke: Neil Gaiman talks about Dream Hunters - Making Myth in the Japanese Tradition

by Steve Fritz
Neil Gaiman, never far from the forefront of critically acclaimed popular culture, has been very busy. Translating Princess Mononoke, the most highly anticipated anime movie of the decade, and returning to his most famous work-- Sandman in The Dream Hunters, Gaiman is giving his fans much to look forward to in October--each with a distinctively Japanese flavor. [...]

Gaiman's translation of Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke has to be considered equally amazing. No small task considering, as Miyazaki admitted in an interview elsewhere, that Gaiman wasn't working with modern Japanese, but an archaic variation used in the medieval period. If that isn't enough, imagine trying to convey various concepts Mononoke to a culture that has no reference points to Japanese folklore.

"You pick the best solution that you can to provide the most information that you can," says Gaiman. "What we wound up doing is saying those were the days of gods and demons in an opening narration bit, which is more or less based on stuff that Miyazaki had written anyway as an introduction to it. I just had to rework that and put it as the introduction. Basically, what you have to do is let people know as much as you can as early as you can."

[...]

102). The Chicago Daily Herald

The following are relevant quotes only.

October 1, 1999

TIME OUT Main Event:
Look a little closer.  Good buzz means better-than-B-movies this fall season.

by Dann Gire - Daily Herald Film Critic
[...]

"Princess Mononoke" - Could this be the greatest animated film ever created? Andrew Osmond of AnimeFantastique magazine in Oak Park makes a strong case. Japanese animator Hiayo [sic] Miyazaki combines history and world mythology (but no computer-generated imagery) to create this variation on "Beauty and the Beast." An innocent princess marries a mononoke, a flying cat- beast. Meanwhile, a young exiled prince travels to the fortress of Tatara-ba, a community at war with animal gods. This film has been the highest grossing in Japan after "Titanic." Claire Danes, Billy Crudup and Billy Bob Thornton supply dubbed voices.

[...]

103). The San Diego Union-Tribune

The following are relevant quotes only.

October 2, 1999

LIFESTYLE DATELINE HOLLYWOOD:
Financing woes put Depp's "Don Quixote" project on hold until summer.

by George Rush And Joanna Molloy

Unheard-of!

Claire Danes isn't a household name for everyone -- even people in showbiz.  Director Hayao Miyazaki had never heard of the young starlet until he was working with her on the English version of his Japanese animated hit "Princess Mononoke".

"I don't watch movies, so I don't know about stars, "Miyazaki told us through a translator at the pic's premiere at the New York Film Festival.  "My producer said he had seen her in "Romeo & Juliet", and I said, 'That's cool' -- but it's not like I saw the movie".

In fact, Miyazaki doesn't even pay attention to his own success, even though his Japanese box-office receipts have topped those for "ET" and "Jurassic Park".  "I hide in my mountain cabin," he said, "and I don't have newspapers there."

Also at the post-premiere dinner at Calle Ocho were Danes, Antonio Sabato Jr., Rachel Leigh Cook, Michael Bolton and Julia Stiles and boyfriend Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

104). The Denver Post

The following are relevant quotes only.

October 3, 1999

SCN:
DENVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL VIP roster full of glitter.

by Steven Rosen - Denver Post Movie Critic

The animated "Princess Mononoke" (11 a.m. Saturday) is a violent but gorgeous environmentalist Japanese folk tale dubbed into English.  It set box-office records in its home country.  "That's the Way I Like It" (9:30 p.m. Oct. 13) is about the impact of the disco era on Singapore.  And "The Wisdom of Crocodiles" (11 p.m. Friday) is a British vampire film.  ("Princess Mononoke" and "That's the Way I Like It" are Denver Post picks)

105). Reel.com

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/articles/fallmovies/2

October 1999

Fall Movie Throwdown 1999 - October Films

[...]

October 29th

The Main Event:
Strings and Killings - Music of the Heart vs. The Princess Mononoke

The Contenders:
"Wes Craven directing a Meryl Streep movie?" You heard right. Apparently, the horror king wanted a change from Scream's skewered Noxzema teens, so he lobbied hard to helm this combination of Dangerous Minds and Mr. Holland's Opus. Facing this concerto of feel-goodisms is the highest grossing movie of all time in Japan. That's right, it's the eagerly awaited animated import The Princess Mononoke, a lavishly illustrated fantasy from the creator of last year's surprise video hit, Kiki's Delivery Service. But unlike that delightful morsel, this adventure features enough complexity and combat to appeal to adults and teens as well.

Box Office Odds:
Even.

Editors' Prediction:
Virtually every animaniac in the country was quivering in their ill-fitting shorts to see Mononoke until they discovered Disney had enlisted Claire Danes to voice the fiesty warrior princess. Also factor in that unless it involves a snappy sidekick and a crappy soundtrack, Class-A animation usually fails to draw a crowd - just ask The Iron Giant. At the same time, Streep and sheet music an exciting duet do not make.

[...]

106). The Denver Post

The following are relevant quotes only.

October 8, 1999

WEEKEND:
A preliminary list of film festival favorites

by Steven Rosen - Denver Post Movie Critic
Today, after last night's opening gala, the Denver International Film Festival begins in earnest and continues through Thursday.

While there are far too many movies for me to have screened all in advance - or to see, period - I have watched enough to offer this preliminary list of my favorite new films in the festival. It's heavy on documentaries. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

[...]

Princess Mononoke : This animated Japanese feature is long, but also imaginative and beautifully rendered. And its folkloric, environmentalist tale is engrossing for adults, if perhaps too violent for small children. (11 a.m. Saturday and 6:15 p.m. Sunday)

[...]

107). Forbes Magazine

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/99/1018/6410058a.htm

October 18, 1999

Anime Opens on Main Street

By Benjamin Fulford
[...]

"Japanimation" slowly gained fans abroad after the first translations of comic books began appearing in the late 1980s. But it only started getting serious attention in Hollywood after Princess Mononoke, an animated feature by Hayao Miyazaki (one of several Japanese animators likened to Walt Disney), broke Japanese box office records by raking in $163 million since opening in 1997. (Mononoke has since been surpassed at the Japanese box office by Titanic.)

[...]

This month Princess Mononoke becomes the first Japanese animated feature to open at mainstream theaters--as opposed to "art houses"--across the U.S. Since this tale of a wild princess allied with gods of nature against her fellow humans in no way resembles typical Disney animated fare, it will be distributed--dubbed--by Miramax, Disney's grown-up division.

[...]

108). The Washington Post

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-10/10/009l-101099-idx.html

October 10, 1999

Stepping Out in N.Y.
Directors Head in Daring Directions With Film Festival Entries

By Laura Winters
The 26 feature films at this year's New York Film Festival suggest that a spirit of innovation and daring is flourishing among both independent American directors and the more established foreign filmmakers, like Mike Leigh and Hayao Miyazaki, whose new work took off in unexpected directions.

[...]

Miyazaki, whose seventh feature-length animated film, "Princess Mononoke," also played in the festival, is another prominent director who is expanding the boundaries of a genre. His movie, one of the two most successful films of all time in Japan, is an animated epic about a warrior in ancient times who falls in love with a half-savage princess and joins forces with her to protect the spirits of nature against mankind. The film, which will open here this fall in an English-dubbed version, has the kind of amplitude not usually found in animation: "You wind up comparing it to something like 'Lawrence of Arabia,' " says author Neil Gaiman, who turned the Japanese soundtrack into an English script.

Needless to say, Miyazaki does not create his work with product tie-ins in mind. Nor is he afraid of darkness or moments of violence in his films. Rather, he has an unwavering faith in the sophistication of his viewers, especially children. "I see children as these amazing beings who are born with infinite possibilities," he says through an interpreter.

[...]

109). AnotherUniverse

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.anotheruniverse.com/movies/interviews/miyazaki.html

September 29, 1999

A Talk With Mononoke Hime's Creator, Hayao Miyazaki - Miyazaki Came To America To Talk

by Steve Fritz
[...]

But don't kid yourself about this man. It soon becomes apparent that he's still a driven workaholic. Miyazaki will not tell anyone what his next project is about, but he will tell you what he's doing on it.

"Unfortunately, I can not physically draw as much. I simply can not do the physical labor," says Miyazaki. "As long as my staff will accept me in that reduced capacity, then we will make another movie. As to what this new movie is about, my brain is a mess and chaotic. I can not sleep at night for thinking about this next film. But I think what you'll find is a wonderful blend of contemporary Japan and historical Japan."

[...] Mind-blowing in scope, and operatic for the sheer quantities of raw emotion and raw bravado, Princess Mononoke is a film that has to be seen again and again for the message to be truly understood.

Just don't think Miyazaki doesn't know what that message is. He most certainly does.

[...]

110). ASIANOW - Asiaweek

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/db/9909/20/

September 20, 1999

Daily Briefing: On the Ground
Below the Fold - Each in his own world

With anime becoming mainstream even in America (Miramax will release the Japanese all-time hit Princess Mononoke this fall), the phenomenon of otaku is intriguing scholars overseas. [...]

111). Chicago Sun-Times

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/show/lead07.html

October 7, 1999

The beauty of anime

by Roger Ebert
If you've ever wandered through a video store, you've come upon shelves of animated films from Japan--anime is the Japanese word. Who rents these films? Someone must, because even the smallest stores have a big selection. But anime rarely surfaces on the big screen in the United States, and only a few titles-- like "Akira" and "The Ghost in the Shell"--have found bookings in Chicago. When U.S. moviegoers think of animation, they have tunnel vision: They want a Disney movie, or something that looks like Disney.

It's not the same in Japan, where anime makes millions, and a movie named "Princess Mononoke" passed "E.T." in 1997 to become the highest-grossing film of any kind in Japanese history ("Titanic" finally toppled it). The Disney animators themselves have always had great respect for Japanese animation, and especially for the work of Studio Ghibli, which made "Princess Mononoke." And after long negotiations, the resident geniuses of Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, sold the U.S. and world rights to their films to . . . Disney itself.

"Princess Mononoke" will open in U.S. theaters Oct. 29, lovingly dubbed into English with A-list voices like Minnie Driver and Billy Bob Thornton. If any anime can win American audiences, this is the one.

Meanwhile, to prepare the way and celebrate Studio Ghibli, the Film Center of the Art Institute will hold a special sneak preview of "Mononoke" at 6 tonight, and follow it with a 10-film retrospective of the best work of Miyazaki and Takahata, through Nov. 13.

To watch these titles is to understand that animation is not an art form limited to cute little animals and dancing teacups. It releases the imagination so fully that it can enhance any story, and it can show sights that cannot possibly exist in the real world.

I've seen "Mononoke," and four other titles: "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service" by Miyazaki, and "Grave of the Fireflies" and "Only Yesterday" by Takahata. These are great films, some for families, some intended for grown-up sensibilities.

[...]

112). Hollywood.com

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.hollywood.com/pressroom/interviews/hmiyazaki/hmiyazaki.html

October 11, 1999

The Press Room: Japanese Director Brings 'Princess Mononoke' to U.S.

by Ellen A. Kim
BEVERLY HILLS -- One never expects a film legend to be pulling out chairs for reporters.

But Hayao Miyazaki does, in such a quiet, unassuming way that makes him appear more banquet host than director of one of the highest-grossing films in Japan.

So it's no surprise that the soft-spoken, 58-year-old filmmaker seems bewildered by not only the phenomenal success of "Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime)" but America's fascination with his anime films, such that Miramax plans to release "Mononoke" with English-language dubbing on Oct. 29.

[...]

"What I really try to achieve is to question if human beings will be able to conquer hatred. And in terms of conquering, I don't think I actually won. But also I feel like I didn't lose, either."

113). Austin American-Statesman

The following are relevant quotes only.

October 12, 1999

BEST BETS

by Leigh-Ann Jackson
[...]

More on the Austin Film Festival front: Hollywood darlings Claire Danes and Minnie Driver are just two members of the all-star cast who lend voices to the English-dubbed version of the Japanamation epic "Princess Mononoke." There's guaranteed to be a mammoth crowd at The Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress Ave., for one of the most successful films in Japanese history.

[...]

114). Premiere - The Movie Magazine

The following are representative quotes only.

November 1999

Previews - The Inside Line On The Movies That Matter This Month
Princess Mononoke

by Nisha Gopalan
[...]

The latest in Disney animation doesn't involve flashy computer technology or musical numbers by aging, squeaky-clean pop superstars. Instead, the studio is rediscovering its classic, hand-drawn roots through Japan's own Walt Disney, director Hayao Miyazaki.

"I think the comparison is a little unfair to Walt Disney," says Miyazaki, whose film Princess Mononoke is being released stateside by Disney subsidiary Miramax. "He established an entire system for feature-length animation that has survived his death." Such modesty from the writer-director - who is considered a master of Japanese animated movies (known as anime) - belies his rabid global following. The late, great director Akira Kurosawa adored his films. Even Pixar's computer-animation guru John Lasseter (A Bug's Life) venerates Miyazaki's work. "I remember when we were making Toy Story," Lasseter says. "I'd bring in story guys, and we'd watch a section of [Miyazaki's] Laputa: The Castle in the Sky or My Neighbor Totoro. It was so inspiring; it just breaks you out of a logjam. The way he animates the elements - water, smoke, fire - so simple but effective."

[...]

115). TV Guide Online

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.tvguide.com/movies/flickchick/991014a.asp

October 14, 1999

Ask FlickChick

by "FlickChick"
Question: I'm a big fan of animé, and there's a rumor that a movie from Japan called The Princess Mononoke is being dubbed. Is that true? - Norma

FlickChick: Yes. The animated Princess Mononoke, the second-largest grossing film ever in Japan (Titanic was first), was shown at the New York Film Festival and will open theatrically in the US later this year. It was directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, and the English-language script was penned by acclaimed comic book writer Neil Gaiman (Sandman). The American voice cast includes Claire Danes (as the princess), Gillian Anderson, Billy Bob Thornton and Minnie Driver. Like many animé, it is not a children's film.

[...]

116). Boston's Weekly Dig

The following are representative quotes only.

October 13-20, 1999

Why Princess Mononoke is a Big Deal

by Tak and Tracey Newman
There's been a buzz about this movie since it came out in 1997, albeit not as much in America as Steven Spielberg's Prince of Egypt, but for similar reasons. Until Titanic crossed the Pacific, Mononoke Hime was one of the biggest selling films of all time in Japan. Mislabeled by the American media as the "Disney of Japan", animation creator/director Hayao Miyazaki is a master artist and storyteller. He is well known for adorable children's viewing; My Neighbor Totoro was his first Studio Ghibli film to be dubbed and released on video in the US. Most of his films feature young people crossing the verge of adulthood (Kiki's Delivery Service, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind), but he's made his mark doing action-packed (Laputa: Castle in the Sky) and more grown-up (Porco Rosso) themed animated films. In fact, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli co- founder Isao Takahata did the first Japanese non-kids' anime in 1968 as the anti-Disney (Prince of the Sun, the Great Adventure of Horus) that paved the way for future films.

[...]

117). TNT's Rough Cut

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.roughcut.com/talk/movie.chat/dp_991017_transcript.html

October 17, 1999

Movie Chat with David Poland
Minnie Driver Chat Transcript - Movie: Princess Mononoke

TNT ROUGHCUT DAVID POLAND: Hi. I'm David Poland from www.roughcut.com and I'd like to welcome Minnie Driver to Yahoo! Chat.

manolis_varnassinger asks: What is the new movie all about and how did you decide to give your voice in an animation movie?

Minnie: I went and saw the film and I only meant to stay for 30 minutes. I just wanted a flavor, but I couldn't leave. It was too compelling, more than any film I'd seen for a very long time.

Invu4urqt asks: Dear Minnie, I'm a huge fan. You're my favorite actress... So, here is my question... What's it like working with Casey Affleck? Are you ticklish? And what does it feel like seeing your voice coming out of a cartoon?

Minnie: Casey is just one of the funniest, driest, most brilliant guys I've worked with. His performance was completely spontaneous. He's great. Yes, I'm ticklish, and I kick if tickled. And it was pretty weird having my voice come out of an animated character. I like to think I'd have been a writer or a teacher or maybe a musician. Those are my interests

[...]

eva_unlt_01 asks: How do you think Americans will react to a animated movie that isn't for kids, especially when it's being released by Disney?

Minnie: It's Disney by proxy. Miramax gives it a different flavor. Those Americans who love a really good story will see that it does fall into the kids category.

[...]

ninapanama asks: Are you still a young girl at heart and still watch cartoons?

Minnie: I watch "The Simpsons" with absolute religiousness. I like "Tom & Jerry."

[...]

cynthia_stars asks: The story seems to have only destruction, yes?

Minnie: Not in the slightest. It's about... my character destroys a lot, but she creates a lot of good, also. Out of the destruction comes what is ostensibly real harmony. It doesn't say destruction is good, but that good can come from it. Maybe destruction is needed to engender change.

glendon_raines asks: Minnie, have you seen the original Mononoke, and if so, what were your impressions of it compared to the one you voiced?

Minnie: It's the same film. I don't speak Japanese, so I can't know how accurate the translation is. But it sounds pretty good.

[...]

DAVID: And with that, Minnie was dragged away. Sorry folks... that's the whole chat today, but I hope that a bunch of you were happy with the Q&A. That was Minnie Driver from Princess Mononoke coming on October 29 to a theater near you. Thanks for coming and goodnight from TNT roughcut.com and Yahoo! Chat.

118). TNT's Rough Cut

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.roughcut.com/talk/movie.chat/dp_991018_transcript.html

October 18, 1999

Movie Chat with David Poland
Neil Gaiman Chat Transcript - Movie: Princess Mononoke

roughcut_neil_gaiman: Okay -- hello everyone. Ask away...

bueno007 asks: Hayao Miyazaki has been nicknamed the Walt Disney of Japan. What is it like to work with a legend such as Miyazaki?
roughcut_neil_gaiman: It was a bit like getting to work with God, really. Intimidating, enriching and fascinating.
roughcut_neil_gaiman: I only met Miyazaki-san at the end of the process, at Lincoln Centre. He said he was pleased he hadn't listened to his Japanese distributors
roughcut_neil_gaiman: Who had told him he should insist that only a subtitled version of Mononoke be released.

[...]

FairyPriestess asks: Will Princess Mononoke be available in theatres like any regular movie usually does?
roughcut_neil_gaiman: It will start out -- on the 29th of October -- in about three markets, then will expand to the 20 major markets on the following week. After that it's up to all of you. Go and see it: tell your friends. Spread the word. If it goes big and it goes national it will have more to do (in my opinion) with word of mouth and buzz and people wanting to see it and packing out the cinemas in which it's showing than it will to do with Miramax's PR campaign.

[...]

rowanlynn asks: Have you seen any other Miyazaki films (Totoro, Castle in the Sky)? What did you think of them
roughcut_neil_gaiman: I've seen Kiki, Totoro, Nausicaa, and Laputa/castle in the sky (in the old dub, not the new Jack Fletcher one). I loved them.

[...]

meva_anime asks: How did you think about the ending to "Princess Mononoke?" That is if you believe that there was an ending to the movie.
roughcut_neil_gaiman: It certainly has an ending. But I tend to think of it as a truce, not as the end of every battle. After all,t he conflict in Mononoke is one that, in many ways, still goes on today.

[...]

119). U.S. News Online

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/991025/nycu/animae.htm

October 25, 1999

Beyond Mickey: Disney's new release is daringly . . . un-Disney

by Holly J. Morris
No musical numbers, no wacky animal sidekicks, no tidy resolutions, and no tie- in toys. The newest Disney animated release breaks all the American rules about cartoons - and does so brilliantly, aiming at older kids and adults rather than tykes.

Made in Japan and opening on October 29 via Miramax, Disney's arty division, Princess Mononoke marks the American big-screen debut of one of the world's finest animators. Director Hayao Miyazaki is likened to Akira Kurosawa by Helen McCarthy, author of Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. "He tells a universal human story set very much in his own culture." Princess was a huge success at the Japanese box office, taking in over $150 million.

[...]

120). U.S. News Online

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/991025/nycu/miyazaki.htm

October 25, 1999

Web extra: An interview with Hayao Miyazaki, director of Princess Mononoke

Interview by Sara Hammel, Sept. 27, 1999, New York
The sober mood of Princess Mononoke is lightened by the kodama, charming tree spirits that resemble abstract Pillsbury Doughboys.

Basically, the idea came to me because what I was interested in portraying was a sense of the depth and the mystery, the friendliness and the awe-inspiringness of a forest, and so I came up with the idea of a kodama. I think you can draw all the huge, giant trees in the world that you want to. It won't have the same impact. And I wanted to choose a form that represented the liveliness and the freedom and the innocence that a baby represents. And that's why I chose that form. As you know from-if you've ever walked in a forest, you hear-the forest is filled with all kinds of mysterious sounds. And so the sound effects that I gave to the kodama I wanted to actually kind of echo the sound of a woodpecker.

[...]

It was widely rumored that Princess Mononoke would be Miyazaki's last film.

And [I] still wish it could have been. Because of certain external and internal circumstances, it looks like I'm going to be making a few more, at least one more. And a very dear friend told me, "How dare you retire with Princess Mononoke as your last film! How dare you try to look so cool!"

121). Film.com

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.film.com/reviews/rev_coming/previews/1999/13159/

October 1999

Princess Mononoke Preview

Anime master Hayao Miyazaki's new film Princess Mononoke doesn't open in North American until October 29, but it's already receiving high praise. "One of the most wondrous films I ever hope to see . . . If the Motion Picture Academy truly does seek out the five best features of the year, then it is hard to see how it can fail to nominate this one," said Roger Ebert after seeing the film at Telluride. "This intricate, epic fable is amazing to behold . . . [An] exotically beautiful action film," echoed the New York Times' Janet Maslin, who viewed it at the New York Film Festival.

[...]

122). IGN Movies

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://movies.ign.com/news/2741.html

October 20, 1999

IGN Movies Exclusive: Princess Mononoke Pictures

by Chris Bernier and Den Shewman
Anime is busting its way into the mainstream with films like Perfect Blue and the soon-to-be-released epic Princess Mononoke.

The story comes from the mind of anime god Hayau Miyazaki, weaving together many Japanese myths over an ancient backdrop. As the balance between man and nature tips precariously out of balance, a god is plagued by a demon sickness. He passes the sickness on to a young prince, who embarks on a quest to discover what caused the god to go mad. There's adventure, mysticism, massive battles, forest spirits and a beautiful girl raised by wolves.

[...]

123). The New York Times

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/102199miyazaki-mononoke.html

October 21, 1999

A Darkly Mythic World From Japan Arrives in Hollywood

by Rick Lyman
HOLLYWOOD -- Admirers of Japanese animation, including many of the leading figures in the American animation community, get a certain catch in their voices when they mention the name Hayao Miyazaki, as though describing someone not quite human, like one of the ghostly forest spirits who populate his work.

[...]

So it's a little disconcerting to find the great man himself, seated quietly on an outdoor patio at the Four Seasons Hotel, a pack of cigarettes nearby, his plain dress shirt open at the collar, a cascade of salt-and-pepper hair hanging across his forehead and an oblique grin on his face. A translator is nearby, as are three or four aides (their faces and numbers shift as they blend in and out of the surrounding tropical foliage) and a handful of publicists and representatives from Miramax, the company that will distribute "Princess Mononoke," the legendary animator's latest work.

[...]

124). Coming Attractions by Corona

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/princessmononoke.html

October 20, 1999

Princess Mononoke

by Patrick Sauriol
[...]

Comments: This film, known in Japan as Mononoke Hime, was released there in 1997. It is currently the box office winner in that country, second only to Titanic. It's also the most expensive Japanese animated film (equivalent of $20 million US) made to date. Since Disney can't seem to do anything really original in animation on their own, their subsidiary Miramax decided to import something and show them how it's done.

[...]

October 20, 1999... Ten days to go until Princess Mononoke opens, but you can check out CA's resident reviewer 'Fierce Trikes' nutritional breakdown of the flick right now. Does it fulfill the needs of all your entertainment food groups? Click and see, click and see.

[...]

125). Chicago Sun-Times

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/eb-feature/miya24.html

October 24, 1999

Director Miyazaki draws American attention

by Roger Ebert
Most movie interviews are a job or work for the journalist, but sometimes you find yourself in the presence of a genius, and then you grow still and attentive, trying to remember everything. So it was when I interviewed Bergman, Hitchcock and Fellini, and so it was again in September, when I interviewed Hayao Miyazaki in Toronto.

The name is unfamiliar to you because, while you love movies, you have not yet discovered that you would love his movies. He and his Studio Ghibli collaborator Isao Takahata ("Grave of the Fireflies") are arguably the greatest directors of animation in the world. [...]

Yet few people in North America know his name because when we think of animation (which the Japanese call "anime"), we think of Disney. And although we spend a quarter of a billion dollars on each new Disney cartoon, we are shy of work by anyone else. So let me point out that Miyazaki's lifework has been purchased for this continent by Disney itself, and "Princess Mononoke" is being released by Disney's Miramax. Since it comes with the Disney seal, just pretend it's the next title after "Lion King" or "Tarzan."

Actually, it is much more than that--a visionary epic set at the dawn of the Iron Age, based on Japanese myths about a time when men could still speak with the spirits of animals and nature. It is not a "children's movie," although any child old enough to have an intelligent conversation about a film will probably love it. It is a real movie, using animation instead of live action, but expressing the vision of its maker, a man whose work has given me some of my best moments as a moviegoer.

[...]

126). The Los Angeles Calendar

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.calendarlive.com/calendarlive/suncal/19991024/t000000007.html

October 24, 1999

At the Head of the Pack
Hayao Miyazaki's distinct visual style has made him the envy of American animators

by Charles Solomon
Director Hayao Miyazaki makes his animated features primarily for Japanese audiences. Yet in his celebrated career as a filmmaker, he's become one of the most respected figures in animation in the world.

Miyazaki is one of the few directors working in feature animation with an immediately recognizable visual style. His swooping aerial shots suggest a child's dream of soaring through the air; he contrasts these visual and emotional flights with moments of quiet intimacy that heighten the reality of his fantasies.

[...]

"I'm completely baffled by the popularity of my work in America," Miyazaki said with a shrug during a recent interview in Los Angeles. "I think it must prove that for all our superficial differences, we humans have a great deal in common."

[...]

127). The Los Angeles Calendar

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.calendarlive.com/calendarlive/suncal/19991024/t000000006.html

October 24, 1999

AT THE HEAD OF THE PACK
In its native Japan, 'Princess Mononoke's' ancient theme strikes a wildly popular chord

by Valerie Reitman
TOKYO--The heroine in "Princess Mononoke" is no Snow White: She wears an animal-fang necklace and sports a matching temperament. She makes her debut in the animated film by sucking poisoned blood from the wolf-god beast that raised her.

Nevertheless, with its bizarre plot line and brilliant animation, "Princess Mononoke" scored the biggest hit ever among Japanese-made films, racking up sales of $150 million. When the film opened two years ago in Tokyo, Japanese of all ages camped out overnight waiting for tickets. For weeks, theaters opened at dawn for special 7 a.m. shows and squeezed in another seven or eight showings each day to accommodate the crowds.

[...]

128). The Boston Globe

The following are representative quotes only.

October 24, 1999

Painting with words
Writer Neil Gaiman got the scripting call

by Betsy Sherman
Neil Gaiman spent much of last year painstakingly composing an English-language dialogue script for the Japanese smash hit animated feature "Princess Mononoke." But when asked what his favorite part of the movie is, Gaiman unhesitatingly chooses a passage that doesn't involve words at all.

"The moment when you're looking at a rock, and then a raindrop hits the rock. Then another raindrop hits the rock. Then another raindrop hits the rock. Then the rock is slick with rain, then we pull back and it's raining.

"I love that scene because it's so un-Disney, so un-American. It's a beautiful scene that could have come from any Japanese movie. Except that this movie happens to have been painted. Every time I watch the film I wind up in awe of that magical little scene. And you're talking to somebody who must have seen it now a thousand times."

[...]

129). The Boston Globe

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/297/living/Waiting_for_Mononoke_+.shtml

October 24, 1999

Waiting for 'Mononoke'
MIT club hopes 1997 film will open more doors to Japanese animation

by Vanessa E. Jones
CAMBRIDGE - When Jennifer Chang became the librarian for MIT's Anime Club, she inherited half of the 500 tapes of Japanese animation, or anime as it's called, that the club has accumulated in its 10 years of existence.

[...]

The consistently large turnouts are a testament to the avid underground following the art form has gained over the years, thanks to the Japanese creators' groundbreaking design, complex characters, and involving story lines that surpass any animation produced by US studios. With such an avid and constant exposure to Japanese animation, it's no wonder many club members are greeting the release of the feature-length animated film, "Princess Mononoke," with enthusiasm. (The movie opens Friday at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.)

The dazzling anime eco-fable set in 16th-century Japan is directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the man some people call the Walt Disney of Japan. Like Disney, Miyazaki created a successful animation studio that produced characters like Totoro, a cuddly cross between an owl and cat, and Kiki, the teenage witch star of Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service." They are as instantly recognizable in Japan as Mickey Mouse is here.

[...]

130). EON MAGAZINE

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.eonmagazine.com/archive/9910/features/big_picture/princess_mononoke/features_frameset.htm

October 22, 1999

THE AMERICANIZATION OF MONONOKE
NEIL GAIMAN AND A HIGH-QUALITY AMERICAN CAST HOPE TO MAKE HAYAO MIYAZAKI'S MASTERPIECE OF ANIMATION PLAY FOR YANKEE AUDIENCES

by Jeff Bond
Hayao Miyazaki's animated epic PRINCESS MONONOKE is already the highest- grossing film ever to play in Japan. Now Miramax Films faces the challenge of making the movie play in America at all. For American audiences who just showed THE IRON GIANT the door, any animated movie that doesn't feature Broadway-style production numbers and wisecracking, adorable sidekicks in the classic Disney style just won't cut it. Cartoons are for kids, and there is no adult audience for animation. That's a challenge enough, but PRINCESS MONONOKE also faces hurdles due to its powerful ties to Japanese folklore and mythology, a background that parochial American audiences will be hard-pressed to understand.

Nevertheless, Miramax has thrown an unprecedented group of talent into the mix in order to present this unusual film to America. One of them is writer Neil Gaiman, best known as the writer behind the SANDMAN comic series. For him, the PRINCESS MONONOKE adventure began with a phone call.

[...]

131). Minneapolis Star Tribune

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisSlug=ANIM22

October 22, 1999

Asian Children's Film Festival to screen 'Princess Mononoke'

by Colin Covert
Hayao Miyazaki has been called "Japan's Disney," but a more apt description might be "animation's Kurosawa." He's a master of film whose materials are brushes and paints. Some of his feature-length works are playful and suitable for all ages; others are darkly dazzling and too intense for the youngest viewers.

Miyazaki will hit U.S. screens full force in the next two weeks with the nationwide release of his 1997 masterpiece "Princess Mononoke" (it's scheduled to open Nov. 5 at the Uptown in Minneapolis). Dubbed into English by actors including Billy Bob Thornton, Claire Danes and Gillian Anderson, "Mononoke" (or "beast-spirit") explores Miyazaki's recurring themes -- the quest for personal freedom, the love of nature and the nature of love -- in a mystical, medieval Japan.

Tonight, Twin Cities viewers can see the widely praised film when Asian Media Access screens it as part of the 1999 Asian Children's Film Festival, a weekend-long tribute to the decades-long careers of Miyazaki and his associate Isao Takahata.

[...]

132). Minneapolis Star Tribune

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisSlug=ANIENT&date=24-Oct-99&word=mononoke

October 24, 1999

The Princess & the Pikachu

by Colin Covert
Anime, Japan's graphically sophisticated animation genre, may break out of its cult status soon with the U.S. releases of "Princess Mononoke" and "Pokemon: The First Movie."

These two films provide the strongest example yet of how Hollywood has caught the anime bug, though they hardly could be more different. The former, opening this week on the East and West coasts and nationwide Nov. 5, is a serious, sometimes violent fable of ecology, good and evil that is not intended for small children. The latter, opening Nov. 12 . . . well, if you have any dealings with pre-teens, you probably know a little about this comic book/trading card/stuffed toy/videogame avalanche.

[...]

"Mononoke" (pronounced Moe-no-no-keh) is another story entirely. Syndicated film critic Roger Ebert sums up the consensus when he calls it "one of the most wondrous films I ever hope to see."

The film, by Japan's preeminent animation director, Hayao Miyazaki, is a complex, transcendently beautiful adult fable that happens to be animated. Its heroes are flawed, its villains' motives understandable.

[...]

133). Houston Chronicle

The following are relevant quotes only.

October 23, 1999

Inside Trek
X-Files' Gillian Anderson Featured in 2 Upcoming Films

by Ian Spelling
[...]

Gillian Anderson is unusally animated.

No, not about the seventh and presumably final season of the 'X-Files', though she seems reasonably upbeat about that. But it would take an alien invasion force to suppress her exitement about two upcoming films, the animated feature 'Princess Mononoke' and the live-action drama 'The House of Mirth'.

"I just loved the idea of working on a Hayao Miyazaki film," Anderson says, referring to the revered Japanese director [...]

[...]

"The aspect of almost all of Miyazaki's films that appeals most to me is the spiritual aspect," Anderson said after wrapping a day of 'X-Files' shooting in Los Angeles. "Miyazaki films take the environment, nature and respect for nature as entities in and of themselves. I think it's important that audiences view that and see nature being so appreciated."

"Miyazaki's films also have really strong meassages," she says. "They're messages that we see now and again, but he delivers them in a different way, in a more complex way and kind of elusive way than you usually see. He makes you think, and it's not an immediate way that you react.'

"The messages strike you subversively and in a very powerful way."

[...]

134). New York Daily News

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.nydailynews.com/1999-10-24/New_York_Now/Movies/a-44741.asp

October 24, 1999

Animated Genius
But will new film by 'Japan's Walt Disney' play in the West as it did in the East?

by Lewis Beale
Just because Hayao Miyazaki has been called the "Walt Disney of Japan," don't think for a minute his animated films feature bombastic Phil Collins soundtracks and cute, wisecracking animals. The title was given to Miyazaki more because he owns his own studio and is wildly successful commercially.

Take "Princess Mononoke," opening Friday. The 133-minute animated feature - paced with the deliberation of a long story told by campfire light - is an epic tale set in 15th-century Japan about the clash between humans and nature. It features samurai warriors, forest gods and mythical beasts, with nary a pop tune or a furry feline in sight.

[...]

The biggest genesis for 'Princess Mononoke' was that I wanted to set a challenge for myself, to pose a problem in a film that is most difficult to resolve," says Miyazaki, who was interviewed in New York through a translator. "The issue is that human beings had to struggle against nature to create civilization, yet now that nature is about to be destroyed by civilization, civilization itself is at risk. How do we resolve this issue?"

[...]

135). City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.citypages.com/databank/20/985/article8086.asp

October 20, 1999

The Land of Youth
Hayao Miyazaki has devoted his films to mapping the idylls of childhood. Now, with his masterly Princess Mononoke, Japan's Walt Disney sets out for a new wilderness.

by Peter Ritter
It is said that in the days after the firebombing of Tokyo, the sky over Japan turned crimson. Hayao Miyazaki, who was then four years old, would have watched the glowing firmament from the hills of Tochigi Prefecture, where his father, an airplane-parts factory owner, had evacuated the family in 1944. It was his only memory from the last year of the war. And in the way that the small hurts of childhood often become the obsessions of a lifetime, it may help explain Miyazaki's lingering fascination with the moment of transition between adolescence and adulthood. Here was nature's retreat in the face of perverted technology. Here, also, was a child's dream world of sunsets and pirates and fantastic airplanes threatened by a grim truth. In the image of a small boy watching the sky burn, one might be tempted to look for the genesis of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, the brilliant 1997 eco-parable screening at Metropolitan State University this week as part of a ten-film retrospective organized by Asian Media Access. For all of the film's gentle beauty, there is also sadness--a remembrance of a childhood paradise lost. It is, in many ways, the culmination of a career spent chasing memories.

[...]

136). Entertainment Weekly

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.pathfinder.com/ew/daily/0,2514,1993,newyorkfilmfestival.html

September 22, 1999

EW Daily - Hot Topic - Foreign Film

by Ty Burr
The New York Film Festival starts on Friday. Right, you don't live in New York, so you don't care. Or you don't live in New York AND you don't care. Fine: Go check out Jim Mullen's Pie Chart instead. In fact, anyone who has an aversion to movies that aren't made in Hollywood, that may not end happily, or that you have to read, leave right now.

[...]

Some of these movies may actually be good. (Me, I'm jonesing to get a look at Hiyao Miyazaki's bizarro animated fantasy "Princess Mononoke.") But it's extremely doubtful you'll hear about any of them out where you live. And the chances that you'll get to see them, in a theater or even on video, are virtually nil.

[...]

137). Entertainment Weekly Online

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.pathfinder.com/ew/archive/1,1798,1|27008|0|mononoke,00.html?name1=mononoke&lastresult=0&query=mononoke%20%3cIN%3e%20MAJOR%20%3cOR%3e%20mononoke&major_ref=OFF&mtype=0&list_size=25&direction=

October 29, 1999

IN 'TOON
Japanimation rules on the Web. Can it take over U.S. movie screens?

by Noah Robischon
The saucer-eyed heroines and hell-spawned demons of Japanese anime flourish online, and not just because the rich colors of this hyperrealistic animated genre translate perfectly to the digital palette. The Web has always proved a fertile home to niche-oriented fan bases, and the term anime is broad enough to include styles that run from cutesy (Sailor Moon) to violent (Legend of the Overfiend) to erotic (the subgenre known as hentai). But all anime-niacs seem to agree that the 1997 eco-fable Princess Mononoke is a classic of the form. Japan's all-time biggest hit until Titanic sailed over, Mononoke comes to American theaters Oct. 29, complete with celeb voice-overs by Gillian Anderson and Claire Danes. While it isn't likely to gross the $150 million it did overseas, the surprisingly complex drama may awaken a few dormant Japanimation spirits in the crowd--who will want to head for the keyboards in search of more info.

Start at Nausicaa.net (www.nausicaa.net), where Hayao Miyazaki, Mononoke's creator and Japan's premier animator, is given godlike treatment. The official-looking fan site has an English-translated script of Miyazaki's previous hit, the witch-in-training story Kiki's Delivery Service; links to video clips and sounds from his 1978 TV series Conan the Future Boy; and a chronicle of his early manga (comic-book) work, such as 1969's Puss in Boots.

[...]

The release of Princess Mononoke (whose Miramax site is at www.princess-mononoke.com) should give the genre enough critical respectability to move it beyond cult-video status--and the November arrival of Pokemon: The First Movie (www.pokemonthemovie.com) should firmly position anime in the U.S. mainstream. Will this J-pop invasion affect the style--if not the fate--of such all-American animated faves as King of the Hill? Stay 'tooned.

138). Gaming Intelligence Agency

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.thegia.com/features/f991026.html

October 26, 1999

Interview with Neil Gaiman

by Andrew Vestal and Nich Maragos
Neil Gaiman is one of the premier fantasy authors of our time. [...]

Now, Gaiman is diversifying yet again--this time into fields which will undoubtedly interest GIA readers. His first filmed screenplay, a translation of Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, (Mononoke Hime) is coming to theaters this Friday, October 29th. [...] The GIA caught up with him to ask about working with Amano and the difficulties of localizing Japanese works.

[...]

139). USA Today

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/movies/movie053.htm

October 27, 1999

Japan's anime matures in 'Mononoke'

by Elizabeth Snead
Over the past three decades, highly stylized Japanese animation, known as anime (AH-nee-may), has become Japan's most influential cultural export.

The genre has slowly seized video and computer games, gained a powerful presence on video and locked in chunks of children-targeted TV time slots.

Now anime's big, round eyes are staring at Hollywood, with Princess Mononoke opening Friday and Pokemon: The First Movie due Nov. 12.

[...]

After Mononoke comes the PG-rated Castles in the Sky, a two-hour Indiana Jones- style action adventure scored by the Seattle Philharmonic and dubbed with Anna Paquin, Cloris Leachman, Mark Hamill and James Van Der Beek. Disney plans a spring or summer theatrical release.

"We have a library of Miyazaki films ready to be redone for U.S. audiences and released over the next few years," says Michael O. Johnson, head of Disney Asia. "We want to educate the audience about Miyazaki, get his name out there and let audiences discover him."

[...]

140). Toronto Sun

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMovies/oct27_cartoons.html

October 27, 1999

Animation goes to the monsters

by Bob Thompson
PRINCE MIYAZAKI: There aren't many animators celebrated as legendary filmmakers, but Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki is.

Some might be familiar with his work through the child-friendly films, Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro.

His latest, Princess Mononoke, is certainly designed for more mature responses. Miyazaki suggests "anyone older than the 5th grade."

[...]

141). New York Post

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.nypostonline.com/entertainment/16965.htm

October 27, 1999

DISNEY'S HEIR

by Megan Turner
PUT aside your preconceptions and prepare to be enchanted.

Japanese anime, that sometimes hard-to-follow style of animation so popular in Asia, has so far had only a limited appeal in the United States, but a stunning new film opening Friday could change all that in a hurry.

"Princess Mononoke," a masterful work released in Japan in 1997, has taken that country by storm, raking in $160 million to become the nation's highest-grossing film ever after "Titanic."

The film's writer and director, Hayao Miyazaki, is considered a genius in his homeland. His epic and occasionally violent fable, with its strong ecological message, well-developed characters and exquisitely detailed visuals, have many hailing him as the next Walt Disney.

[...]

"I've been wanting to make a movie like this for 30 years," Miyazaki told The Post through an interpreter on a recent visit to New York.

[...]

142). The Village Voice

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/9943/vincentelli.shtml

October 27, 1999

BITTERSWEET SYMPATHIES

For a Japanese Animator, Grown-up Messages Are Kid Stuff

by Elisabeth Vincentelli
"It's a great struggle to make movies for children," says Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki, who has always strived to reconcile an essentially pessimistic worldview with a sense of responsibility to his young audience. That such a filmmaker has a distribution deal with Disney is only the latest wrinkle in a story that's been unfolding for three decades.

With the release this week of Princess Mononoke-Japan's all-time box-office champ until Titanic showed up-many Americans will discover a man who's become a cultural icon in his native country. Three years ago, Disney struck a distribution deal with Studio Ghibli, which Miyazaki cofounded in 1985; Disney tested the waters by releasing a dubbed version of 1989's Kiki's Delivery Service on video last year. Now its subsidiary Miramax is trying to figure out how to sell to American audiences Princess Mononoke (1997), an epic, wildly ambitious effort dealing with the kinds of issues not usually associated with animated kid flicks. Set in medieval times, the movie takes its time (a leisurely two hours and 15 minutes) in telling the story of a man-made ecological disaster and nature's subsequent retaliation; the film alternates between the sound and fury of ferocious battles and long stretches of exquisite visual beauty.

In town to introduce Princess Mononoke at the New York Film Festival (a rare honor for an animated movie), the 58-year-old Miyazaki was a quiet, thoughtful presence, though he quickly revealed a deadpan humor. [...]

[...]

143). EX - The Online World of Anime and Manga

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.ex.org/4.6/02-editorial.html

October 20, 1999

The Princess Speaks (finally)

by Charles McCarter
Well, after nearly two years of rumors, title and release date worries fraying the nerves of the USA anime community, the American release of MONONOKE HIME (official English title: THE PRINCESS MONONOKE) is almost at hand.

[...]

The most noticeable thing about this dub is that it doesn't sound like a dub. When watching the movie, you're not distracted by how the voices "should have sounded" versus how they actually sound. Of course, hard-core otaku will always find something to complain about, but in reality, this is truly an exceptional adaptation which both anime purists and the general population are sure to enjoy if they give it a chance. You owe it to yourself to see this movie.

144). San Francisco Bay Guardian

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/33/49/apoc.html

September 8, 1999

Apocalypse already -A second look at Akira's anime prophecy, a first look at the American Princess Mononoke

by Alvin Lu
[...]

These thoughts came to me as I watched the dubbed Miramax version of Princess Mononoke. A brief rundown: the original Japanese version has attained legendary status as the late masterpiece of Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service); in 1997, Mononoke shocked the world by becoming Japan's highest- grossing film ever, this with a plotline that seems, to me, to be muddled at best, and with philosophy and imagery that would hardly be considered childlike or even adolescent (but then anime isn't really only for kids, is it); and ever since Disney's acquisition of the rights a long time ago, we have all been impatiently awaiting its stateside release, which is finally happening.
[...]

145). CNN Chat

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://cnn.com/chat/transcripts/charles_solomon_chat.html

January 19, 1999

Charles Solomon - A chat with the author of 'The Prince of Egypt: A New Vision in Animation.'

[...]

Chat Participant: Have you studied Japanese animation or "Japanimation?"

Charles Solomon: To a degree there is an enormous amount of animation done in Japan so watching all of it would be a full-time job. Some of it that I've seen I'm rather impressed with. But, on the other hand, how many giant robots can you watch? People interested in Japanese animation should watch Miramax which will release "Princess Mononoke," which until "Titanic" was the most popular film ever in Japan. It is an exceptional film that one should plan on seeing.

Chat Participant: Are they going to re-name "Princess Mononoke?" Please I hope not!!

Charles Solomon: The title will stay the same but the version will be dubbed.

[...]

146). Hollywood.com (Miyazaki interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.hollywood.com/pressroom/interviews/hmiyazaki/hmiyazaki.html

September 22, 1999

Japanese Director Brings 'Princess Mononoke' to U.S.

by Ellen A. Kim
BEVERLY HILLS, Sept. 22, 1999 -- One never expects a film legend to be pulling out chairs for reporters.

But Hayao Miyazaki does, in such a quiet, unassuming way that makes him appear more banquet host than director of one of the highest-grossing films in Japan.

So it's no surprise that the soft-spoken, 58-year-old filmmaker seems bewildered by not only the phenomenal success of "Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime)" but America's fascination with his anime films, such that Miramax plans to release "Mononoke" with English-language dubbing on Oct. 29.

[...]

147). Hollywood.com (Gaiman interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.hollywood.com/pressroom/interviews/ngaiman/ngaiman.html

October 16, 1999

'Princess Mononoke' Boasts All-Star Cast for U.S. Debut

by Ellen A. Kim
BEVERLY HILLS, Oct. 16, 1999 -- The task: Bring a Japanese animated classic to the U.S. with English dubbing, voiced by some big Hollywood names.

The project: "Princess Mononoke" (or "Mononoke Hime" in Japanese), the highly acclaimed film by director Hayao Miyazaki, which stands as Japan's highest- grossing film save for "Titanic."

The challenge? Do so without losing your audience in the translation.

[...]

148). Hollywood.com

(Note: This article is substantially the same as Article no. 146.)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.hollywood.com/news/topstories/10-20-99/today/1-3.html

October 20, 1999

'Mononoke' Brings Japanese Classic to U.S.

by Ellen A. Kim
[...]

"Mononoke" finishes with an open-ended conclusion - the battle between humans and nature still continues, though there is hope -- which Gaiman says is radically different from what U.S. audiences are used to.

"In a Western film you could almost make exactly the same movie, except the last two minutes you'd cut to [the little girl] in the village and she'd go, 'Ashitaka's here!' And you'd pull back; he'd be riding up in his red elk and San [Princess Mononoke] would be by his side on the wolf," Gaiman said. "And the village would erupt into cheers, and the little old woman would come out and say, 'Welcome home!' And he'd say 'Yes, and I brought my bride,' and the film would end."

[...]

149). E! Online

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.eonline.com/Gossip/Awful/Archive99/991021c.html

October 21, 1999

Gossip - The Awful Truth - dish, dirt & juicy bits

[...]

Hello, Goodbye

...Not so Minnie Driver.

At a press junket for her latest, the animated job Princess Mononoke (don't ask--something about nature and humans and Japan), Miss D. couldn't have been snippier when it came to the discussion of her whatever, Josh Brolin.

[...]

150). Variety

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.variety.com/search/article.asp?articleID=1117756959

October 25, 1999

'Princess' rules

by Bill Higgins
It certainly wasn't just another cartoon movie Miramax was preeming Wednesday at Westwood's Festival theater.

In the words of writer Neil Gaiman, "Princess Mononoke" is a "combination of 'Star Wars'" and 'Lawrence of Arabia' set in a 13th century Japanese forest. It's a two hours and 13-minute animated film with mythological themes and complicated people."

Epic though the film is, it's not eligible for Oscar consideration since the Japanese submitted it for foreign-language film two years ago.

Among both the simple and complicated people on hand for the preem and after-party at Eurochow were Miramax exec Scott Martin; and voices Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Crudup and Gillian Anderson.

151). AsianWeek (Helen McCarthy interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.asianweek.com/1999_10_28/ae_mononoke.html

October 28, 1999

"Princess Mononoke" Comes to Life
Author reflects on Japanese animator and "Princess Mononoke"

by Kimberly Chun
[...]

Nov. 5th, Princess Mononoke, the 1997 film the 58-year-old Miyazaki once said was his swan song, will finally open in American theaters. Seething with action, an environmental message, Japanese folklore, and darker, more adult themes than Miyazaki's earlier films, Princess Mononoke is Japan's highest- grossing domestic movie at more than $150 million and is backed by some heavy hitters: distributor Miramax and voice-over talent such as Claire Danes, Gillian Anderson, Minnie Driver, Billy Crudup and Billy Bob Thornton. The time seemed right to get the inside scoop on the mild-mannered and seldom-interviewed anime superstar from Helen McCarthy, the London author of Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation, recently released by Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley.

[...]

Q: How does the new film, Princess Mononoke differ from past work?

A: It's much darker in tone overall, although it builds on elements that have been present in all his works.

I think it's a profoundly responsible film, in that it tells us that our every action has an impact, and that nature and the world we live in don't make any allowances for good intentions.

[...]

152). Time Out New York (Miyazaki interview)

The following are representative quotes only.

October 28, 1999

Film: Interview:
14th century fox: Hayao Miyazaki's ravishing, intelligent Princess Mononoke liberates animation

by Liza Bear
Meteorologically speaking, with the recent spate of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods around the ever-warming globe, this could hardly be a more apt time for the release of Princess Mononoke, which explores the archetypical conflict between man and nature. Set in a virgin forest and loosely based on Japanese folklore, this anime legend by master animator Hayao Miyazaki depicts funky, feisty female protagonists, giant bristling supernatural monsters and rival factions all vying for supremacy in an almost mythical, wooded landscape.

[...]

[...] Miyazaki, 58, is utterly forthright, with a wry sense of humor that casts his uncompromisingly bleak view of the future into sharp relief. He's also refreshingly low-key about his role in creating the second highest-grossing movie in Japanese history, trailing only titanic. "I don't really know why Princess Mononoke was such a monstrous hit in Japan," he says, speaking through an interpreter. "But I imagine that the film has awakened something that was long slumbering inside people's hearts."

[...]

153). Christian Science Monitor (Miyazaki interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/10/29/fp18s1-csm.shtml

October 29, 1999

ARTS & LEISURE, MOVIES
Interview/Hayao Miyazaki
Japan's anime master makes powerful films

by Gloria Goodale
One of the first side trips animation master Hayao Miyazaki took upon arriving in Los Angeles was a tour of the animation studios at The Walt Disney Company.

"I love watching my colleagues at work," he says with a tranquil smile.

It is a fitting, if ironic, start to the American visit of a man whom younger disciples of the art form around the globe regard with awe-like reverence.

[...]

Miyazaki is pleased with the translation into English because he is eager to get his films before more eyes. "I believe in the power of the artist," he says, noting that despite his success, he has always been an artist before a businessman. "You have to rely on your core values and make the best films you can."

154). CNN.com

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text was originally available online at:
http://cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/reviews/

October 29, 1999

Ready for a movie? Here's what's out

(CNN) -- It's fall -- time for school, sweaters and star-studded films with Oscar ambitions. Which are worth watching? Take a few minutes for some light reading here.

Recent releases

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Princess Mononoke (limited)
Release date: October 29
Based loosely on Japanese folklore, this animated film tells of the war between man and the beast gods of the forest to keep the balance of nature. Directed by Japan's leading animator, the acclaimed Hayao Miyazaki. Official site.

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155). The Dallas Morning News (Miyazaki interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/1031arts6mono.htm

October 31, 1999

Distant cousin of 'Cinderella'
Japan's 'Princess Mononoke,' Disney films are worlds apart

by Charles Ealy
TORONTO - Animation has been undergoing a renaissance in Japan, as any parent with a Pokemon-loving child can tell you. But Americans are finally going to be able to grasp the depth of Japan's artistic achievement with the Friday opening of what may be the greatest animated movie ever to come from outside Hollywood - Princess Mononoke.

Hayao Miyazaki, widely considered the most influential animator alive today, has drawn a sophisticated, lush and violent story that pits civilization against nature, gods against mortals and understanding against indignation. Yet he declines to label the warring sides as either right or wrong - a sharp departure from the Disney animated formula of good vs. evil.

"It's not a matter of choosing one over the other, or judging one to be correct and the other wrong," Mr. Miyazaki says of the conflicts that propel the story of Princess Mononoke. "It's a matter of an individual who sees both worlds and makes a choice on how to live, knowing that both worlds exist." And it's a choice more typical of King Lear and Go Down, Moses than of Snow White and Cinderella.

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156). Detroit Free Press (Miyazaki interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.freep.com/fun/movies/qhayao31.htm

October 31, 1999

Japanese animation poised for breakout in U.S.

by Terry Lawson
[...]

[...] the director says it is inevitable that his movie, hailed in Japan as a masterwork, will be changed by translation.

"Shakespeare, unfortunately, is not the same in Japanese as it is in English," says Miyazaki, who wastes no time inaugurating his new ashtray. "Not, of course, that I would ever equate myself with Shakespeare. But there are cultural changes that are inevitable, no matter how scrupulous one tries to be."

What was more important to him, he says, was that the film not be edited.

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157). Orange County Register (Miyazaki interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/miyaz031w.shtml

October 31, 1999

The making of a 'Princess'
INTERVIEW: Miyazaki, a giant of anime, reflects upon the state of the art.

by Henry Sheehan
[...]

Miyazaki does not wear these issues lightly. Rather than being imported ideas which burnish an animated tour-de-force with an intellectual gloss, they are part and parcel of his entire concept. With its emphasis on graphic design over fluidity of motion, anime clearly draws on traditional techniques of Japanese painting. And Miyazaki has a classic style that falls neatly into that tradition. But he also breaks with it in a precise way that ties directly in with his ecological concerns.

"In traditional Japanese painting techniques, there's no sunlight, there are no rays of sunshine," he pointed out. "And how to incorporate sunlight into our animation has been an important element that we've consciously dealt with. The thing is, we intentionally strive to communicate the idea that human beings are not alone on this planet. We share the planet with plants and air and wind and water; we're just as interested in portraying those elements as we are in human characters."

158). San Francisco Chronicle (Introduction)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/10/31/PK95325.DTL

October 31, 1999

An Animated Response

by Liz Lufkin, Editor
[...]

Disney directors Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft proclaim, "Miyazaki is like a god to us." And Glen Keane, Disney's supervising animator for characters such as Ariel, the Beast and Aladdin, is also among his many fans.

Hmmmm.

But when Ruthe Stein, The Chronicle's assistant arts and entertainment editor, talked to Miyazaki about the similarities between his work and other Disney films -- especially his trademark facial gestures, and large mouths and eyes -- he had an interesting response.

"It is a give-and-take," he said. "You are influenced by some people and you influence others."

Says Stein, "The fact that all these people are giving him credit as an inspiration doesn't mean they're copying him. It's that his work is so original, it helps spark their creativity. It speaks to what an icon Miyazaki is."

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159). San Francisco Chronicle (Miyazaki interview)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/10/31/PK55707.DTL&type=movies

October 31, 1999

'Princess' Rules in Japanese Anime
Hayao Miyazaki's film, his country's biggest hit ever, gets an English-language wide release in the U.S.

by Ruthe Stein
[...]

The only time Miyazaki gets at all animated is while explaining why he thinks it's fine for children to see ``Princess Mononoke,'' despite these images.

"Violence is simply the easiest and handiest yardstick by which to measure whether a film is appropriate for children or not," he said. "I think the larger problem is the overall values that are espoused in a film -- whether that is appropriate for children."

When he started working on the film, he wasn't targeting young children. "But as I was making it, my feelings changed. I began to feel that not only would this be right for a 5-year-old, but that in a way a 5-year-old would more intuitively understand the deepest levels of this film than someone older. Children intuitively understand the ways in which human beings now have our backs up against the wall and the kinds of huge issues we confront. I think children aren't fooled by happy, hopeful let's-everybody-live-happily-ever-after kinds of movies."

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160). San Francisco Chronicle (books on Miyazaki)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/10/31/PK29167.DTL&type=movies

October 31, 1999

Introduction to Anime
Books offer insight into Miyazaki's films

by Patrick Stack
In the increasingly popular field of Japanese animation, the arrival of Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" in U.S. theaters is an event. And for anime fans, two new books about Miyazaki and his art are suddenly hot sellers.

Berkeley publisher Stone Bridge Press has just come out with "Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation" by London-based animation expert Helen McCarthy. The paperback, with color and black-and-white illustrations, is $18.95.

Hyperion, the Disney publishing company that has made beautifully detailed "making of" hardcovers for Disney animated films, has published "Princess Mononoke: The Art and Making of Japan's Most Popular Film of All Time" ($39.95).

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161). Yahoo News - Entertainment Headlines

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/eo/19991031/en/19991031001.html

October 31, 1999

"Haunted Hill" Tops Halloween Box-Office

[...]

Miramax however scored with the critically praised, re-voiced, animated import Princess Mononoke. The magical fable with more than just kid appeal only opened at eight sites, but with a huge $17,500 per screen, and seems set to blossom big in wider release.

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