Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)

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207). ABC

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
more.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/animation991122.html

November 23, 1999

The Princess and the Cowboy

by Giselle Smith

[...]

computers are becoming more efficient and less expensive to use in animation, and works like Miyazaki's hand-painted masterpieces may soon become a thing of the past. [...]

The director's previous films have been handcrafted, but this time Miyazaki took advantage of new technology for some tasks, such as compositing. In a few scenes, three-dimensional computer graphics were added to create a morphing effect. Computer-generated images and animation sequences are integrated with hand-drawn scenes to make up approximately 10 percent of Princess Mononoke. [...]

As masters of conventional animation such as Miyazaki turn to computers for assistance, the old way of doing animation may soon be lost. Miyazaki has announced that Princess Mononoke will be the last of his full-length feature films produced almost entirely in the classical style. It is hard to find skilled workers to do the painting and to find the cels to paint. [...]

"It's a break from traditional American animation," says Theodore Hua, co-owner of nausicaa.net, a Miyazaki mailing list. A lot of American animation is directed toward kids and is very episodic, he says, whereas Japanese animation has longer stories and more involved plots.

[...]

208). Memphis Commercial Appeal

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.gomemphis.com/capages/appeal/movies/a23ani.htm

November 23, 1999

Japan's action-packed style charges into U.S. mainstream

by John Beifuss

What's the best-selling category at the Suncoast Motion Picture Co. video store in the Hickory Ridge Mall?

Not action. Not comedy. Not mystery. Not martial arts. Not "adult" videos. Not even horror or science fiction.

No, the most popular video section in the store is anime, or Japanese animation, a type of entertainment that encapsulates all the genres mentioned above, but in cartoon form.

"It's the No. 1-selling section we've got," said store manager Matt Martin, who said Suncoast sells about 30 anime titles per day, many of which cost about $29.95. "Anime buyers just walk in and say, "What's new?" They buy three or four at a time. They spend ungodly amounts of money." [...]

A more significant test of the mainstream appeal of theatrical anime - sometimes referred to as "Japanimation" - comes Wednesday, when Princess Mononoke goes into wide release in the United States. With its beautiful imagery, mature themes, complex plot and sometimes violent battle scenes, the movie is more typical of what appeals to true anime fans than the kiddie-oriented Pokemon.

[...]

209). Pitch Weekly (Kansas City)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.tipjar.com/dan/gaiman&driver.htm

November 23, 1999

All in the Translation: An Interview with Neil Gaiman and Minnie Driver

by Dan Lybarger

[...]

Despite his eclectic talent, Gaiman confesses some trepidation about the task of translation during a recent roundtable interview in Los Angeles. Handpicked by Miramax co-chair Harvey Weinstein and director Quentin Tarantino, Gaiman recalls, "My first experience with Mononoke was sitting in an empty screening room in L.A. watching a subtitled version. I'd never seen anything like it. I think it's amazing, and I don't know if I can do it justice.

In the earlier animated movies, Driver recorded her performance before the animation was drawn. However, Princess Mononoke required her to match the pace of a finished film. She says, "It's just different. It's almost like you're sitting at home watching the cartoon, but you're doing the voices. It's like being in it. When (I was) doing Tarzan, it was incredibly vital. I had to keep coming up with ideas. It was wonderful, but the writing was fairly generic, so I was improvising a lot. In this, it has been so worked out, flap-for-flap of the mouth, what you say. It's a very disciplined medium, doing the voice."

Part of the reason seasoned actors like Driver were chosen for Princess Mononoke is the sophistication of the material. "What makes it an adult film is the fact that you don't have a clear-cut good and bad side," Gaiman says. "Motives are difficult to discern. It's a complex film. There is a lot of subtext and a lot of stuff going on under the surface."

[...]

210). Daily Yomiuri

The following are relevant quotes only

November 25, 1999

Speaking of Which (weekly column)

by Darron Hargreaves

The Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke is the latest "thing Japan" to make an impact in North America, following hot on the heels of Pokemon and Godzilla. [...]

In Princess Mononoke, North Americans may have found an antidote to animated films like Pocahontas and The Lion King, straightforward good-vs-evil affairs that appeal primarily to children. [...] There's violence galore--decapitation is a personal favorite of Miyazaki--fuzzy lines between good and evil, and right and wrong, and the cels have detail and subtleties that U.S. filmmakers wouldn't bother with.

[...]

211). Deseret News

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
www.desnews.com/cgi-bin/libstory_reg?dn99&9911260170

November 26, 1999

Pick of the flicks

by Deseret News

Best Children's Cartoon: "Toy Story 2"
Worst Juvenile Cartoon: "Pokemon: The First Movie"
Best Mature Cartoon: "Princess Mononoke"

[...]

212). Animation World Magazine

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
www.awn.com/mag/issue4.09/4.09pages/4.09editor.php3

December 1999

Monthly Editorial

by Heather Kenyon

[...]

I found it fascinating and very timely as both Princess Mononoke and Pokemon grace U.S. movie screens. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! [...]

Princess Mononoke did post some impressive numbers, including the highest per screen average of any film, its opening week-end. A massive rush to the theater did not happen, but the film's release did register. Much more so in fact than Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue, which quietly came and went. For many U.S. animation fans Princess Mononoke was their first feature-length anime.

[...]

213). Animation World Magazine

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
www.awn.com/mag/issue4.09/4.09pages/osmondanime.php3

December 1999

Pokemononoke: Anime For The Millennium

by Andrew Osmond

[...]

The issue of uncompromised vision was a headache for Miramax, which distributed a dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Japanese megahit Princess Mononoke to U.S. cinemas at the end of October. A film with little of Pokemon's cuteness (only the "kodama" hommonculi spirits come close, with their clicking heads and benevolent presence), Miramax was further hampered by a contract stipulating no cuts without permission. [...]

Given several bloody scenes and a running time of 133 minutes -- longer than any all-animated U.S. film -- marketing Mononoke was always going to be a challenge. In the event, Miramax opted for a limited approach, initially releasing Mononoke to only eight screens. However, the distributor did much to generate favourable word of mouth, previewing Mononoke at film festivals and running a long programme of other films by the same anime studio (Ghibli) at numerous venues, including New York's Museum of Modern Art. Miramax also arranged a whirlwind press tour for Miyazaki in North America and Canada. The result was considerable press-coverage, much enthusiastic, with Roger Ebert and the New York Times' Janet Maslin delivering much-quoted raves on the film. [...]

As I write, Mononoke is in its third week, playing at 47 theatres; current figures are respectable but already falling. Barring miracles, its total earnings will be the tiniest fraction of Pokemon's, a situation many would compare to The Care Bears Movie trouncing Fantasia. The consolatory hope is that Mononoke will help counter the prevalent image of anime as cheap kitsch, perhaps attracting anime newcomers who found Sailor Moon and Pokemon too ethnocentric (or weird).

[...]

214). Rolling Stone

The following are relevant quotes only;

December 1999

THE PARTY 2000

by Craig Marks

[...]

HAYAO MIYAZAKI

BIGGEST INFLUENCES Bruce Springsteen. And the film Easy Rider, too. I've also been influenced by the films of John Ford, especially My Darling Clementine. I was also influenced by several books: Erich H. Fromm's Escape From Freedom, Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd and Fritz Pappenheim's The Alienation of Modern Man.

[...]

215). Tromaville Times

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.tromaville.com/News/articles/449001.htm

December 1999

Japanese Anime Dares to Go Where No Animation Has Gone Before

by AARON BARNHART

[...]

In fact, anime has almost as many different flavors as "Pokemon" has critters. In Japan, where the average adult reads 200 comic books a year, anime which grew out of Japanese comic book art has been a dominant force in the culture for three generations, with something for every age and interest. Think of anime almost as a medium rather than a genre and you get a sense of its breadth and diversity.

[...]

Disney's Miramax Films last month had the premiere of the English-language version of "Princess Mononoke," the highest-grossing domestic film in Japanese history. Although it tells a complicated story set in the Middle Ages, "Princess Mononoke" captivated audiences with its lush scenery and its unusually graceful motion, the result of 80,000 animation cels drawn by its venerated creator, Hayao Miyazaki.

[...]

216). Decatur Daily

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
home.hiwaay.net/~tfharris/pulpculture/columns/991202.shtml

December 2, 1999

Pokémon is not all there is to anime

by Franklin Harris

[...]

Animator Hayao Miyazaki's epic classic, "Princess Mononoke," is currently enjoying a limited release in American theaters.

"Princess Mononoke" is the second-highest-grossing film in Japan's history. Here it has earned mostly rave reviews, with the only negative ones coming from people expecting it to be like the tame Disney musicals to which they are accustomed.

Instead, the PG-13-rated film is a medieval fantasy of man's relationship with nature.

[...]

217). Time Magazine

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,35518,00.html

December 13, 1999

Disney's Fantastic Voyage

by Richard Corliss

[...]

Stravinsky's The Firebird, animated by the brothers Gaetan and Paul Brizzi, becomes a volcano dweller who destroys a forest; an elk and a wood sprite must somehow restore the glade. The story is similar to the Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke but told in under 10 minutes and with a more vibrant palette.

[...]

218). The Boston Globe

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/351/living/That_s_kids_entertainment%2b.shtml

December 17, 1999

That's (kids') entertainment

by Ed Siegel

[...]

Well, bah me no humbugs, but suddenly the kids' stuff is all right. More than all right, in fact; children's entertainment seems awash in a sea of faddish creativity.

[...]

We can all find antecedents for Harry Potter and Pokemon, but were there any movies as smart as the two "Toy Story" films from Pixar and Disney? One might compare the anime of "Princess Mononoke" to Disney's experiments with "Fantasia," but there was nothing like the mix of word and image in the '50s that there is in "Toy Story 2."

[...]

219). DC IGN

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/13472.html

December 21, 1999

Cavia Inc. Brings Animation Characters to Life on Dreamcast

by Anoop Gantayat

Six Japanese companies plan on creating videogame software for next-generation systems out of Sony, Sega, and Nintendo, according to The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Tuesday morning edition. A new joint venture, Cavia Inc., will launch in February, and could end up bringing the beloved and ultra popular Studio Ghibli characters, including Princess Mononoke, to life in the gaming world.

[...]

220). Variety

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.variety.com/extra/filmrev/xfrnew.asp?recordID=1117760006

December 23, 1999

Fantasia/2000

by Todd McCarthy

[...]

Angela Lansbury introduces the final segment, "a story of life, death and renewal" that, no doubt coincidentally, overlaps with some of the artistic as well as thematic strains of the recent "Princess Mononoke." Comparison does not particularly favor the Disney piece, for while it is beautifully designed and set to Stravinsky's powerful "Firebird Suite," it possesses an overreaching ambition of profundity that simply cannot be supported in a simple seven-minute episode. Thoroughly visual tale of how a beautiful Sprite and a noble elk restore natural life to a forest devastated by fire clearly means to be a grand statement with universal import. But the idea is a cliche unless fleshed out with some complexity, and net effect is of a long drive to the warning track rather than a home run.

[...]

221). Entertainment Wire

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/991230/ca_vsda_to_1.html

December 30, 1999

Video Software Dealers Association press release

by Entertainment Wire

[...]

VidTrac VidTips are distributed weekly by the VSDA and are created especially for entertainment and video journalists.

[...]

. The following recommendations are some of the finest animated films ever to have been made:

"The Jungle Book," "Grave of the Fireflies," "The Iron Giant," "My Neighbor Totoro," "The Wrong Trousers," "The Wings of Honneamise," "Beauty and the Beast," "Toy Story," "Fantasia," "A Bug's Life," "Pinocchio," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Sleeping Beauty," "Mulan," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," "Princess Mononoke," "Watership Down," "The Secret of NIMH," "Dumbo" and "Peter Pan"

[...]

222). Hollywood.com

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at:
http://www.hollywood.com/news/topstories/12-30-99/today/1-4.html

December 30, 1999

BEST OF: 20 Stunning Soundtracks for 1999

by Eric Rosenberg

[...]

Which soundtracks broke new ground, broke our hearts and broke down barriers with crossover potential? Read on for our list of the Top 20 soundtracks of 1999:

[...]

3. "Princess Mononoke" - Encompassing a wide range of style and melody, Joe Hisaishi's score brings us the wonder and mystery of an animated world filled with demons, gods and magic. Enthralling.

[...]