Princess Mononoke (US reviews - page 4)
San Jose Mercury News
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November 5, 1999, Friday
Spiritual 'Princess Mononoke' stuns senses
By Mike Antonucci
BOX-OFFICE returns in other markets suggest that "Princess Mononoke" is succeeding, at least modestly, against some substantial odds.
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"Princess Mononoke" is a visual blast -- the equal in painted and computer-generated artistry of any live-action, special-effects production. And yes, it's serious, but it's intense and shrewd rather than drearily polemical. Maybe spiritual is a better word for it than philosophical.
That's a thumbs-up, folks.
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For film connoisseurs and animation buffs, "Princess Mononoke" is a reflection of Miyazaki's genius. For everybody else of reasonably mature age, it's a trip.
Detroit Free Press
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November 5, 1999, Friday
'Princess' is a magical introduction to anime
By Terry Lawson
Before George Lucas turns the digital cameras on "Star Wars: Episode II," he may want to take a look at "Princess Mononoke," an animated epic from revered Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. Just as Lucas found inspiration for the original "Star Wars" in master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress," "Princess Mononoke" should remind Lucas of what was lacking in "The Phantom Menace": Even a newly minted myth should feel as if it has lived forever.
Miyazaki has rooted "Princess Mononoke" -- now rescripted and revoiced into English -- in his country's Muromachi era (1392-1573), when an agricultural society was being plowed over by the Iron Age. But he admits that he invented 90 percent of its mythology. Still, its action-filled, philosophical and visually wondrous story of a young prince, whose quest to find a remedy for a demon curse leads him to become a defender of a magical forest, plays like a much-elaborated legend, one that has grown more complex, populated and amazing with each telling.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
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November 5, 1999, Friday
A 'Princess' unlike her predecessors
By Desmond Ryan
Ask the artists who have led the gratifying resurgence in animation in the '90s at the Disney Studio and its rivals for the man who has inspired them, and the name you will almost certainly hear is Hayao Miyazaki. After you see Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, no further explanation is needed.
Part myth-laden epic and part eco-fable, the film is a masterpiece of Japanese animation that offers a fascinating and instructive contrast with the admirable state of the art here.
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It will take all of Miramax's storied marketing skill to lure the audience that Princess Mononoke richly deserves. Animation fans will need no encouragement, but anyone who relishes seeing the reach and scope of the genre redefined should not miss this marvelously accomplished picture.
Saint Paul Pioneer Press
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November 5, 1999, Friday
Attention to detail slows 'Princess' to a crawl
By Chris Hewitt
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"Mononoke" dawdles big time. Miyazaki lavishes incredible attention on each cloud, and the pastel palette is subtly stunning. It's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, but the reeds rustling in a morning rainstorm are more interesting than the story, an ecological plea that boils down to "nature=good, guns=bad." You can say that in two seconds, but it takes more than two lavishly stunning hours for the movie to get there.
The pokey pace rules "Mononoke" out for younger children, as does its violence. Severed, gushing arms fly all over the place as Mononoke and Ashitaka do battle with the land-rapers, struggling to prove that nature is stronger than those who would try to defeat it.
Sacramento Bee
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November 5, 1999, Friday
Masterpiece of myth: Japan's animated 'Princess Mononoke' is a visual wonder
By Joe Baltake
We're not in Disneyland anymore, Toto.
Strange and powerful, Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" sets a new standard in animation -- not in terms of the supple lushness of the characters in its foreground, something which has become the hallmark of Disney animation, but rather in the dense, deeply layered details and textures of its backgrounds and the subtle accompanying sounds.
Even more impressively, the film -- a prime example of Japanese animé, a strain of animation devoted to archetypal figures, mythical storytelling and a sense of mysticism -- advances the plots of animation. Geared toward adults and those older children with an appetite for the unusual, "Princess Mononoke" concentrates on ecological and feminist themes in its telling of a doomed young hero who wages a one-man battle to reinstate harmony between man and nature.
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Seattle Times
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November 5, 1999, Friday
"Princess Mononoke": Beautiful on every level
By Melanie McFarland
True artistry in feature animation is so rare these days, because something usually gets sacrificed in the process. If lots of effort is expended in visual magic, the plot may suffer. Intricate stories may demand that the visuals take a back seat.
That's why Hayao Miyazaki's anime masterpiece "Princess Mononoke," Japan's most successful film, is such a treat. Beautifully constructed and painstakingly written, this is about as close to a perfect animated epic as you're likely to get.
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Making "Mononoke" had long been a dream of Miyazaki's, and that's apparent in the visuals. This is a film that begs for a big screen - Miayzaki's sweeping landscapes and wide shots of action sequences leave you breathless. The director personally did the final edit on every one of tens of thousands of animation cels. Not surprisingly, he said that "Mononoke" would be the last film he directs - yet another reason to see this ravishing piece of art while it's still in theaters.
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Dallas Morning News
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November 5, 1999, Friday
Princess Mononoke
By Nancy Churnin
When Hollywood does a children's movie about saving the forest, it turns out like 1992's "Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest," a sweet, animated tale of little tree fairies who have to stave off the big, bad woodcutters before it's too late.
When Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki tackles the subject in "Princess Mononoke," well, that's a far more complex journey through darkness and light.
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And yet, while all sides may be right in Mr. Miyazaki's script (adapted to English by Neil Gaiman), the very artistry of the director's mesmerizing brush strokes gives his heart away, making the most eloquent of defenses for the forest with nary a word. How could anyone bear to part with even one swaying blade of grass in the lovingly drawn frames of this richly imagined world, where magical spirits fly from the trees and leaves shimmer with life and light?
IGN Sci-Fi
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November 3, 1999, Wednesday
Princess Mononoke review: Will Japan's blockbuster anime hit charm American audiences? Read the review and find out!
By Jeff Chen
When I first saw Princess Mononoke in its original Japanese format more than a year ago, I was taken with the quality and detail of the animation and how much it differed from both formulaic Disney films and the majority of anime seen here in the States. Even though my Japanese isn't the best, the story was simple enough to be understood on a purely visual level, but complex enough to register symbolically on many levels (unlike its contemporary Hercules.)
Still, when I learned Disney/Miramax was bringing it to the US, I thought it was a gutsy move on its part, considering Princess Mononoke is one of Miyazaki's least "kid-safe" films, featuring brutal violence, light sexual themes, and an amazing amount of death for an animated film. It was about as un-Disney as you can get. But, good taste prevailed, and Miramax has dubbed it for US release, untouched except for a new script from Sandman writer Neil Gaiman. If you like your animation grown-up and slightly exotic, then you can't afford to miss this film.
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Mr. Cranky
The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/princessmononoke.html
November 5, 1999, Friday
Princess Mononoke
By Mr. Cranky
If Disney animation is somehow representative of who we are as Americans, then what does Hayao Miyazaki's stuff say about the Japanese?
If you take into consideration that Miyazaki hand-drew something like 80% of all the animation in this film, I think the words "obsessive-compulsive" could be put to good use. Isn't this a culture that's pretty big on hand-washing? Then there's the whole theme of man living in harmony with nature. What kind of fantasy is that? Miyazaki can wax positive all he wants about woodland sprites and happy campers, but when he opens the door to his house -- asphalt jungle.
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Access Atlanta
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November 5, 1999, Friday
Princess Mononoke Verdict: This animated epic from Japan is like a Disney film by way of Akira Kurosawa.
By Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
There's so much going on in "Princess Mononoke" that it makes Wagner's Ring Cycle look like the Teletubbies.
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If anything, "Princess Mononoke" is oddly reminiscent of such late Akira Kurosawa works as "Ran" or "Kagemusha." That is, it's an operatic epic with a complicated narrative to match its stunning visuals. In fact, given its two-hour-plus running length, we might've used a little less story. But director Hayao Miyazaki is a master filmmaker, and while he may tire us out, he never bores us.
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Boldly innovative yet eerily innocent, "Princess Mononoke" is unlike anything you've seen in the theaters this year. It is, in the best sense, something you simply have to see for yourself.
Houston Chronicle
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November 5, 1999, Friday
Good animation isn't enough to save slow-going `Princess Mononoke'
By Jeff Millar
Princess Mononoke should delight fans of anime, which is what animation is called in Japan, where this unusual film was made.
It is quite lovely to look at, and it is certainly something that American/Western animated films are not -- folkloric, philosophical and thematically complex. Don't expect a Disney or Warner Bros. film anytime soon about the conflict between nature and industrialization in the Middle Ages. But I found the film slow going.
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Moviequest
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November 1999
Expert animation in 'Princess' jump-starts imagination
By Richard Nilsen, The Arizona Republic
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It would be a shame if American audiences missed such a magical film as Princess Mononoke only because of the prejudices they carry about animation.
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But it is not the story that is the star of the film. Miyazaki's animation creates a world of intense visual excitement. By comparison, Disney's Fantasia is an earthbound lump.
Every moment of the film offers some new enchantment. Like the best fairy tales, it creates a complete world, totally believable in its own logic and completely mesmerizing.
The movie is not perfect: Viewers may become confused by the contending factions. And visually anime blends quasi-realistic backgrounds with the flat, stylized characters you might recognize from anime TV series such as Speed Racer: the wide, round eyes and haystacks of hair on skinny teenagers. They seem quite two-dimensional in the three dimensions of the backgrounds.
And finally the movie ends in a battle set piece that seems tacked on for a Big Ending.
But even with those caveats, Princess Mononoke is a stunning film and comes highly recommended to anyone willing to step outside the run-of-the-mill Hollywood offerings and re-energize his or her imagination.
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The Minnesota Daily (University of Minnesota)
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November 4, 1999, Thursday
Princess Mononoke
By Saiki Difrances
If there's one thing you should know about Princess Mononoke, it's this: Despite being the highest grossing movie in Japan's history and the first semi-adult animated movie to see wide release in theaters, Princess Mononoke is not good. It's hard to say where exactly it goes wrong, but it may involve its brazenly insulting cheesiness. Sure, for the most part, Princess Mononoke directs itself at a young audience -- so the fact that even the youngest, most worldly unwise, backward child in the world could be the victim of the movie's patronizing tone and clunky narrative makes it that much more painful.
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Artistic review, Screen It! Entertainment Reviews for Parents
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November 5, 1999, Friday
SCREEN IT! ARTISTIC REVIEW: PRINCESS MONONOKE
By Screen It!
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Featuring an animation style that's more hard-edged than the "softer" realism that Disney and other studios try to replicate, the effect is quite striking, but it also may be a bit jarring to those unfamiliar with it. As such, the film doesn't have the complete visual quality most are accustomed to finding in the Disney films. While the computer-supplemented backgrounds here are often quite stunning, the characters are less so and look more like what one would expect to see on Saturday morning cartoons.
That said, it ultimately doesn't really make any difference as the overall story -- the other notable difference from most animated features -- is truly epic in nature. As written and directed by acclaimed anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki ("Kiki's Delivery Service," "Porco Rosso") -- with an English script adaptation by Neil Gaiman -- the film is more than engrossing enough to insure that most viewers will probably be so absorbed in what's occurring with the story that they'll soon forget they're watching an animated feature and thus not care in the slightest how any of it looks.
A universal tale of man versus nature, and expansionism versus environmentalism, the story is nothing short of outstanding, and while Japanese audiences probably better understand the native folklore and mythology that's liberally sprinkled throughout the production, audiences everywhere will easily be able to identify with and appreciate most of what occurs.
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Parental review, Screen It! Entertainment Reviews for Parents
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November 5, 1999, Friday
SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: PRINCESS MONONOKE
By Screen It!
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OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a quick look at the content found in this PG-13 animated drama. Although the film is animated and features well-known performers providing the vocal services, this isn't your typical G-rated Disney flick. As such, a great deal of violence occurs with characters and creatures fighting and many being wounded, killed, decapitated or having limbs severed, often with rather bloody (but obviously cartoon drawn) results.
While the film obviously isn't aimed at them, should younger kids be allowed to see it they may just find many of those scenes and others (that are accompanied by suspenseful music) featuring the likes of a huge and menacing boar demon, as suspenseful or downright scary (all dependent of course on their age and tolerance for such material).
Profanity is mild with some uses of "damn" and a few religious and colorful phrases also occurring. Women in a town are noted as being former prostitutes (although no sexual activity is present) and a few of the men wear loincloth-like apparel that shows part of their cartoon bare butts.
Beyond that, some bad attitudes and thematic elements of man vs. nature and expansionism vs. conservation, the rest of the film's categories have little or nothing in the way of major objectionable content. Since some kids will probably want to see this film, however, we suggest that you more closely examine our listed content should you still be concerned about its appropriateness for anyone in your home.
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The Washington Post
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November 5, 1999, Friday
The Bland Violence of 'Mononoke'
By Stephen Hunter
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For some reason some of our better film scribes seem to have gotten on the Princess's bandwagon, responding perhaps to its sponsorship by a major American company (Miramax) and the dubbing of Japanese voices by American actors like Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Crudup and Claire Danes. So you will have been hearing that it's quite good. Well, it didn't strike me as nearly as intriguing as "Akira," the underground sensation of several years ago, which lacked those swanky credentials. It was about a gang of delinquents who fought a giant in the future. I think. Anyway, it had lots of cool destruction, machines and guns.
Like "Akira," "Princess Mononoke" feels somewhat odd in its progress. It's not a question so much of plot logic and cause-effect, which is consistent if fanciful, but emphasis. The director Hayao Miyazaki seems uncomfortable with pure aggression and naked hostility; the impulse in the film is toward reconciliation, not conquest, a spirit that feels peculiar in an environment so bloody and violent.
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Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
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November 6, 1999, Saturday
Ambitious anime - Princess Mononoke a spellbinding adventure
By Curt Holman
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Miyazaki throws a lot of balls in the air but keeps them in motion with confidence and offers one memorable image and exciting sequence after another: Lady Eboshi and her traveling party fighting the massive white wolves on a narrow mountain pass; Mononoke skittering like a squirrel over the roofs of Iron Town, seeking to assassinate Eboshi; even the idyllic heart of the forest, inhabited by weirdly cute tree sprites with rattling heads akin to Munch's "The Scream."
The muzzle-scratching animal characters tend to be more vividly animated than the humans, whose faces tend to have the usual limited expression range of Japanese animation. Likewise, the climax goes over-the-top in a fashion typical of anime, in which heroes, for whatever reason, invariably risk fatal smothering by writhing tentacles or dark, deadly glop. The icky eccentricity of Mononoke's climax detracts a bit from what comes before it.
Otherwise Princess Mononoke is a gorgeous movie, with colors and vistas worthy of Akira Kurosawa and animated people who seem credibly human, despite the supernatural goings on. It's hard to imagine Princess Mononoke becoming a big crossover hit, especially when an American animated film as lovely as The Iron Giant couldn't find the audience it deserved. But it's bound to spellbind anyone who chances to see it.
People Magazine
The following are representative quotes only.
November 8, 1999, Monday
Picks & Pans - Screen - Princess Mononoke
By Tom Gliatto
The work of Hayao Miyazaki, an animator revered in Japan, this epic about a medieval prince's quest in a mythical forest is full of suffering so intense it makes Bambi's wood look like Canyon Ranch. A demon, afflicted with some wriggling, wormy growth, rampages in agony. A wolf, adoptive mother of a young woman (the princess of the title), is torched and shot by a nature-hating lady industrialist. A kind spirit who looks like your old aunt stuffed into an elk suit has its head blown clean off.
The convoluted, violent story, which begins when the prince slays the demon and incurs a curse that can be lifted (if at all) only by journeying to the monster's homeland, makes this unsuitable fare for kids. And the marriage of English-speaking voices (Billy Crudup, Minnie Driver) to a Japanese cartoon is a clumsy one (think Speed Racer). But the animation --from elaborate (the supernatural creatures) to simple (a rain shower) -- is superb. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: A must for animation buffs
Science Fiction Weekly
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November 8, 1999, Monday
Princess Mononoke - Beauty and the bestial
By Tasha Robinson
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Despite its grimness, Mononoke is an extravagantly gorgeous and well-characterized movie. Miyazaki gives both sides of the conflict their due--the natural world is depicted in fantastic detail and rich colors, as Ashitaka passes by wind-dappled ponds and fields of shifting sunbeams, or gallops through lavishly painted greenery. Irontown, while visually plainer, is shown as a warm nest full of enough love, hope, bravery, humor and loyalty to overpower its moments of greed and ignorance. Both places are beautiful, but neither is wholly good or wholly right. Ashitaka, despite his youth, clearly knows this. His unswerving determination and too-complete understanding make him at once sadder and more evocative to watch than Miyazaki's usual blithe, good-hearted child-warriors.
Miramax's English dub of this 1997 Japanese film is reasonably good, though it has its rocky spots. Neil Gaiman's translation can be a bit too dry at times, losing personal interaction in order to add cultural and religious exposition. The casting is also slightly off--Thornton is too twangy, and Driver hasn't stopped doing Jane from Tarzan. Anderson is a particularly odd choice for a role played by a man in the original. But Crudup is perfect as the quiet Ashitaka, the heart of the film. And anyway, it doesn't matter terribly. By Mononoke's end, the characters are nearly lost in the film's epic themes and preternatural beauty. Viewers probably will be as well.
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culturevulture.net
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October 28, 1999, Thursday
Princess Mononoke
By Scott Von Doviak
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Miyazaki weaves elements of Japanese history and folklore with an ecological message that is laid on a bit too thickly at times. His characters, though, evince a complexity that belies their two-dimensional status. Even the villainous Lady Eboshi proves to have facets that take her beyond Cruella DeVille caricature, as we see her caring for lepers and other outcasts who have no place outside Iron Town. This may be the most meticulous, multi-layered piece of storytelling ever attempted within an animated format.
Mononoke has a clean and convincing fairy tale look and decidedly non-Disney rhythms. American audiences accustomed to their cartoons ending in under an hour and a half may grow restless during the more low-key passages in the movie's 133 minutes. Parents with very small children beware: the graphic violence includes several decapitations, at least one of which is played for laughs.
But there are also moments of quiet, mesmerizing beauty. The woods seem truly enchanted, particularly in a scene where the Forest God, a shimmering, translucent being, undergoes a transformation in a darkened lake. Miyazaki has a natural, fluid sense of movement that segues effortlessly from pastoral splendor to the most brutal of battles, and his muted colors convey the dreamlike texture of a world far away in time.
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Quibbles aside, Princess Mononoke is certainly a landmark achievement in animated cinema. If anime is ever to break through to a mass audience, this is the time. Older children and fantasy enthusiasts of all ages will see to that.