This film isn't just a great animated film — it's a great film. If you think that LORD OF THE RINGS is the best fantasy/ adventure film you've ever seen than think again. MONONOKE has all the originally and action of RINGS, but also has an amazing intelligent message about harmony, peace and preserving nature. This is the kind of animated film that you forget is animated about a minute into it.
Prince Ashitaka (English voiced by Billy Crudup, ALMOST FAMOUS) saves his village from a demon boar god, however he's infected by the beast and is banished from his people. He and his loyal red elk, Yacul, venture out into the world to find the people who turned the boar into a demon and ask the forest god to heal him. Ashitaka arrives in Iron Town where Lady Eboshi (English voiced by Minnie Driver, GOOD WILL HUNTING) is creating guns and wagging war against the forest gods. San, or Princess Mononoke (English voiced by Claire Danes, 1996's ROMEO & JULIET) is a human who has been adopted by the wolf god, Moro (English voiced by Gillian Anderson, TV's X-FILES) and has vowed to kill Eboshi for destroying the forest. Then along comes conniving priest Jigo (English voiced by Billy Bob Thornton, SLING BLADE), who has been contracted by the emperor to cut-off the head of the forest god and bring it back to him. Ashitaka works vigorously as a peace broker between the many warring parties knowing that the survival of all depends on their cooperation.
It shouldn't be a revolutionary move, but the brilliance of making the main character a peacemaker is amazing. In this single move, PRINCESS MONONOKE distinguishes itself, making everything that transpires so original. All the characters are multi-layered and there is not one "bad guy." It's not a single-minded battle between nature and modernity, but a call for balance. Lady Eboshi in any other tale would have been a straight villain, but here she only wants to make a better life for her people, especially the women. One minor complaint I have with the English language voice cast is that Driver's English accent gives the character an air of refinement when the character actually came from the working-class who gained wealth through hard work. It's a key parallel between Eboshi who is an adopted "lady" like San is an adopted princess of the wolf clan. This is just one of the many layers that one can find in his amazingly complex story.
The visual imagination is breathtaking. I personally love the tree spirits and I'm sure you will too. The demon-possessed creatures are horrifying with black inky worm-like tentacles oozing out of the body like maggots on diseased flesh. The rage of the characters only makes the black mass increase in size. Animation master Hayao Miyazaki actually draws most of the images in his films himself. The beauty of the painterly backgrounds or haunting forest landscapes is, from time to time, jarringly disrupted by bursts of bloody violence. Miyazaki simply and profoundly drives his pro-peace message with every aspect of the film. It's hard not to be moved.
PRINCESS MONONOKE is the best film of 1999. This is my favorite animated film of all time. It's also my favorite fantasy film of all time. I loved Frodo and his band of buddies, but I'd take Ashitaka and Yacul over them any day.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
