Princess Mononoke (1999)

Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime. Princess Mononoke doesn't offer anything new to the awful japanese anime history and just ends up being on the same level as all the others unfortunately. (0/10)

'Princess Mononoke' is a beautifully animated and epic fantasy film by legendary Japanese filmmaker and animator Hayao Miyazaki. This was the first film I got to view at the Celebrate Studio Ghibli film festival in Melbourne and I thoroughly enjoyed most aspects of this film. The clear standout for the film is the breathtaking hand-drawn animation by Miyazaki. Everything from the painted forest, the Great Forest Spirit, and even the characters themselves are visually striking and shows that these films were well ahead of their time. There's a very good reason as to why Miyazaki is considered one of the best animators of this century. The soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi is everything a good soundtrack should be, with epic numbers for the action sequences and then beautiful pieces for the emotional scenes. The storyline of this film is epic and gripping, from the very first opening scene. What made it unique though, was its underlying themes of environmentalism that were quite powerful. The characters in this film were also very complex; the villains weren't really villains and the heroes weren't really heroes. Each character, even the supporting ones, had a depth in them that is absent in too many movies these days. However, it's in the pacing where this movie fails to be a masterpiece. There are many scenes that a very drawn-out and difficult to maintain attention. With a running time over two hours, this film definitely has it's moments that seem to drag on. The main issue with these scenes is the fact that they're not particularly part of the main storyline, so there's no real need for them to be as long as they are. Fortunately, Miyazaki redeems himself with a fantastic ending that left me in awe and overall I was very pleased with this movie.

Amazing, deserves a better score on metacritic (should be 96)

Like with My Neighbor Totoro, this film was playing at the Music Box Theater near me as a New Year's celebration. Thus, I spent the better part of today's afternoon viewing it there. Judging by my rating, you may see where I'm going with this...I was impressed with how this film was presented in its original Japanese language, just subtitled so English speakers could comprehend. It also limits the amount that it can be censored by dubs, which I'm sure other Studio Ghibli movies went through when Fox and Disney dubbed them in the 90s. Anyway, the story is probably where my hardest judgment on this movie is. It can be hard for the common family to understand with its supposed subplots, but they are all written in a way that pristinely intertwine. Just when the second act starts to turn dull (if I had to downgrade this to a 9, it would probably be for that reason, though it doesn't go there), it hoists upon us the epic, heart-stopping third act that had me literally on the edge of my seat in awe. It's an experience I had never really gone through before with a Studio Ghibli film. The music really bolstered this movie, too, since it makes up for not being too tear-jerking with mixing to perfection with the mood and setting, plus beautiful lyrics portrayed by Yoshikazu Mera. The characters contribute to this being a really somber and edgy movie, definitely the perfect contrast to the silliness and light-heartedness of My Neighbor Totoro; they are written in such a way that their overall motives possess several complexities, which admittedly did have me slightly confused. It just goes to show how important the name Hayao Miyazaki is in animation as a whole. Giving us all this is animation that is blowout by anime standards at the time. Glorious environments and character designs come with some of the best incorporation of CGI to hand drawn I have seen in a movie so far. I probably could not make my admiration for Studio Ghibli's animation more lucid than here.You will take something out of this film when you watch it. It is the best anime film I have seen yet, and I want to ensure that more families, especially ones who are ready to expose their children to such edginess, and otaku can view this film. If there is an anime film that one must see before they perish, this is it. I cannot recommend this film enough in a review like this, so stop reading and find a way that you can view it. Once again, Studio Ghibli, I want to thank you for capitalizing on what Akira introduced to us 9 years ago; it was completely worth it.