Princess Mononoke
From Conservapedia
| Princess Mononoke | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Produced by | Toshio Suzuki |
| Written by | Hayao Miyazaki; Neil Gaiman (English adaptation) |
| Music by | Joe Hisaishi |
| Cinematography | Masashi Ando; Kitaro Kosaka; Yoshifumi Kondo |
| Editing by | Takeshi Seyama |
| Distributed by | Studio Ghibli, Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Disney |
| Release date(s) | 1997, 1999 (U.S.) |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥2,400,000,000 |
Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫 Mononoke-hime) is an anime feature film, produced by Studio Ghibli, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Set during the Muromachi Era, it is a blend of historical fact, mythology and fantasy, incorporating the by-then long lost tribe of the Emishi, in a typical Miyazaki nature-themed story. "Mononoke" is not a character's name, but rather a generic term used to describe spirits or demons. Thus, in reference to San, it can be said it is a film about the "Demon Princess".
The critic, Roger Ebert, ranked the film sixth amongst his top ten movies of 1999 [1]and it remains the third highest grossing anime movie in Japan, behind 2001's Spirited Away and 2004's Howl's Moving Castle, both also directed by Miyazaki.
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Synopsis
Deep within the forests of Muromachi Era Japan, a village inhabited by the nearly extinct Emishi people (who, although they existed in history, were extinct by the time of the story, having been defeated by the first Shōgun at the end of the 8th century) is attacked by a demon god. A young prince known as Ashitaka comes to the aid of his people, and in the process of defeating this great evil, he is cursed. Taking the form of a scar, this curse will slowly devour his flesh and his soul. Following the advice of a wise oracle, he journeys to the source of the demon, a settlement in the Far East. Here, in a forest, ruled by the Great Guardian Spirit, Shishi-gami, he will encounter a brutal battle between a man-made iron mill, the stockade-enclosed Iron Town, led by the fierce Lady Eboshi, and the last remaining animal gods, led by the wolf-god Moro-no-Kimi and the human girl raised by Moro, San.
As is common with many Ghibli films, the story does not pick sides. The viewer might form the initial impression that Lady Eboshi and the people of Iron Town are "bad" as they chop down the trees of the forest for charcoal and dig up the earth for ore, but they are soon shown that that is what they must do to survive. Likewise, the animal spirits of the forest - in contrast to Disney - are certainly not "cute". Prone to the wiles of all mythological gods, they are just as likely to kill, as they are to philosophise. At the end of the day, the film portrays a clash of cultures, each doing what they must to survive.
Cast
| Character | Japanese Cast | English Cast |
|---|---|---|
| Ashitaka | Yoji Matsuda | Billy Crudup |
| San | Yuriko Ishida | Claire Danes |
| Jigo Bō | Kaoru Kobayashi | Billy Bob Thornton |
| Moro no Kimi | Akihiro Miwa | Gillian Anderson |
| Toki | Sumi Shimamoto | Jada Pinkett-Smith |
| Lady Eboshi | Yuko Tanaka | Minnie Driver |
