Princess Mononoke

-Details-
Genre: Drama/Action
Company: Studio Ghibli
Format: Movie; 133 minutes.
Dates: 12 Jul 1997

-Visuals- 8.5/10
The visuals are at times simply stunning, at other times I would consider them crisp and sharp but not necessarily overwhelming, however, there are certainly no discernible flaws with the animation. The character renderings are excellent and vibrant with color and a realistic flow and the overall expressions and animations in the various characters, both animal and human is well done and well designed (I absolutely and especially LOVED the Night Walker, the creature was simply a visual masterpiece). The various backgrounds were also well done and the end result was a movie that while perhaps not a gorgeous feast was certainly very appealing and easy to watch with a wonderful attention to detail and a fine eye for a very beautiful and well drawn world.


-Sound- 9.0/10
The soundtrack is pretty much incredible in it's melding with the story and ambiance. Having said that it simply didn't really blow me away. It fit. It was at times majestic and sweeping but honestly it didn't cause me to soar to new heights along with the story. Instead it seemed to accompany the story wonderfully, and while that is certainly not a fault (actually it's a great thing) it did stop it for ascending to the heights of greatness.


-Characters- 9.0/10
The character development was wonderfully done. The interaction between Ashitaka and San (Princess Mononoke) is incredibly complex and evolves into a wonderful story. Add Lady Eboshi, Moro, and Okotto and you have a story woven of a intense mix where the lines of good and bad and friend and enemy are certainly not written in stone and certainly the areas of gray and confusion as to right and wrong are not as simple as black and white.


-Story- 9.0/10
During the 1400's the old gods of the forest of Japan are becoming a dying breed. The encroach of civilization and advance are destroying the last stronghold, the forest. A village is attacked by a possessed Boar God and while Ashitaka defeats him he is in turn cursed. he leaves his village to both find a cure and find out what is going on and why the Emishi village was attacked. Along the way he finds, as I stated earlier that the lines between good and evil are often blurred an not as concrete as he once thought. The story does unfold somewhat slowly and while the action is fast paced the climax is long and certainly takes it time to reach a climax. having said that...WOW, what a climax, the ending is absolutely riveting and makes all of the time spent in this wonderful world a well spent immersion into an awesome world inhabited by incredibly complex and emotionally charged characters.

-Overall- 9.0/10
I adored this movie, however I didn't love it. The pace was at times a tad too slow an while the characters and ending were incredible it simply bogged down a bit for me at times. The animation was really, really good, the art style was incredible and it was a well designed and thought out story. I loved the interaction of the characters and the fight between nature and advancement in civilization was certainly portrayed in the realistic sense which it is, a fine line between a necessity and a tragedy. A awesome movie, even a great movie, just not an incredibly great movie to me, well worth it certainly, just not something which left me breathless and overwhelmed.