Mononoke-hime (1997)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writer:

Hayao Miyazaki (written by)

Release Date:

26 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

The Fate Of The World Rests On The Courage Of One Warrior.

Plot:

On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest and Tataraba, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.

Plot Keywords:

Forest | Curse | Princess | Animal | Warrior

Awards:

11 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Yôji Matsuda	...	Ashitaka (voice)
Yuriko Ishida	...	San (voice)
Yûko Tanaka	...	Eboshi-gozen (voice)
Kaoru Kobayashi	...	Jiko-bô (voice)
Masahiko Nishimura	...	Kouroku (voice)
Tsunehiko Kamijô	...	Gonza (voice)
Sumi Shimamoto	...	Toki (voice)
Tetsu Watanabe	...	Yama-inu (voice)
Mitsuru Satô	...	Tatari-gami (voice)
Akira Nagoya	...	Usi-kai (voice)
Akihiro Miwa	...	Moro-no-kimi (voice)
Mitsuko Mori	...	Hii-sama (voice)
Hisaya Morishige	...	Okkoto-nusi (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pamela Adlon	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Pamela Segall)
Gillian Anderson	...	Moro (voice: English version)
Lewis Arquette	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Corey Burton	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jennifer Cihi	...	Tatara's Women Song (voice: English version)
Billy Crudup	...	Ashitaka (voice: English version)
Claire Danes	...	San (voice: English version)
Keith David	...	Okkoto / Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John DeMita	...	Kohroku (voice: English version)
Debi Derryberry	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John Di Maggio	...	Gonza / Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Minnie Driver	...	Lady Eboshi (voice: English version)
Alex Fernandez	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jack Fletcher	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Julia Fletcher	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Julia DeMita)
Pat Fraley	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version) (as Patrick Fraley)
Takako Fuji	...	Woman in Iron Town
John Hostetter	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Leslie Ishii	...	Tatara's Women Song (voice: English version)
Yoshimasa Kondô	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John Rafter Lee	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Sherry Lynn	...	Iron Town Woman / Emishi Villiage Girl (voice: English version)
Tress MacNeille	...	Iron Town Woman / Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn	...	Tatara's Women Song (voice: English version)
Matt McKenzie	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Michael McShane	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Matt K. Miller	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Marnie Mosiman	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Adam Paul	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Toki (voice: English version)
David Rasner	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Kimihiro Reizei	...	Jibashiri (voice)
Dwight Schultz	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Tara Strong	...	Kaya (voice: English version)
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Jigo (voice: English version)
K.T. Vogt	...	Complaining Wife (voice: English version)

Also Known As:

Princess Mononoke (UK) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for images of violence and gore.

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:TV-14 (TV version) | Iceland:L | Mexico:B | Japan:PG-12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Finland:K-7 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12 | Italy:T | New Zealand:PG | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:G | South Korea:All | Spain:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia)

Company:

DENTSU Music And Entertainment

Trivia:

Around 550 colors were used in this film

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ashitaka swims to Iron Town during the battle, there is a shot of the water. In the next shot there is a floating corpse not visible in the previous shot.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: In ancient times, the land lay covered in forests, where, from ages long past, dwelt the spirits of the gods. Back then, man and beast lived in harmony, but as time went by, most of the great forests were destroyed. Those that remained were guarded by gigantic beasts who owed their allegiances to the Great Forest Spirit, for those were the days of gods and of demons.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Reign Over Me (2007)

One to convert the sceptics, a rich, thoughtful and charming animation

If, like me, your heart sinks at the prospect of another pious, sanctimonious, tub-thumping eco-fable, give "Mononoke Hime" a chance all the same. It does have a distinct, and far from subtle, ecological message, of the "can't we just live together?" variety, but on the other hand it's far from clear that the answer the film suggests is "yes", and there are plenty of nuances and subtleties along the way. More to the point, there's a proper story, well-conceived and well told, there's a memorable, beautiful and violent world, credible characters and a good deal of charm.

The animation is mostly very fluent and careful, though not flashy in the way we're getting used to in this CG age. ("Mononoke" uses cgi, but subtly and with restraint, so that the feel remains that of a group of traditional craftsmen under one guiding hand). Quite often one finds that there are more static elements in a tableaux than you'd expect in a Disney animated feature, but I think this is an aesthetic choice rather than a mere economy: it stylizes and formalizes, while focussing attention on the important elements in the frame. But there is occasional jerkiness, though not enough to detract seriously, and perhaps it wouldn't trouble audiences whose frame of reference isn't so western as mine - I'm not sure.

Talking of the western and eastern sensibilities, the Region 2 DVD which I'm reviewing gives you a choice of English and Japanese dialogue, and though I watched the American dub first, I'd generally prefer the Japanese version, for the key roles of Ashitaka and San. Billy Crudup is appealing but too low-key, and Clare Danes strikes me as badly miscast: she sounds a bit too old, and altogether too urban to bring out the core of wildness or the steely sense of loyalty to her world. Like other reviewers, I have trouble with the Texas drawl of Billy Bob Thornton, which is just too regionally specific to match the look of the character (please understand that I'm not suggesting the cast should all have done fake Japanese accents!). On the other hand, it's pretty much a toss-up between Yuko Tanaka and Minnie Driver (who's very closely attuned to the aesthetic of the original) as Eboshi, and Gillian Anderson and Jada Pinkett Smith are just right. Still, overall you get more vividness and conviction from the original voice cast. Oddly, the lip-sync seems more approximate in the Japanese version, perhaps a fault in the synchronization on the R2 DVD. The subtitles unfortunately but understandably come from Neil Gaiman's adaptation of the screenplay rather than re-translating the Japanese - one's aware, for example, that Gaiman has added bits of extra, explanatory dialogue.

With all that out of the way, let's concentrate on what makes the film work: it delineates a world that's at once mythological and believable, and refuses to sentimentalize or simplify (even if it occasionally allows itself to preach). There are feuds and failures of trust not just between the humans and the animals, but within each world - and the animals seem as ready as the humans to exclude the other from their world. Indeed the conceit of the film seems to be that language, rather than being a product of distinctly human evolution, was originally shared among mammals at least, and it's as the war with the humans goes on that the animal kingdom becomes more brutish and less coherent. For all the prince's idealism and the delicate rapprochement some of the characters inch towards, one gets the impression that the logic of conflict will be hard to resist.

Perhaps the most appealing and intriguing element in this world is the kodoma: the little, voiceless tree-spirits seem to be a cross-between a mushroom, a toddler and a rattle, and I defy anyone not to be captivated by them.