Princess Mononoke (1997)

Rating: 85%I first saw this movie like 8 years ago when a neighbor had a sleepover at our house. I've been looking forward to see it again while doing this little Miyazaki marathon, so without much left to say, it's time to review it.

Plot: Ashitaka is a prince of an Emishi village who fights a giant-boar demon that was attacking his village but get a curse casts into his right arm in the process. The curse gives him superhuman strength but will eventually kill him, so Ashitaka leaves his village to search for a cure. He makes his way to a place called Iron town where the people destroy the forest for ironsand and advanced weapons and learns that the people in Iron Town are at war against the beast of the forest, particularly with a clan of wolves that are partly lead by a woman raised by them San, but is refereed by the townspeople as Princess Mononoke.

I can see why there was no Disney version to this movie unlike the rest of Miyazaki's films; it's a little graphic and incredibly dark at a lot of scenes. Which comparing to all the other Miyazaki films, that is REALLY saying something. I mean there was some violent death, there was destruction and a lot of the evil ish stuff where pretty creepy at some points. But that aside it was a very well done movie. The world that they created was very creative and the animation and story was very well done, and the story and the characters are very interesting and it still gives us some cute comedy that you' d normally get from a Miyazaki film. I do however think that the voice acting was just okay, didn't think they were very big on it, but I digress.

Characters:
Ashitaka: I thought Ashitaka was pretty cool. While the violent deaths are pretty big for being a Miyazaki film, it still was cool that could kill those samurai guys in that way with his super strength. Plus you have to like him anyway with how he's a hero with caring for other people and wanting to protect the forest and all of that.
San/Princess Mononoke: She was pretty cool too. She was tough, smart, and focused as heck when it came to protecting the forest. Personally I think her voice actress was one of the big reason why the voice acting all around was just okay. It's just that I remembered San having a lot of expression in her voice when I saw this movie years ago and I have to admit that It wasn't as big as I remembered it when I saw this movie a second time. But she still was cool.

Music: Like most Miyazaki films, this movie wasn't exactly exploding with music per say throughout the movie. But what they gave us was pretty enjoyable. I think my favorite piece was the song that was played when San and Ashitaka were sleeping in that cave...I guess it's just because it had a nice melody that really stood out to me.

And that's my review for Princess Mononoke. It's much darker and more graphic then a normal Miyazaki film but it still was creative, adventurous, interesting and altogether gave us a totally entertaining film from Miyazaki just the way the like it.