Review of Princess Mononoke (1997) by Kai82 — 17 Nov 2021

It is my favorite Studio Ghibli movie and I was lucky to be able to watch it in cinema. Actually it was also my first Ghibli movie and I just watched it with a friend because he recommend it. It was an amazing experience as it had a great story with depth, characters that are well written, of cause the Studio Ghibli animations and an awesome soundtrack that I see as one of the best in animation.

Lets start at the beginning: Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli were amazing. They produced animated movies that are considered masterpieces back then. The track record includes a lot of the best Japanese if not worldwide made ones.

Today they have a few weaker movies in the line up but no catastrophes. The story is set in an unspecified year of the Muromachi period also know as Ashikga period in Japan which lasted from 1336 to 1573.

The Emishi people who are original inhabitants of Japan (Like the Ainu) struggled with the Ashikaga government and are in hiding after they were driven off. A secluded and hidden village (No not Ninjas) of the Emishi is attacked by a demon.

**** who is the last of heir of their rulers manages to kill him after a peaceful solution was not possible. With his last strength the demon wounded Ashikaga’s arm and cursed him. The curse will grow with time and kill him but also gives him more power at the price of fastening the process.

The villages female shaman explains this to him and that the demon was originally a nature god and not a demon. He has to leave the village and could never return but may find a cure in the West were the demon came from.

This is the set up of the story and the start of an epic adventure. It is an amazing story. There is so much depth and motives. Nature vs man, different world views and philosophies, heritage, conflicts and interests.

You can watch it just for the story or analyze the motives, developments and actions of the characters. Then there is the atmosphere that won me over immediately. No other Ghibli movie worked this well and there is a lot of competition.

The next strengths are the characters. All have believable motives, develop thorough the story and have great interactions. There is no simple good vs evil here. It has my favorite cast with ****, Lady Eboshi, San, Jigo, Moro and Hii.

Also all the minor characters are good too. The depth and clear motives improve an already great movie. You always know why the characters act this way and what motivates them. The art style and animations were amazing back then as it is a staple of Ghibli movies.

The soundtrack is a masterpieces and one of the best I have heard. Joe Hisaishi is a true master in his field and this has so many good tracks. The voice actors are a bit uneven depending on the chosen language.

The original Japanese voice actor are amazing, the English ones are a bit weaker but definitely not garbage and the German are really good ( I am a native German speaker). Overall this is a masterpieces and one of my favorite movies.

I fully recommend it and see it as timeless classic.