Princess Mononoke

By Luz-chan

It has been awhile since I've watched a Miyazaki film (the only two I've seen are Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away. Fornutely, the library at the college where I'm attending has Princess Mononoke, so I checked it out and watched it with one of my roommates.

Mononoke-Hime (its original Japanese title) centers around a young warrior named Ashitaka. One day, a demon god (a giant boar) tried to attack his village, but he prevented that. However, the god left a terrible curse on his right arm: the boar's hatred will seethe through Ashitaka's bones, eventually destroying him. Ashitaka was left with no choice but to leave his village and set out west (where the boar god was originally from) in order to search for a cure that will save his life. Once he gets out west, however, Ashitaka gets tangled in a bitter battle: the humans, led by Lady Eboshi, who works at the iron works, making guns, against the forest's animal gods, led by San aka "Mononoke-Hime," who was raised by wolves. Will Ashitaka fight with the humans, or will he side with San and the gods? Will he every find a cure for his curse?

Miyazaki strikes again with this film. The downside to it, though, is that it's not like Kiki and Spirited Away. It's rated PG-13 for some language and violence (lots of blood), but it's still good nonetheless. I haven't seen the English dub (only the original Japanese), but I think that they're good...considering they have Claire Danes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton among its cast.