Amazing is all I have to really say about this movie. For the first time seeing this movie it's actually a pretty damn good one. Princess Mononoke is about animal gods such as the deer god, boar god, a wolf god as well as some other monkeys and gorillas and so forth. A very nature based as well as influences to modern warfare that's being protrayed as iron workings. The movie's theme is the ever lasting nature vs human conflict and this movie really emphasizes it. This is shown as to how one of the main characters is running her village but are advancing and destroying the forest and how the animals in the forests fight back. I believe this movie is very consistent of Miyazaki's directing style. The characters were all well developed and the story was very easy to follow along if you actually pay attention to the movie. Each character's motives are easily seen and there's no confusion as to what their role in the movie is. Additionally this movie is consistent with Miyazaki's 'mystical' style as well. What that means is how the things that he thinks of, is something very fake or unreal in anyway except in imagination. Just like in Totoro, almost everything he put in this movie was something created and couldn't possibly exist in our world. However something was very different in this movie, it was the violence/gore that was present. This was something that was very surprising and something I had never expected. There were some pretty graphic violence that was evident. Especially during the scene when one of the main characters, Ashitaka, was coming towards the village with samurai and as he's coming in riding his elk animal thing, he was shooting arrows that would decapitate people as well as completely (and very cleanly) slice off people's arms (is that even possible? I don't think so). Very different from all of the movies that I have seen by Miyazaki. However with the change in how much violence and how graphic it was, Miyazaki still used beautiful artwork and computer animated graphics to complement with his style. This detailed level of artwork could be clearly scene throughout the movie especially in the open scenes containing beautiful scenery as well as in close surroundings when details are more easily noticed (not to mention some pretty good music throughout the movie).
Here's a video to illustrate what I'm talking about (warning, contains animated blood O.o):
This video contains music and many of the scenes that take place throughout the movie. Although it may be a youtube video (which generally entails lower quality than normal) you can still see the intricate workings of what Miyazaki perfectly brings to the table in each of his movies and using only as much as needed to display the wonderful colors and animation to its fullest extent.
4 comments:
I agree, I love this music. It is so soothing, but yet so intense. I can't get enough of this music and Miyazaki's films. Nice video by the way! Did you see those little wood guys? Haha I like the scene when they copy Ashitaka when he is carrying the wounded soldier.
Yes the movie was good. So was the music. I do not agree though with something though. All of the characters are not well rounded. They were in P.M. but not in My Neighbor Totoro. I could not follow any of the characters. The only character that MAY have been developed, is the girl, but no one else.
I kind of agree with what Jake said here; I don't necessarily agree that the characters were easy to understand, but I don't think that they weren't rounded. Personally, I thought that Eboshi was one of the more complex characters. She's doing so much damage to the forest, but at the same time, she's giving prostitutes and lepers a better life. Lots of people look on anime as being childish (mostly due to Disney), but I think that anime can be much more complex than live action.
Dude, I love the music as well. It makes me go to sleep, yet I can't get enough of it. Nice video clip too, but damn the wood guys. I just hate them for some reason. Although some characters aren't very good in characterization, the only character I enjoy was the character who was decapitated by the ELITE arrow of doomz.
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