| Princess Mononoke | |
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Japanese theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Produced by | Toshio Suzuki |
| Written by | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Starring | Yōji Matsuda Yuriko Ishida Yūko Tanaka Kaoru Kobayashi |
| Music by | Joe Hisaishi |
| Cinematography | Atsushi Okui |
| Editing by | Takeshi Seyama |
| Studio | Studio Ghibli |
| Distributed by | Japan: Toho International: Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | July 12, 1997 |
| Running time | 134 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥2,135,666,804.93 ($23.5 million) |
| Box office | ¥14,487,325,138.75 ($159,375,308) |
Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫 Mononoke-hime) is a 1997 epic Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. "Mononoke" (物の怪) is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster. The film was first released in Japan on July 12, 1997, and in the United States on October 29, 1999.
Princess Mononoke is a period drama set specifically in the late Muromachi period of Japan but with numerous fantastical elements. The story concentrates on involvement of the outsider Ashitaka in the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans of the Iron Town who consume its resources. There can be no clear victory, and the hope is that relationship between humans and nature can be cyclical.[1]
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A giant boar-demon attacks an Emishi village and the protagonist, Ashitaka (Yōji Matsuda), is forced to fight and kill him. In the struggle, Ashitaka receives a curse[2] which grants him superhuman strength but will eventually kill him. Under the advice of the village wisewoman (Mitsuko Mori), he leaves to travel to the west in search of a cure. After some traveling, he meets Jigo (Kaoru Kobayashi), a wandering monk who tells Ashitaka that he might find help from the forest spirit of a mountain range populated by giant animal-gods. Iron Town, located in that range, continually clears the nearby forests to make charcoal to smelt ironsand and produces advanced firearms, leading to battles with the giant forest beasts. Among these animals are giant wolves, who are accompanied by San (Yuriko Ishida), a human girl adopted by the wolves, whom the villagers of Iron Town call "Princess Mononoke." Ashitaka finds two villagers injured by the wolves near a river, whom he returns to Iron Town, passing through the forest, where he catches a glimpse of the forest spirit, a kirin-like creature by day and a towering "night-walker" by night.
In Iron Town, Ashitaka learns from Lady Eboshi (Yūko Tanaka), the manager of the settlement, that she created the boar-demon by shooting it. Though upset, Ashitaka also finds out that Iron Town is also a refuge for ancient Japan's social outcasts, including prostitutes and lepers, and thus finds himself unable to condemn Eboshi. That night, San infiltrates Iron Town to kill Eboshi. Ashitaka intervenes, using his curse's power to stop the fighting between Eboshi and San. While leaving the town with San, he is shot through the chest and very nearly dies. San takes Ashitaka to the Forest Spirit, who revives him, but does not remove the curse. San starts to develop feelings for Ashitaka. Boars, led by the boar god Okkoto (Hisaya Morishige), arrive to attack Iron Town, and San joins them. Eboshi prepares for the assault and sets out to destroy the Forest Spirit. Jigo, now revealed to be a mercenary-hunter, intends to give the head to the emperor, who in turn promises to give Iron Town legal protection from local daimyos.
The Imperial hunters devastate the boars, and Okkoto is corrupted by a gunshot wound. The Forest Spirit comes and kills Okkoto, but Eboshi appears and shoots off the Forest Spirit's head. Jigo collects the head as the Forest Spirit's body transforms into a "mindless god of death" that begins destroying everything in its vicinity in search of its head. Ashitaka and San chase down and take back the head from Jigo, returning it to the Forest Spirit. It collapses into the lake, turning the land green and healing all the lepers and accursed, including Ashitaka and San. Ashitaka and San part to resume the lives they are used to, but promise to meet again; Ashitaka decides to stay and help rebuild Iron Town, which a reformed Eboshi vows to remake as "a better" village. The film ends with a Kodama appearing in the rejuvenated forest.
It took Miyazaki 16 years to fully develop the story and characters of Princess Mononoke. Familiar themes and visuals can be found in his 1983 manga, The Journey of Shuna. The story and characters changed drastically several times during the planning stage. Princess Mononoke finally came together after Miyazaki visited the ancient forests of Yakushima island, but he didn't fully complete it until well into production. The final storyboards of the film's ending were finished only months before the Japanese premiere date.[3]
Princess Mononoke is mostly hand-drawn, but incorporates some use of computer animation during five minutes of footage throughout the film.[4] The computer animated parts are designed to blend in and support the traditional cel animation, and are mainly used in images consisting of a mixture of computer generated graphics and traditional drawing. A further 10 minutes uses digital paint, a technique used in all subsequent Studio Ghibli films. Most of the film is colored with traditional paint. However, producers agreed on the installation of computers in order to successfully complete the film prior to the Japanese premiere date.[3]
Miyazaki personally checked each of the 144,000 cels in the film,[5] and is estimated to have redrawn parts of 80,000 of them.[6][7] This is one of few films directed by him that does not feature a flying sequence, his well-known trademark.
When released, Mononoke was the most expensive anime film ever made, with production of the film costing ¥2.35 billion (approximately US$23.5 million).[7][8][9]
Miyazaki did not want Ashitaka to be a typical hero:[10]
"Ashitaka is not a cheerful, worry-free boy. He is a melancholic boy who has a fate. I feel that I am that way myself, but until now, I have not made a film with such a character. Ashitaka was cursed for a very absurd reason. Sure, Ashitaka did something he should not have done - killing Tatari Gami. But there was enough reason to do so from the humans' viewpoint. Nevertheless, he received a deadly curse. I think that is similar to the lives of people today. I think this is a very absurd thing that is part of life itself."—Hayao Miyazaki
He stated that Lady Eboshi was supposed to have a traumatic past, although it is not specifically mentioned in the film. She had a strong and secure personality, evident in the fact that she let Ashitaka move freely through the settlement unescorted, despite his unclear motives. She also almost never acknowledged the Emperor's authority in Irontown, a revolutionary view for the time, and displayed an atypical attitude for a woman of that era in that she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice herself or those around her for her dreams.[10] Miyazaki has said that Lady Eboshi "looks like a shirabyōshi".[11]
When director Miyazaki was creating the Jigo character, he was unsure whether to make him a government spy, a ninja, a member of a religious group or "a very good guy." In the end he decided to give Jigo elements of all of the above groups.[10]
The landscapes which appear in Princess Mononoke have been inspired by the ancient forests of Yakushima, of Kyūshū, and the mountains of Shirakami-Sanchi in northern Honshū.[12] However, the time period is a neverwhen, meaning that it had no specific time period.[2]
The film was extremely successful in Japan and with both anime fans and arthouse moviegoers in English-speaking countries. In those countries, it was widely interpreted as a film about the environment told in the form of Japanese mythology. Disney's Miramax subsidiary purchased U.S. distribution rights, but wanted to cut the film for American audiences (and for a PG-rating). However, Miyazaki balked at this, and the film was instead released uncut with a rating of PG-13. Miramax also chose to put a lot of money into creating the English dub of Princess Mononoke with famous actors and actresses, yet when they released it in theatres there was little or no advertising and it was given a very limited run, showing in only a few theatres and for a very short time. Disney later complained about the fact that the movie did not do well at the box office. In September 2000, the film was announced for release on DVD in North America exclusively with the English dub. In response to fans' requests to add the Japanese track as well as threats of poor sales, Miramax hired translators for the Japanese version. This plan delayed the DVD release back by almost three months, but it sold well when it was finally released.
The US and UK DVD releases have both the English and Japanese soundtracks, together with subtitles for both the English dub and a more literal translation.
At Miyazaki's insistence, the film was uncut for the English release,[13] so that only the soundtrack was altered. The English dub of Princess Mononoke is a translation with some adaptation by Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman. The main changes from the Japanese version are to provide a cultural context for phrases and actions which those outside of Asia may not be familiar with. Such alterations include references to mythology and specific names for groups, such as Jibashiri and Shishigami, that appear in the Japanese version, which are changed to more general terms, such as Mercenary and Forest Spirit, in the English version. The rationale for such changes is that the majority of non-Japanese viewers would not understand the mythological references (compare Fenrir, Herne the Hunter or Yeehaw) and that the English language simply has no words for the Jibashiri, Shishigami and other terms. However, one critic (Michael Atkinson, Mr. Showbiz) has said that the translation from Japanese to English and the alterations in which it has resulted have weakened the film somewhat.
The film has also been dubbed in Mandarin, Cantonese, Czech, French, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Danish, Persian and Spanish.[14]
Princess Mononoke was the number one film on the Japanese market in 1997, earning ¥11.3 billion in distribution receipts.[15] It was chosen as the Japanese submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for that year. Princess Mononoke also received critical acclaim. Leonard Klady of Variety wrote a positive review of an early release of the picture.[16] On Roger Ebert & The Movies, the film received two thumbs up from Harry Knowles and Roger Ebert.[17] Ebert also gave the film four out of four stars in his print review and has added it to his 10 best movies of the year list.[18] While most of the critical response to the film's dub was positive, others criticized the dub for most of its casting choices,[19] notably Billy Bob Thornton as Jigo and Claire Danes as San, claiming that they detracted from the experience. Despite this love-hate atmosphere, the dub has been hailed as one of the best ever done[20] alongside Spirited Away, which has been met with the same criticism.[21] As of June 2011, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 93% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 83 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10 and the consensus: "With its epic story and breathtaking visuals, Princess Mononoke is a landmark in the world of animation".[22]
Roger Ebert placed the movie sixth on his top ten movies of 1999.[23] Princess Mononoke also became the highest grossing movie in Japan until Titanic took over the spot several months later.[24]
Princess Mononoke ranks 488th on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[25]
It's also on Terry Gilliam's top 50 animated movie list[26]
It's also number 26 on Total Film's 50 animated movie ranking. [27]
In January 2001, it was the top-selling anime in America, but despite this the film did not fare well financially in the United States. It grossed $2,298,191 the first eight weeks.[28]
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