[Mononoke] David Poland's PM Review on TNT Roughcut (fwd)
RyoToyama@aol.com
Tue, 7 Sep 1999 20:12:07 EDT
From: RyoToyama@aol.com
Message-ID: <f40aab89.250703d7@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 20:12:07 EDT
Subject: [Mononoke] David Poland's PM Review on TNT Roughcut (fwd)
To: mh-announce@nausicaa.net
The following was first posted by Russel Watanabe to the Miyazaki ML.
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Here's a quick review [1] from TNT Roughcut's critic David Poland (at
the Telluride Film Festival).
[1]http://www.roughcut.com/today/hot.button/990905_sun.html
Oh, I know I'm breaking that 10% rule, but I can't help it.
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....The film I was there to see was Princess Mononoke. The presenter,
animation expert Gary Meyer, made a point of emphasizing the correct
pronunciation of the name, so I will do the same for you. It is
Princess Moe-no-no-kay.
The film is quite wonderful. There were moments when the anime form
seemed inferior to Disney's best work. At other times, the anime seemed
out of Disney's reach. One thing that struck me in particular about the
form is how traditional the drawings of humans seems to be; really no
different than the "Speed Racer" cartoons I watched when I was 5 years
old. And that made me think, "They do remakes of old movies, updating
them, all the time. Why not a grown-up version of "Speed Racer?" After
all, he was always the James Bond of animation. It could be great.
But back to the Princess' story. One of the things that is odd about
the movie is that it really isn't about the Princess, but about
Ashitaka, voiced in the English-language version by Billy Crudup. He
was solid, and Minnie Driver as the Lady Iboshi was exceptional. The
only voices that really bugged me were Billy Bob Thornton as the evil
gnome-like Moro and Claire Danes as San. Billy Bob is just too damned
southern for his role and doesn't carry an evil undertone in his voice.
And when Claire Danes gets riled up, she gets too shrill to play a
woman as powerful and focused as San. I just didn't buy it. And it's a
shame, because outside of about 20 minutes of dead time in the
beginning of the third act, this film just zings along. The story, in
its most simple telling, is about a man, Ashitaka, who saves his
village by killing a giant boor which has been possessed by an evil
spirit. He gets infected by the spirit in the fight and must leave the
village to find a way to survive or to die without endangering the
village. The heroic boy falls into the battle of good vs. evil,
industry vs. nature and love vs. hate. The anim・瘢雹allows for a powerful
set of images that could never begin to be matched in live action.
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Comments:
* So somebody can pronounce Mononoke better than Mr. Voice from the
trailer.
* Oh oh. The Speed Racer thing again. Actually, I don't think he meant
it as a knock on PM. I think it's more that the anime style has been so
consistant over the years, as opposed to, say, Disney's Tarzan and
Disney's Snow White.
* Actually, there is a Speed Racer project in the works, although it's
live action and it's in development hell right now. More information at
Coming Attractions [2]
[2]http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/speedracer.html
* More praise for Minnie Driver and more criticisms for Billy Bob
Thornton and Claire Danes.
* "the battle of good vs. evil, industry vs. nature and love vs. hate".
Is this too simplistic? (I haven't seen it yet)
Poland has mentioned Princess Mononoke numerous times in his column, so
he'll probably plug it more as the release gets closer.
Russell Watanabe