Princess Mononoke (US reviews - page 3)

Hollywood.com

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.hollywood.com/news/topstories/11-02-99/today/1-4.html

November 2, 1999, Tuesday

A Battle Well Fought in 'Princess Mononoke'

By Ted Murphy

HOLLYWOOD -- In the United States, when one speaks of animation, two things almost immediately spring to mind: Disney features and Saturday morning cartoons. While there have been flashes of brilliance from the former ("Beauty and the Beast"), the latter is hardly known for its innovation.

Since the 1980s, there has been a growing appreciation among aficionados of Japanese anime (animated films) and manga (comic books). The preeminent master of anime is Hayao Miyazaki, who may not be all that familiar to American audiences -- yet. With the release of his masterpiece, "Princess Mononoke," that should change. In the early 1970s, Miyazaki conceived "Princess Mononoke" as a riff on "Beauty and the Beast," but he abandoned that project. Nearly 20 years later, he returned to the idea, fleshing it out as a cautionary ecological fable that draws on Japanese mythology. Miyazaki and his team spent nearly four years creating this delicately nuanced, beautifully rendered film which, upon its 1997 release, became the second-highest grossing film in Japan after "Titanic."

[...]

TNT's Rough Cut

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.roughcut.com/reviews/movies/vault1999/princess_mononoke.html

November 1999

Movie Review -- PRINCESS MONONOKE

By Christopher Brandon

This ain't Mulan meets The Jungle Book. In fact, it's not even Disney despite its American distribution from Disney-owned Miramax Films. Princess Mononoke was made years ago by acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and is the second highest grossing film in Japan outdone only by Titanic. For good reason. It's a powerful, gorgeous epic that's as rich in good vs. evil mythology as Star Wars. [...] Like a lot of anime, it's overlong and gets way too metaphysical at the end, but ultimately, this is a Princess worth worshipping.

New York Press

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.nypress.com/col1.cfm?content_id=556

November 3, 1999, Wednesday

Princess Mononoke directed by Hayao Miyazaki Nature's Way

By Matt Zoller Seitz

In this epic Japanese animated film about a war between humans and animal gods for control of an enchanted forest, nature is not merely a setting. It is a living being. It breathes and feels. Writer-director Hayao Miyazaki alternates images of calm and ferocity with a single-mindedness that suggests religious fervor. If you can give yourself over to the film–which might be hard considering its epic length and defiantly Japanese themes–it can induce an awed, trancelike state.

[...]

CitySearch: New York

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://newyork.citysearch.com/E/M/NYCNY/0010/30/47/

November 1999

Princess Mononoke

By Steven Boone

Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" has all the martial fury, elegance and complex narrative of Akira Kurosawa in his prime. Just as Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai," "The Hidden Fortress" and "Yojimbo" influenced countless subsequent adventure films (from "The Magnificent Seven" to "Star Wars"), Miyazaki's animated epic should fire up digital-age imaginations accustomed to mere eye candy. Though nominally related to Disney through its arthouse wing, Miramax, "Princess Mononoke" leaves you filled up with images, ideas and emotions that just don't fit on a McDonald's collector's mug. All that blunts the movie's power are some bland, distracting voice-overs by the likes of Claire Danes and Billy Bob Thornton.

[...]

San Francisco Bay Guardian

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/34/05/animal.html

November 3, 1999, Wednesday

Animaelstrom - Princess Mononoke survives cultural translation

By Patrick Macias

[...]

That's Miyazaki and Mononoke in a nutshell: preachy, anachronistic, paternal, and not the slightest bit interested in the desires of the individual. Princess Mononoke lectures on so many topics it is hard to keep up: mythology, anger management, humanity versus nature, history, and the struggle of Japan's outcast classes, to name only a few. More than anything, it is a tale told by a disappointed ex-Marxist, using ideology to talk about the failure of ideology. Contradiction is, by design, everywhere. But at the same time, Miyazaki won't allow the viewers to make up their own minds.

[...]

It is easy to get caught up in the epic sweep and flow of the runaway narrative, even as the story slows down periodically to accommodate the busy agenda. Many will cry "masterpiece" on principle alone. They have to. But by sacrificing individuality to a gorgeously rendered landscape, the control-freaked Princess Mononoke betrays its own humanity.

Newsday (New York)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.newsday.com/movies/rnmxz10w.htm

November 1999

'Mononoke' Voices Iron Will of Warriors

By John Anderson

ONE OF THE BIGGEST money-makers in the history of Japanese cinema, "Princess Mononoke" is that almost-unheard-of item, the animated movie for adults. It's not just the violence-severed heads, severed, limbs, roiling rivers of blood-that should probably keep the Pokmon crowd at home. It's more the sentiments of the movie-and its elegiac qualities, its lack of belief in an imminent Apocalypse-that make it more suited for audiences with a developed sense of environmental justice.

[...]

The Christian Science Monitor

The following are relevant quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/10/29/fp14s1-csm.shtml

October 29, 1999, Friday

ARTS &amp LEISURE - Movie Guide

By David Sterritt

[...]

Princess Mononoke

[...]

The setting is ancient Japan, and the hero is a young warrior who gets caught up in a struggle between warring communities and powerful forest spirits who want to protect their natural world from the ravages of selfish, insensitive humans. This animated epic combines the storytelling ambition of Japan's popular anime tradition with dialogue dubbed into English by a well-chosen cast. It's more thoughtful and varied than the average Hollywood cartoon, and its environmental message is appealing, but moviegoers who prefer live-action features won't find it all that special. Contains violence and innuendo that some parents may find unsuitable for young children.

[...]

The Orange County Register

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/weekend/mono029w.shtml

October 29, 1999, Friday

Anime designed to delight REVIEW: The film paints a dazzling world that should appeal to anime fans and newcomers to the style

By Henry Sheehan

[...]

"Princess Mononoke" may pull off the double feat of delighting anime adherents while also winning some new fans for the form. An epic scale production that features passionate emotion and action without crossing the line into explicit violence or sex, the film is the latest from Hayao Miyazaki, one of anime's leading lights.

As does anime in general, "Mononoke" sacrifices some fluidity in animated motion for the sake of highly detailed graphic design, a reversal of the Hollywood approach that may take some viewers a while to get used to. But their patience will be rewarded by a mystical period drama that plumbs ancient myth in an attempt to grapple with contemporary ecological issues.

[...]

The Daily Southtown (Chicago)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/tgif/tgmvr.htm

October 29, 1999, Friday

The Pearson Perspective

By Dan Pearson

[...]

"Princess Mononoke" [...] — Grandiose Japanese animated adventure showcases the epic quest of an injured warrior-prince determined to heal the rift between exploitative humans and the angry gods of nature. This gala presentation at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival has been re-dubbed in English with a celebrity voice cast that now features Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver, Billy Crudup, Gillian Anderson, Jada Pinkett Smith and Claire Danes in the title role. In any language, the stilted dialog remains fairly inane, but the sheer scope of the magnificent visuals fully deserves to be experienced on a big screen. PG-13.

[...]

IMDB - Susan Granger

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://reviews.imdb.com/Reviews/213/21349 or at: http://www.speakers-podium.com/susangranger/reviews.htm

October 30, 1999, Saturday

Susan Granger's review of "PRINCESS MONONOKE" (Miramax Films)

By Susan Granger

Based on Japanese folklore, this captivating environmentalist fable is the tale of a war between the beast gods of the forest and the humans who are encroaching on their pristine territory. [...] The fluid and superbly detailed animation is technically awesome, emotionally powerful, and unbelievably beautiful. I was particularly enchanted by the tiny, ghost-like, head-clicking tree sprites. But - at a lengthy 135 minutes - with scenes of graphic violence and a complex, philosophical storyline to follow, it's definitely not meant for young children. Heed the PG-13 rating. Basically, it's art house fare. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Princess Mononoke" is a stunning, spiritual 7 - but it is definitely too much of a good thing.

Colossus.net

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/p/princess_mononoke.html

October 29, 1999, Friday

Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime)

By James Berardinelli

[...]

Unlike most animated motion pictures, which have a relatively limited scope, Princess Mononoke is an epic saga, a fantasy adventure of great ambition and extent. The visuals are not as polished as Disney's, but the plot is deeper and richer than anything that has emerged from the Magic Kingdom. It is more adult in nature - although there is no overt sexuality, the violence is reasonably graphic (there are decapitations and instances when bloody limbs are torn or hacked from bodies). There's also an intelligence and sophistication in the writing that one rarely finds in animated endeavors. Most children will appreciate Princess Mononoke, but this is truly an adult experience. You don't have to feel guilty about entering a theater if you're not accompanied by a five-year old.

[...]

Film Journal International

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.filmjournal.com/DisplayReviews.cfm?ID=749&UI=9602

November 1999

PRINCESS MONONOKE (PG-13) Ecological anime epic is too damn well-intentioned. Genre enthusiasts will queue up, but the sugary conservationist ideas, plot-heavy action, and two-hour-plus running time will be minuses for many.

By Peter Henné

Touted as a breakthrough for Japanese anime, Princess Mononoke, directed by veteran Hayao Miyazaki, might claim some new subject matter for the genre, yet not any artistic gains or deeper moral treatment. Mononoke does not depart from any of the storytelling, character or pictorial norms of anime-which means that we still get a cut-and-dried world of good and evil, populated by a strong-and-silent male and a sexy villainness at the center, with giggly floozies, superpowerful demons, and countless, mindless soldiers at the command of the combatants. We still have concepts of drawing influenced by drably legible, Saturday-morning American television, and not by any indigenous styles, such as kano painting, ukiyo-e prints or Golden Era cinema. Miyazaki can be credited with importing a new, ecological theme to his filmmaking form, and along with it untypical, forested settings. Some of his backdrops sparkle prettily. But instead of taking this fresh material as his point of departure, he only submits it to the established codes of his trade, a lot like a proselytizer rounding up a new tribe of heathens to deliver the same old sermon to. People, forest animals and spirits go through the same complexity shredder that all anime subjects suffer: Scraped clean of ambiguities, sapped of individuality, they can work only as easy-to-identify types.

[...]

iF Magazine

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://ifmagazine.ifctv.com/reviews/review.asp?reviewID=273

October 29, 1999, Friday

PRINCESS MONONOKE

By Christopher Allan Smith

As the apex of anime, Hayao Miyazaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE is the perfect prism to see what is great and gaudy in the matured and eminently interesting Japanese art form. Unlike America, where animation was born and then emasculated by several generations of filmgoers stunted by Disney's narrow but lush vision of what the animated medium from could be, Japan has seemingly single handedly (and that hand could well be Miyazaki's) saved any hope for adult animated stories.

Miyazaki's greatest vision, MONONOKE (Japan's highest grossing film of all time) is an electric remembrance of tradition, the lost wonders of an almost pre-history Japan, and such a brilliant expression of Miyazaki's unpredictable storytelling it's no wonder Miramax bought it and re-dubbed it with American voices.

[...]

Student.Com

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.student.com/article/mononoke

November 1999

Deep Forest As sweeping as "The Seven Samurai" and charged with primal awe, "Princess Mononoke" proves that big-screen animation isn't all about cute warthogs and Elton John ballads.

By Alec Nevala-Lee

"Princess Mononoke" is a luxuriantly imaginative animated film from Japan that comes closer to stirring feelings of primal awe and terror than any other animated feature this decade. For an audience raised on Disney's recent output, this movie (a massive hit in Japan as "Mononoke-Hime") may come as a revelation: it's a violent, challenging, often thrilling motion picture, and it reaches places that mainstream American films rarely dare to touch. This is the movie that "The Phantom Menace" should have been — a rousing, inventive, headlong plunge into an unknown world.

[...]

The Washington Post

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/pmextra/nov99/4/princess.htm

November 5, 1999, Friday

‘Princess': Hooray for Anime

By Desson Howe

[...]

In terms of the animation, the details are remarkable. And there are some amazingly intense and vivid battles between human and forest creatures. The movie's shimmering, eerily realistic depiction of water, alone, rendered me awestruck. It is in such subtle moments—and there are many of them—that "Princess Mononoke" earns its points.

"Princess Mononoke" has some shortcomings: a heavy-handed ecological message, a brain-reeling plot line and no squeamishness when it comes to, say, decapitation.

But if animated blood is just so much red ink to you and you can sit through an entire hour of NPR coverage without screaming for air, the violence and the pro-environment sentimentality shouldn't be too problematic. Just sit back (it's more than two hours), count the chopped off heads and appreciate the sheer mastery of anime. This "Princess" is a royal treat.

Texas Pagan Awareness Online

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.txpn.org/TPAO/mononoke.html

November 1999

Princess Mononoke: A Japanese Masterpiece

By Kit O'Connell (?)

[...]

Several things set this movie far above anything produced by American animators or directors. One is Miyazaki's always beautiful animation and an amazing soundtrack. More importantly, however, is that in Princess Mononoke all actions have consequences. When Ashitaka is nicked by Eboshi's blade while breaking up a fight between her and San, the scar on his cheek lingers for the remainder of the movie. Although there are some scenes of somewhat graphic violence in the movie (meriting its PG-13 rating), killing only increases the hate and greed which are the true antagonists of the movie. The audience genuinely mourns and is horrified by the noble but futile death of the Boar clan as they launch an attack on human hunters, lending the movie a realism and impact almost totally missing from US films.

[...]

Star-Telegram (Dallas/Fort Worth)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.star-telegram.com/justgo/elvis/mononoke.htm

November 5, 1999, Friday

Miyazaki animates his audience with `Princess Mononoke'

By Elvis Mitchell

There are images in the animated feature Princess Mononoke as startling and primal as the worst nightmare. Children are playing in a beautiful unspoiled field when a creature comes rumbling toward them -- a mass of bloody, writhing worms eating away at a giant boar as it gallops and moans across the countryside. It's where master animator Hayao Miyazaki's gifts are best realized, when he works on the level of dreams.

[...]

The movie may feel a little long, but that's partially because Danes and some of the other actors doing the voices give such flat, modern readings. The faces are a little inexpressive, too -- even someone as immensely talented as Miyazaki hasn't quite mastered that . . . yet. Miyazaki's tableaux have an unforgettable beauty, and the epic sprawl of Princess Mononoke has more sheer power than any of the big-budget disaster pictures you can name. The violence comes so swiftly that you almost laugh when it happens -- it's part of the dreaminess.

[...]

San Francisco Chronicle

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/11/05/DD44115.DTL

November 5, 1999, Friday

Japan's `Princess' a Complex Beauty Dark animated film may scare very young

By Peter Stack

"Princess Mononoke," Japan's biggest domestic box- office hit, opens at only two Bay Area theaters today, the Embarcadero Cinema in San Francisco and the Towne in San Jose. It's an art film, a densely plotted and visually stunning piece of animation, and not a movie for everybody.

[...]

For some, the movie may feel long at 134 minutes. But in Miyazaki's rarefied world, time is a richly imagined thing.

San Francisco Examiner

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/05/Smononoke.dtl&type=movies

November 5, 1999, Friday

"Monokoke": Epic ecological parable

By Wesley Morris

FOR AN INSIGHT into precisely how stunning Hayao Miyazaki's rich, animated epic "Princess Mononoke" is, you need only consider how little of it leaves you once you've left it. It's a loaded spectacle married to a narrative odyssey with Tolkien, Homer and David Lean on its mind, overseen by a man who for all practical purposes is deeply committed to the integration of Japanese history, ideology, mythology, ecology and faith into an action fantasia that makes "cartoon" sound condescending and inaccurate.

[...]

Contra Costa Times (California)

The following are representative quotes only; the full text is available online at: http://www.mercurycenter.com/justgo/special/mononoke/review-cct.shtml

November 5, 1999, Friday

Animation's seldom been so striking 'Princess Mononoke' may be a tough sell – violence is rampant – but it's worth it for the powerful imagery

By Karen Hershenson

For a country coddled by Disney, the new Japanese import "Princess Mononoke" is something completely different - an animated movie that is intensely dramatic.

DreamWorks tried something like this with "Prince of Egypt," but it seems tame compared to this mythical story, loosely based on 14th-century Japanese folklore. At more than two hours long, with sweeping landscapes and a grand musical score, it is more epic than cartoon.

Youngsters may be frightened by the wild boar covered with writhing worms, or the ape tribe with glowing red eyes. There are decapitations, and blood flows freely and often. But for anyone who cherishes the sheer art of animation, it is a must-see.

[...]