Princess Mononoke is a 1997 animated feature film from the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki. It focuses on the efforts of Ashitaka, a young prince of a forest dwelling people, to rid himself of a terrible curse. On his journey he encounters a wide range of interesting people and creatures including the titular Mononoke San. At it's core it's a Japanese fairy tale with a strong message( the message being you must learn to balance the rapid pace of human expansion and development with the preservation of nature) and a unique and vibrant world.
First let me talk about the animation. This hand drawn animation from Studio Ghibli is some of the finest I've ever seen. The fluid motion and beautiful drawing bring life to characters both mundane and fantastical. I'm not sure how a giant forest spirit would move, but I'd bet it's probably close to what they show in this movie. The colors are vibrant and distinct, the detail on the environment and the characters is superb, and the background and sky-boxes look so much better than computer animated ones. Over 144,000 individual cells were used to create the movie and Miyazaki is rumored to have personally edited almost 80,000 of them. The only instance of computer animation is the demon flesh effect, which was layered on the hand drawn art to give it a more 3-d feel. The work done by these animators should not be overlooked as with more and more efficient computer animation this may become a lost art very soon.
Next let's talk about the dub. Like it or not, most people want to watch a movie, not read it, and that can be where many foreign movies get butchered. Fortunately the people at Disney decided to supervise the dub and make sure that it was done well. The voice lines actually sync up with mouth movements, the translation is as close to the original meaning as possible, and some top tier voice actors bring the English version to life. This is not the old Godzilla movie standard, with terrible ADR, voices recorded from the bottom of a well, and translations completely devoid of the original meaning. Whether you are a sub fan or a dub fan I think we can all agree it's better when both are done well.
Finally let me talk about the music. The soundtrack to this film is phenomenal. The music really helps bring the world to life and convey the stark contrast of emotions between the residents of IronTown and the spirits and animals of the forest. I'll just give you a sample, words are rarely sufficient to describe the power of a song.
This movie is well worth your time, take a brief look into another culture and a timeless story. Think of it as a Disney movie that doesn't pull it's punches and admire the thousands of hours of work that must have been put in to bring this world to life.
