Princess Mononoke

So, guys, now we've arrived at one of the most famous Studio Ghibli movies out there and maybe one of the most famous anime movies ever, Princess Mononoke. Whenever you hear about extremely famous anime movies, this is definitely one of them. This was also technically my first real Studio Ghibli movie. I had seen clips from some of the others, but this was the first one I saw completely properly. The first time I saw it, I absolutely loved it and really got into the story and characters. The second time though, I didn't really love it the same way, but I still really enjoyed it. And, recently, when seeing it again to do these reviews, I think I was leaning more in between both those thoughts where I didn't exactly love it like the first time I saw it, but I liked it more than the last time. But, either way, my point is that I really, really like this movie and think it's great, this is another one of my favourite Ghibli movies and I do get why it would be considered one of the most famous anime movies of all time. The story is about a prince named Ashitaka who stops some demon from attacking his village but his arm gets touched by it so now he has some curse on him that'll kill him soon. This causes him to have to leave and he eventually finds a town called Iron Town where he meets the people there, especially the leader of the town, a lady named Eboshi and they're trying to kill a bunch of animals in the forest to make a better future for themselves with their town, especially a bunch of wolves and a girl named San who's actually half human/half wolf and so Ashitaka is trying to figure out what to do and how save everyone. So, yeah, as you can probably tell, the movie has a lot going on. This is actually a pretty long movie with being 2 hours and 13 minutes long. But, thankfully, about 99% of this movie is paced extremely well that it uses that in great ways. Plus, since it has a lot of aspects about the forest and all that, it's clearly trying to tell a story about how we should protect the environment and, while I personally don't usually get into stories like that with some exceptions, I think this film does it really well. Something that helps that for me is the characters. I really like a lot of these characters. Ashitaka's really likeable and, while he may be a bit too stoic at times, I think the writing for him is really well done. I also really like San, as in the actual Princess Mononoke. She's also really likeable and I think she has some really cool moments. I don't think there's really a character I don't like. Sure, some characters like Eboshi and Jiko are kinda villains, but the writing for them is done well too. Something else that the film does extremely well that I think Ghibli movies do amazingly is world building. I really like the way this world gets explained to us and how everything here works, especially when it comes to locations like Iron Town and the forest, especially where the Spirit Of The Forest is, which an amazing concept that the film takes great advantage of. The Spirit Of The Forest is this giant deer thing that can transform at night time and it gives life to the forest and Eboshi wants to kill it so it won't cause any more trouble for them and Jiko wants to kill it to sell it. Again, some of that might sound a bit clichéd and overdone, but, with the way this film does it, I think it's done in a way that's really entertaining. The animation is also really impressive here. I know I always gush over how much the animation in the Studio Ghibli movies is incredible, but, for this one, it's even more impressive for a lot of reasons. One, this came out in 1997 so at the time, I can only imagine how mind-blowing this must have been, but, the second thing is the animation in the action scenes. The way the characters move in these action scenes and how the camera moves in it too is beyond impressive. I especially love the opening scene where Ashitaka fights that demon and just shoots it with arrows, it's really cool. Plus, I love how different parts of the film gets revealed to us. For one, I love from some parts of the film comes back later like when Ashitaka finds out about how the demon in the opening was created by a piece iron that came from the town. Plus, I think a super underrated aspect of the film is really underrated is the relationship that builds between Ashitaka and San. I know people like it, but I really like their connection and how they begin to care for each other. Plus, a lot of the stuff in the story helps lead to a lot of great aspects like when Okkoto, this giant old boar, is dying towards the end and this leads to him accidentally leading a bunch of men towards the Spirit Of The Forest and this causes them to eventually kill it and that leads to the really crazy climax where the Spirit is sorta going crazy and causing the land to be destroyed and it wants its head back because Jiko has it and wants to bring it back with him and so Ashitaka and San try to get it back from him and the climax just gets crazier and crazier with the land becoming more destroyed and so on. It's really nuts but it's done really well and it has a really nice ending to all that too. I just love when movies like these have smart structures to them and seeing how the events in this film happen is really great to watch. Honestly, if I had any problems with the film, it would be that I think it's a little too long. Like I said, I think it uses its time really well and the pacing is really well executed, but, sometimes, it feels some things could have been cut out like when Ashitaka isn't doing much but just doing some travelling and running around. It makes sense in terms of the film itself, but from the point of view of the time length, it just makes the film seem way too long at points. But, regardless, I do really like this film and I do think it's one of my favourite Studio Ghibli movies. There's a reason this film is so popular and famous and it's not hard to see why. I also especially love the dub here like Billy Crudup as Ashitaka, Claire Danes as San, Minnie Driver as Eboshi. They all do great and other actors like Billy Bob Thornton, John DiMaggio and Keith David are fantastic too. I just really love this and I'm really glad this was my real introduction to Studio Ghibli after hearing so much about the studio. So, yeah, I would say you see this, there's a lot of really great stuff here. So guys, that's my review of Princess Mononoke. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.