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Princess Mononoke

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Princess Mononoke
File:Princess Mononoke Japanese Poster (Movie).jpg
Japanese theatrical release poster
Directed byHayao Miyazaki
Written byHayao Miyazaki
Produced byToshio Suzuki
StarringYōji Matsuda
Yuriko Ishida
Yūko Tanaka
Kaoru Kobayashi
Masahiko Nishimura
Tsunehiko Kamijō
Akihiro Miwa
Mitsuko Mori
Hisaya Morishige
CinematographyAtsushi Okui
Edited byTakeshi Seyama
Music byJoe Hisaishi
Production
company
Distributed byJapan:
Toho
International:
Miramax Films
Release date
  • July 12, 1997 (1997-07-12)
Running time
134 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
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. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Sumi Shimamoto and Akihiro Miwa. "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]

Plot

A giant boar-demon attacks an Emishi village and the protagonist, Ashitaka, is forced to fight and kill him. In the struggle, Ashitaka receives a curse on his right arm,[2] which grants him superhuman strength but will eventually kill him. Under the advice of the village oracle, he leaves to travel to the west in search of a cure. After some traveling, he meets Jigo, 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 accompanied by San, who the villagers of Iron Town call "Princess Mononoke." She is a young human woman who was adopted by the giant wolf goddess Moro.

Ashitaka finds two villagers injured by the wolves near a river. 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, the manager of the settlement, that she created the boar-demon by killing the giant boar god Nago, one of the protectors of the forest. Though angered, Ashitaka also finds out that Iron Town is 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 and stops the fighting between Eboshi and San. While leaving the town with San, he is shot through the chest, mortally wounding him. San takes Ashitaka to the Forest Spirit, who heals his gunshot wound but does not remove the curse. San starts to develop romantic feelings for Ashitaka. Boars, led by the boar god Okkoto, arrive to attack Iron Town, and San joins them. Meanwhile, 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 Jigo a fortune and grant Iron Town legal protection from local daimyos.

During the assault, the Imperial hunters kill the boars, and Okkoto is corrupted by a gunshot wound. Despite San's attempts to stop Okkoto from becoming a demon like Nago, she is swept up in the corruption pouring off of him. However, Moro, who was mortally wounded in the assault, rescues San with Ashitaka's help. The Forest Spirit appears and takes Okkoto and Moro's lives away. Lying in ambush, Eboshi shoots several times and decapitates the Forest Spirit during its transformation into the "night-walker". 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 just as the sun rises. It collapses into the lake, healing the land as well as the lepers and accursed, including Ashitaka and San. Though Ashitaka means much to San, she still despises humans for their actions and decides to continue living in the forest. Ashitaka decides to stay and help to rebuild the town. However, Ashitaka tells San that he will visit her in the forest. Eboshi, amazed by the efforts of Ashitaka, San and the wolves to save her and the people of Iron Town, vows to rebuild a better town.

The film ends with a Kodama appearing in the rejuvenated forest.

Cast

  • Yōji Matsuda as Ashitaka (アシタカ), the last Emishi prince who leaves his village to search for a cure to a curse inflicted on his arm. He rides on his elk Yakul (ヤックル, Yakkuru). In the English version, Ashitaka is voiced by Billy Crudup.
  • Yuriko Ishida as San (サン), a human girl raised by the wolves. Ishida also voices Kaya (カヤ), Ashitaka's sister. In the English version, San is voiced by Claire Danes and Kaya is voiced by Tara Strong.
  • Akihiro Miwa as Moro (モロの君, Moro no Kimi), the giant wolf goddess and San's adopted mother. In the English version, Moro is voiced by Gillian Anderson.
  • Yūko Tanaka as Lady Eboshi (エボシ御前, Eboshi Gozen), the ruler of Iron Town. In the English version, Eboshi is voiced by Minnie Driver.
  • Kaoru Kobayashi as Jiko-Bou (ジコ坊, Jiko-bō, known as "Jigo" in the English version), a monk who befriends Ashitaka on his journey to the west. In the English version, Jiko-Bou is voiced by Billy Bob Thornton.
  • Sumi Shimamoto as Toki (トキ, Toki), a former prostitute and the leader of Eboshi's women. In the English version, Toki is voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith.
  • Hisaya Morishige as Okkotonushi (乙事主, Okkotonushi, known as "Okkoto" in the English version), the leader of the boar gods. In the English version, Okkotonushi is voiced by Keith David.
  • Tsunehiko Kamijō as Gonza (ゴンザ), Eboshi's bodyguard. In the English version, Gonza is voiced by John DiMaggio.
  • Masahiko Nishimura as Kohroku (甲六, Kōroku), Toki's husband and an ox-driver who was attacked by the wolf spirits. He is eventually rescued by Ashitaka and brought back to Iron Town. In the English version, Kohroku is voiced by John DeMita.
  • Mitsuko Mori as Hii-sama (ヒイ様), the wise woman of Ashitaka's village. In the English version, Hii-sama is voiced by Debi Derryberry.

Production

It took Hayao 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]

3D rendering was used to create the demon worms and composite them onto a hand-drawn Ashitaka.

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.

Mononoke was produced with an estimated budget of ¥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]

Release

The film was extremely successful in Japan and with both anime fans and arthouse moviegoers in English-speaking countries. In those countries, critics interpreted the film to be 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.

Localization

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) 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 many different countries.[14]

Reception

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 positive reviews from film critics. 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 of Ain't It Cool News and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times.[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] The film has a 93% approval rating from the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 84 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] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews."[23]

Roger Ebert placed the movie sixth on his top ten movies of 1999.[24] Princess Mononoke also became the highest grossing movie in Japan until Titanic took over the spot several months later.[25]

Princess Mononoke ranks 488th on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[26]

It's also on Terry Gilliam's top 50 animated movie list.[27]

It's also number 26 on Total Film's 50 animated movie ranking. [28]

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 for the first eight weeks.[29]

Awards

  • Best Picture; The 21st Japan Academy Prize
  • Best Japanese Movie, Best Animation, and Japanese Movie Fans' Choice; The 52nd Mainichi Film Award
  • Best Japanese Movie and Readers' Choice; Asahi Best Ten Film Festival
  • Excellent Movie Award; The Agency for Cultural Affairs
  • Grand Prize in Animation Division; 1st Japan Media Arts Festival (by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Education)
  • Best Director; Takasaki Film Festival
  • Best Japanese Movie; The Association of Movie Viewing Groups
  • Movie Award; The 39th Mainichi Art Award
  • Best Director; Tokyo Sports Movie Award
  • Nihon Keizai Shinbun Award for Excellency; Nikkei Awards for Excellent Products/Service (details)
  • Theater Division Award; Asahi Digital Entertainment Award
  • MMCA Special Award; Multimedia Grand Prix 1997
  • Best Director and Yujiro Ishihara Award; Nikkan Sports Film Award
  • Special Achievement Award; The Movie's Day
  • Special Award; Hochi Film Award
  • Special Award; Blue Ribbon Awards
  • Special Award; Osaka Film Festival
  • Special Award; Elandore Award
  • Cultural Award; Fumiko Yamaji Award
  • Grand Prize and Special Achievement Award; Golden Gross Award
  • First Place, best films of the year; The 26th "Pia Ten"
  • First Place; Japan Movie Pen Club, 1997 Best 5 Japanese Movies
  • First Place; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Readers' Choice)
  • Second Place; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Critics' Choice)
  • Best Director; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies (Readers' Choice)
  • First Place; Best Comicker's Award
  • First Place; CineFront Readers' Choice
  • Nagaharu Yodogawa Award; RoadShow
  • Best Composer and Best Album Production; 39th Japan Record Award
  • Excellent Award; Yomiuri Award for Film/Theater Advertisement

Soundtrack

Main article: Princess Mononoke: Music from the Motion Picture

References

  1. ^ Critics' Picks: 'Princess Mononoke' - NYTimes.com/Video, A. O. Scott reviews 'Princess Mononoke,' Hayao Miyazaki's anime masterpiece.
  2. ^ a b Clements, Jonathan (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia. California: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 1-933330-10-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b Toshio Uratani (2004). Princess Mononoke: Making of a Masterpiece (Documentary). Japan: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
  4. ^ "The Animation Process". Official film site.
  5. ^ "Transcript on Miyazaki interview". Official film site.
  6. ^ "Mononoke DVD Website". Disney.
  7. ^ a b "Wettbewerb/In Competition". Moving Pictures, Berlinale Extra. Berlin: 32. 11–22 February 1998. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Movie-Vault.com
  9. ^ Articles about Mononoke Hime
  10. ^ a b c "Miyazaki on Mononoke-hime". Nausicaa.net. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  11. ^ Leavey, John (2010). "Possessed by and of: Up against Seeing: Princess Mononoke". ImageTexT. 5 (2). University of Florida. Retrieved September 11, 2012. {{cite journal}}: line feed character in |title= at position 33 (help)
  12. ^ "もののけ姫 ロケ地情報" (in Japanese). Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  13. ^ Brooks, Xan (September 14, 2005). "A god among animators". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  14. ^ "Video List: Mononoke Hime". nausicaa.net. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  15. ^ "Kako haikyū shūnyū jōi sakuhin 1997-nen" (in Japanese). Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
  16. ^ Leonard Klady review
  17. ^ Roger Ebert & The Movies review
  18. ^ Roger Ebert's print review
  19. ^ Blackwelder, Rob. "Lost in the Translation". SPLICEDwire. Retrieved 2006-10-08. Leaden English dialogue from miscast voice talent diminishes the power of 'Mononoke'
  20. ^ Fortier, Marc. "Princess Mononoke (1997)". Reel Review Critics Roundup. Reel.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2006-10-08. Thanks to some savvy casting choices, Mononoke's voice crew realizes one of the best English dubs in the history of imported anime.
  21. ^ Bertschy, Zac (2002-08-22). "Spirited Away: English Language Analysis". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2006-10-08. I personally felt that Miramax's dub of Princess Mononoke was well-done. Probably the best dub I've ever seen. Spirited Away follows in that tradition.
  22. ^ "Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  23. ^ "Princess Mononoke". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  24. ^ Roger Ebert. "Roger Ebert's Top Ten Lists 1967-2006". Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  25. ^ Ebert, Roger (1999-10-24). "Director Miyazaki draws American attention". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  26. ^ "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empireonline.com. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  27. ^ http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/8838/
  28. ^ http://www.totalfilm.com/features/50-greatest-animated-movies
  29. ^ "Anime Radar: News". Animerica. 9 (2). San Francisco, California: Viz Media: 32. 2001. ISSN 1067-0831. OCLC 27130932. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

Further reading

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