Princess Mononoke

[auburngrad82]

I watched Princess Mononoke this weekend. Great movie. I love Miyazaki's "creatures". The old blind boar was absolutely terrifying when he turned into a demon. Another chilling moment was when the woman in charge of the ironworks told the hunters "Watch closely, I'm going to show you how to kill a god."

Miyazaki's films are all filled with beauty. I liked Spirited Away a little better but Princess Mononoke was brilliant as well.

[Az]

1. When the movie first came out

A friend of mine was a manager of a local art theater. We got a private screening of Princess Mononokie out of it. :D

Miyazaki is a great visual artist. His images of flight are breath taking. The depth of character of his creations memorable.

[Zhade]

2. Please tell me you saw the subbed version!

Though the dub's voices aren't all bad...

[auburngrad82]

3. Nah, it was the dubbed version.

Still liked it a lot.

[NuttyFluffers]

4. ... i liked the tree spirits.

especially watching them blow in the wind. :7 that's the best part of the movie, watching tree spirits holding on desperately on the tree tops in the face of a gust of wind.

i also liked the periphery characters far more than the main characters. they made the movie. otherwise it was just a decent film. main characters got on my nerves and i couldn't care about their drama, too... two-dimentional, flat, archetypal. but the secondary characters were well fleshed out and entertaining.

[Old Mouse]

5. Shame about Disney's version

Their reworking of the script downplayed the subtext of how the indigenous Ainu of Japan were attempting to survive by concealing their existance from the Japanese people.

[Az]

6. Of course

Americans learn about the only history that matters. American history. Such things would be lost on us.

[SiouxJ]

7. A breathtaking film!

I agree, I like Spirited Away slightly better but both are brilliant.

After reading the comments here, I'd be interested to see the subbed version, the only problem there is if you're watching the subs, you miss a lot of the beauty in the animation. I suppose I could always learn Japanese.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

8. It changed how I saw animated films

forever

[ArchTeryx]

9. Amazing film...

Especially when you started delving into the background. Turns out the Japanese script was full of little subtleties that didn't quite come through in the English version.

The Shishigami (Deer God) and it's night-form Didarabocchi was a great example. The Deer God had power over life and death, a nexus of what the Japanese think of as fate. The Didarabocchi was a giant of Japanese legend, said to sculpt mountains and direct rivers, but also built bridges for humankind. I believe that the approximate translation, in fact, is 'Bridge-builder' but I may be wrong. So you had a deity that controlled the life-flow by day and the elemental (physical) flow at night. How elegant!

How many factions did Jiko Bou actually represent? No fewer then three! The Zibashiri (elite hunters), the secretive Shishou Ren (assassin's coalition; they were the poison dart and grenade users) and the Yamato, represented by his Ishibiya (riflemen). And you never had a problem keeping them straight at the appropriate times.

-- ArchTeryx