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Reviews of the day:
Princess Mononoke (1997)
This was my fifth Miyazaki film and it certainly is his most serious and violent picture so far. I liked it a lot! The greatest thing about it is obviously the created world full of tree spirits, gods, demons and visually stunning locations. Miyazaki's imagination truly knows no limits.
The movie starts with the introduction of the character of Ashitaka. He's the prince of a decaying village, which is attacked by a giant boar with a demonic curse on him. Ashitaka kills the boar and becomes infected with the curse.
Because of that, he has to leave the village and on his quest to find the tree spirit, who can cure him, he gets mixed up in a war between nature (the spirits and the gods) and humanity. In that war, there is a kind of wolf girl involved, named Princess Mononoke.
Both sides have evilness and both sides have goodness and Miyazaki creates a main character that doesn't really judge, but rather helps to solve the conflict, although he's constantly repressed by his curse.
The main question is of course: Is this Miyazaki's best movie so far for me?
The answer is "no". I personally thought Spirited Away's story and characters were more involving and I also was a bigger fan of its style. I also thought the climax in this movie was a little overexposed. Everything was growing towards it and when it finally came, I wasn't completely satisfied with the way it went. I may have to rewatch this movie again, though, to fully get what Miyazaki tried to do there.
I still liked it very much and it was a magical experience from a very high quality, so I rate this movie a well deserved:
(-)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
This was my fifth Miyazaki film and it certainly is his most serious and violent picture so far. I liked it a lot! The greatest thing about it is obviously the created world full of tree spirits, gods, demons and visually stunning locations. Miyazaki's imagination truly knows no limits.
The movie starts with the introduction of the character of Ashitaka. He's the prince of a decaying village, which is attacked by a giant boar with a demonic curse on him. Ashitaka kills the boar and becomes infected with the curse.
Because of that, he has to leave the village and on his quest to find the tree spirit, who can cure him, he gets mixed up in a war between nature (the spirits and the gods) and humanity. In that war, there is a kind of wolf girl involved, named Princess Mononoke.
Both sides have evilness and both sides have goodness and Miyazaki creates a main character that doesn't really judge, but rather helps to solve the conflict, although he's constantly repressed by his curse.
The main question is of course: Is this Miyazaki's best movie so far for me?
The answer is "no". I personally thought Spirited Away's story and characters were more involving and I also was a bigger fan of its style. I also thought the climax in this movie was a little overexposed. Everything was growing towards it and when it finally came, I wasn't completely satisfied with the way it went. I may have to rewatch this movie again, though, to fully get what Miyazaki tried to do there.
I still liked it very much and it was a magical experience from a very high quality, so I rate this movie a well deserved:
(-)