Along the way, he encounters San (The Princess Mononoke), a young human woman fighting to protect the forest and Lady Eboshi, the head of Tatara Ba (Iron Town). The film follows Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Ainu tribe, who is cursed by a demonised boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure from the Forest Spirit.

It is another Miyazaki masterpiece: Beautiful animation, mystical fern-gullyesque settings, and subtle music which complements the serious nature of the film. This movie will probably stand for years to come as one of the very few truly original modern fables. Sadly, in the upcoming DVD release, there is no japanese language version.

It is strongly recommanded that you watch the Japanese version with English subtitles, the voice acting is much better. Hollywood stars just don’t have a grip of the anime. Billy Crudup’s plays a very emotionless Ashitaka, Billy Bob Thornton’s Texan accent destroyed the character and the setting, and Claire Danes completely degrades San’s noble character with a whiny, valley-girl tone. Unfortunately, like most anime that maded to the west, the quality of dubbing can be improved. It contains many epic qualities such as journeying heroes, wars, and involvement from supernatural gods, however, there is a lack of any sort of romantic love. The film is quite serious, playing upon the theme of man vs. Despite it being a cartoon there is a considerable level of violence, and the situations are geared towards adults (animation is definitely not just for children). It doesn’t draw from any particular genre or type, the closest I can think of in terms of heritage is the Ainu people of northern Japan, who seem to have been the inspiration for the look and feel of it. Princess Mononoke is one of the most original and unique movies I’ve seen, even if it is a cartoon.

For anyone interested in the genre this is a must see. It ranks up there with other Anime classics such as Akira and Metropolis.

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