Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38062 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-10-22
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Animated, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 130 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Princess Mononoke has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, this epic, animated 1997 fantasy, represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator, Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style, vivid character design, and stylised approach to storytelling take ambitious, evolutionary steps here.

Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki's original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious "demon god", transformed by human anger. Ashitaka's quest to solve the beast's fatal curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as the more crucial battle between man and nature.

Miyazaki's convoluted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie matinees, nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki's atmospheric world and its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch. For the English-language version, Miramax assembled an impressive vocal cast including Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup (as Ashitaka), Claire Danes (as San), Minnie Driver (as Lady Eboshi), Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada Pinkett Smith. They bring added nuance to a very different kind of magic kingdom. -- Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

On the DVD: with an impressive widescreen aspect of 2.35:1 and a pleasant 5.1 Dolby digital sound, you cannot fault the transfer of this animation in any way. However, the special features leave a lot to be desired on what is a classic piece of modern anime. The "Behind the Scenes" feature holds no information on the making of Princess Mononoke in its original form--with no input from animator Hayao Miyazaki--and the trailer is taken from the American release of the movie (even though it calls itself an "original" theatrical trailer), complete with the annoyingly hyped-up voiceover that comes with US film trailers. The redeeming feature of this DVD is the ability to watch the anime in its original language with subtitles, a much more passionate and beautiful form--so much of the feeling and lyricism of the movie is lost with the transfer to English language and misplaced casting. After watching the original Japanese version of Princess Mononoke and reading the book you begin to wonder why the West has become such a solitary child of Disney. --Nikki Disney

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
DVD 9
English\Japanese
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English Japanese
Dolby Digital 5.1
Original Japanese Language
Original Theatrical Trailer
Behind The Scenes Featurette
English

Synopsis
A beautifully realized tale of civilization versus nature, PRINCESS MONONOKE is a true epic by Japan's master animator Hayao Miyazaki. While protecting his village from a rampaging boar-god, the warrior Ashitaka (Billy Crudup) is cursed with a rapidly spreading scar that threatens to end his life. Seeking a cure and a reason for the animal-god's attack, he journeys into the sacred depths of the Great Forest Spirit's realm. On the edge of this once serene forest, however, the Tatara clan have begun to destroy the surrounding land to produce iron. In retaliation, San (Claire Danes), the adopted daughter of the wolf-god Moro (Gillian Anderson), has begun raiding the Tatara fortress to stop their encroachment. Soon Ashitaka is caught in the middle and must stop the war between the humans and the forest dwellers before they destroy each other.
Miyazaki, who was personally responsible for 80,000 of the film's 144,000 hand drawings, uses the story's lush feudal setting as a character unto itself, filling the screen with vast mountainous landscapes and gorgeous wooded glens that recall his early film, NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND. The film also features battle sequences that are reminiscent of the stunning live action warfare in Akira Kurosawa's RAN. The startlingly fluid movements of these mythological characters are detailed far beyond any other hand-animated production, easily making this one of the most spectacular animated films ever made.

Customer Reviews

A True Master piece
Finally after years in the dark, the UK gets not only one of the greatest animated films ever, but possibly one of the greatest films ever made. Hayao Miyazaki is a god amongst animators and it's not difficult to see why from this beautiful film. For anyone who is even remotely interested in anime, this movie is a must have and for everyone else, this shows the world just how great the genre is. Forget the stereotypical violence etc, this is what japanese animation is all about. The DVD set in itself is a brilliant introduction to anime in itself, although not mentioned above, the DVD also includes a book about the past films made by the director of this film. This DVD set is fantastic, everything is in here that a film this grand should have. Only one thing prevents this set from being perfect though, the subtitles used in the japanses language version isn't so much a translation of the Japanese original, but more like a script for the English version, something which is painfully obvious throughout the film, whether you understand Japanese or not. Even so this should no way detract from the purchase of this DVD, an absolute must buy.

The best anime i've seen since Akira
One of Japan's most successful films finally gets a release in the UK. Essentially a tale of man's destruction of nature, the brilliant storytelling of Miyazaki presents us with one of the most enjoyable fantasy tales since Star Wars. Set in a time when forests cover the Earth huge forest Gods keep watch over the creatures that inhabit the woods. When young prince Ashitaka slays a Boar God turned Demon he's left with a curse on his arm that threatens to kill him. His only option is to travel to where the demon came from in hope of a way to lift the curse, instead he enters a conflict between the miners of Iron Town and the wolf clan of Moro and San, the Princess Mononoke. The english language version is suprisingly of high standard compared to other dubs of Japanese movies. Featuring the voices of stars like Gillian Anderson and Billy Bob Thornton i didnt find myself wishing to view it in its original language unlike Akira. Special mention must be made to the terrific score by Joe Hisaishi which adds to the emotion of the story. Mononoke doesn't have the cgi effects of Shrek and recent Disney animations but it has some of the most imaginitive ideas seen on screen whether it be live action or animation. One word of warning though, Japanese anime's don't hold back on violence and some scenes in Mononoke may not be suitable for young children, but if your dismayed at the lack of quality at the cinema this summer this is one blockbuster you may well want to check out and an absolute must for fans of Manga and Anime.

You cannot alter your fate, but you can rise and meet it
I received Princess Mononoke on Friday as part of Amazon Rental service. And I have been watching it everyday since. The film is absolutely outstanding, and in my opinion Japanese anime, in fact animation at its best. It is no kiddy film - there are no fluffy happy dancy animals. The beasts are mean but only because they wanted to protect what they see as rightfully theirs - the forest. While it is easy to blame human - as embodied by Lady Eboshi who champion the scientific progression of modernity, Miyasaki has rejected the simplicity of a black and white view between good and evil. Good and evil constitute each other and as human and beast, we embody both. Lady Eboshi is not all evil - her motives to deforest is to protect Irontown and its people. Irontown is a refuge for the socially marginalized - lepers and prostitutes alike. Her matriachal role as the maiden of Irontown makes her one of the most intriguing character where these role are normally played by male in conventional film. As for Princess Mononoke - Eboshi's nemesis, is no Disneyfied princess either. She is a feral wolf-human raised in the forest by the wolf clan when she was abandoned as a child. She embodies the wilderness of nature and kill mercilessly to protect the spirits of the forest.

The film is laden with adult themes, exploring human relationship to nature. It begs us to answer the question if human progress are indeed painful? Are there any reconciliation? These are global themes.

On the other hand, Princess Mononoke also explored the issue between life and death as embodied by the Forest Spirit - Shihsigami - where life and death is his alone. Are there hope in being alive when everything seems to be crumbling away? There are themes of suffering as embodied by Ashitaka whose wound of hatred marked the tension between humanity and nature.

There are however some cutesy characters like Yakul the elk, the tree spirits - all of which are not only magical but reminds us of a Japan long forgotten - when man and god are at peace. Some said that the film draws idea of Shinto, a dominant beliefs in Japan. Miyasaki claimed that his ideas are an amalgam of both Eastern and Western ideas. There are some parralels between Tolkein's Lord of The Rings which also explore the issue of ecosystem, but also our existence as human being in the world. In Princess Mononoke, Miyasaki reconciled the tension between human and nature will always exist. Progress are ineviable as part of human evolution. However, Miyasaki provides us with the hope that we can still go on living and appreciate the beauty that still exists in the world. The Forest Spirit may have died in its bodily form, but lives on forever in our hearts and in the flowers and trees and animals in the world. While nature was once fearsome and wild, it is now tamed.