Princess Mononoke
Synopsis
Princess Mononoke…what a touchy subject. With all the hype it’s been given, this is a chance for me to test my honesty. Some say this is one of the best animated feature films of all time. With the production value near or equal to that of a Disney feature and Anime legend, Hayao Miyazaki behind it, I see how it would garner such attention. After such anticipation… I come back hardly impressed. I don’t see why this film would appeal to so many. I think it’s because the hype told us to. A term I call ‘Media Made Me’ (MMM).
Review
Sure it looks nice, but aren’t these shows supposed to be entertaining? This is far from Miyazaki’s best. In regards to the main character, I think there should have been better development. I could care less what happened to him. I’ve seen this six times (only because I could never stay awake though the whole show) and I still don’t know his name. The story is about the conflict between nature (animal forest gods) and Humans. The people are destroying the forest for industrial purposes, not much different than the threat we pose on nature today. It’s a nice message, don’t destroy nature, live in harmony with it, but it just didn’t pull me in. As much as you may be led to believe this, there is nothing special about Princess Mononoke. If you haven’t seen it, you haven’t missed much.
The Breakdown
Without the money and press hype behind Princess Mononoke, it would have been just another anime release…and that’s the truth.