Princess Mononoke

[mamadrama]

I recently came across this 1997 anime film by Hayao Miyazaki (who also directed "Spirited Away," "Howl's Moving Castle," and "Ponyo") and I don't know how, but had somehow missed this one. Like all Miyazaki's films, I found it unique and captivating. The storytelling is a little complicated & muddled imo, but it is visually stunning and the character development is so interesting. While messages of peace, love and respect for nature are very evident, most of the characters can't easily be classified as either good or bad but are realistically portrayed as having both qualities. One of the aspects I like most about this film is the protagonist, Ashitaka. He finds himself thrust into the middle of several conflicts and still he seeks to "see with eyes unclouded by hate." He is a hero striving to be objective in confronting the reality he faces. Worth a watch, I think!

Here is the trailer.

 

[truth seeker]

That was a great film as all Miyazaki's are. :)

 

[Turgon]

Indeed! Miyazaki's storytelling abilities with the addition of Joe Hisaishi who composed the music for the film are incredible.

 

[Masamune]

Loved this one as well. Such a beautiful movie and with a very touching story. It really makes one hate the greedy people who would destroy mother nature for their own advantage. I agree, the music is very well done.

 

[Gawan]

It is a really great movie.

 

[knowledge_of_self]

Couldn't agree more! Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites as well!

And just in case you missed it, I wrote this in the Ponyo movie thread about the next Ghibli movie coming out ;)

Not to get but I wanted to mention that the next Studio Ghibli film announced is called Karigurashi no Arrietty or The Borrower Arrietty which is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie because I read the Borrowers when I was little and I loved it a lot.

Here is a trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJt2YumMMH8&feature=related

 

[skycsil]

Beautiful film. I love the Gaiman version of the japanese translation.
Also love it how Miyazaki's characters are not either all good or all bad. Except maybe for modern westernized adults who are plain stupid and superficial :P

 

[Aya]

I remember for the first time I watched Mononoke at a theater, I was pretty scared and taken aback by some of the grotesque scenes. But indeed it is a great movie. I always like heroines in Miyazaki's stories as they are all courageous and strong girls.

Here is the main song from Mononoke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XAyNmQSdLU
Yoshikazu Mera sings beautifully in this song. "He" has amazing voice...(yes "he")

Couldn't agree more! Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites as well!

And just in case you missed it, I wrote this in the Ponyo movie thread about the next Ghibli movie coming out ;)

Not to get but I wanted to mention that the next Studio Ghibli film announced is called Karigurashi no Arrietty or The Borrower Arrietty which is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie because I read the Borrowers when I was little and I loved it a lot.

Here is a trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJt2YumMMH8&feature=related

I watched this movie last year. Arrietty is very cute. This film is exciting and really stretch the imagination, as the images are beautiful and very creative.

 

[knowledge_of_self]

Couldn't agree more! Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites as well!

And just in case you missed it, I wrote this in the Ponyo movie thread about the next Ghibli movie coming out ;)

Not to get but I wanted to mention that the next Studio Ghibli film announced is called Karigurashi no Arrietty or The Borrower Arrietty which is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie because I read the Borrowers when I was little and I loved it a lot.

Here is a trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJt2YumMMH8&feature=related

I watched this movie last year. Arrietty is very cute. This film is exciting and really stretch the imagination, as the images are beautiful and very creative.

Lucky!! I hate that it takes forever for Miyazaki movies to come out in North America. I suppose it teaches me patience though... :P

 

[Aya]

Lucky!! I hate that it takes forever for Miyazaki movies to come out in North America. I suppose it teaches me patience though... :P

Vice Versa! Here, we have to wait quite while for Hollywood (North American) movies to arrive. ;)

 

[Kaigen]

Hi everyone today I saw another great movie, but not from Hayao Miyazaki
Summer Wars
very interesting is from 2009. here the trailer

 

[knowledge_of_self]

Hi everyone today I saw another great movie, but not from Hayao Miyazaki
Summer Wars
very interesting is from 2009. here the trailer

Hey tonosama!

Thanks for the suggestion! It looks like a wonderful movie that I will be looking out for. Yes, this one is by Mamoru Hosoda, who also made The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Which is also a really cool movie.

 

[Tigersoap]

Hi everyone today I saw another great movie, but not from Hayao Miyazaki
Summer Wars

Yeah I enjoyed it but not as much as the Gibli ones, a nice Japanese way too make you think about our relationship with computers and centralized information but that's not all there is in this story.

On another subject :

There are interesting views albeit provocative interpretations and clues left in Totoro and Spirited Away which are adult oriented, you may have already stumbled upon them because they're quite old but here they are :

_http://my.opera.com/sukekomashi-gaijin/blog/spirited-away

_http://my.opera.com/sukekomashi-gaijin/blog/tonari-no-totoro

I would not be suprised that it may not be intentional but that inevitably, a storyteller may have his own personal psyche transpire into his stories osit.
The Totoro story above has been denied by Miyazaki though.

 

[Odysseus]

Yep, Hayao Miyazaki's movies accompanied by Joe Hisaishi's enjoyable compositions are outstanding.

I just realized, there are some recent Ghibli Studio movies I need to catch up with, thanks for the recommendations :D

 

[PullingPins]

I'm really not into anime, but was seriously impressed when I saw Spirited Away years ago. I never thought to look into the artist until I found Ponyo on Netflix, and watched it with my daughter. We both liked it very much. And then shortly after, her father came home with a dvd that a work friend gave him, of a couple of his other films. So, we've recently watched Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbor Totoro- which is really neat. I love the whimsy of his style and story lines, and the character development is great.
I'll definitely have to check this one out!