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Hayao Miyazaki's 1997 animated film - "Princess Mononoke" has finally made it to DVD, through Buena Vista Home Entertainment. To add atmosphere to the DVD, the public had to endure some set-backs from it's original release due to Buena Vista placing original Japanese soundtracks to the disc. Behold the final result...an experience that can never be forgotten easily.
DVD Front cover
"Childish," I hear you say. "Just look at the front cover..." you add. Let me point out to you that all is not what meets the eye. Princess Mononoke is not an overly romantic children's story, nor is it a fantasy film either, as the cover may suggest. Princess Mononoke is an extremely intelligent animation film, with a lot of controversial issues up it's sleeve. Issues such as industrialization and greed for example.
There something exception about PM that I can't figure out. It's special to any other film. For some reason it touched me deeper than any other Anime film that I had ever seen. Miyazaki and his team have done incredibly well to create this masterpiece of a film.
Screenshots - 6 in rotation, more below!
The scene is set in the Japanese country side (hey now that's unusual!) where a huge beast is attacking a small village. The huge boar-like beast kills everything in its path and only Ashitaka the village prince, can stop it! Luckily, our hero wastes the thing with a some slashes, but he also gets infected with a demon's curse. Demon pig eh?
Anyway, the local wise-woman tells Ash that the disease will spread to an extent that will kill him. Hatred is the source of the pig's possessed state. After checking out the boar type-thing, it was found that it had a small iron ball inside it's flesh, this being it's cause for rage. "The only way to heal you're own curse," says the woman, "is to find the origin of the hatred and placate it, before it consumes you..."
So Ashitaka finds the source of the iron ball after a couple of days of travelling, but it's nothing like what he had expected it to be. The evil is makind itself. Lady Eboshi the ruler of a certain city is making a living out of forging iron and building guns and rifle with it. She's also decided to expand her mini-empire into bigger territories and so chopped down a vast amount of tress and woodland. In doing so, she endangered the lives of many different creatures and spoilt their habitats. Many of the animals on the other hand are worried of their obvious safety and are in an uproar about all this (hence the crazy pig). Some of the creatures also believe that this may ruin the very 'spirit of the forest' itself.
Enter San. "Princess
Mononoke" as she is known commonly as, is a young girl raised by a pack of
wolves and she's basically hell-bent on stopping our lady of destruction.
So, Ashitaka sets out to
find the source of the iron and after days of travelling he finally finds it.
But it is nothing like he expected it to be. The evil is mankind itself. A city,
ruled by Lady Eboshi, is making a living on forging iron and building rifles and
guns, which in turn they use to kill the local wildlife to expand their own
dominion. Lady Eboshi has also cleared large areas of forest, effectively
destroying the wildlife habitat it represented. And the animals are in an uproar
over her killing spree, fearing she may even kill the Forest Spirit itself, the
superior being that reigns over life and death in the forests.
San, is a young girl, raised by wolves, who is also known as "Princess Mononoke,"
and she is determined to stop Lady Eboshi. She takes every opportunity to try to
kill her and her people, not seeing that she is effectively driven by the same
hatred and greed that makes humans her enemies. When Ashitaka begins to
understand the implications that are the root of the problem, he becomes the
target for both sides. Whom should he help? Lady Eboshi in her quest to dominate
the world, or the animals and trees in the forest, to save their homes?
"Princess Mononoke"
is a fable in its most classic sense, like Aesop’s Greek fables. It uses
animals to a large degree to convey its messages, and it has a final morale
that should leave the viewer thinking about what he just saw. Unlike
standard fairy tales, classic fables try to bring across a message, a deeper
meaning, and "Princess Mononoke" fabulously manages to do just that in a way
that is thrilling and educating. The movie touches upon many social aspects,
ranging from hate and greed to humanity and sympathy, all brought out by
characters and their many traits. No one in the film is only good or only
bad, as exemplified best by Lady Eboshi and her many facets, and of course
the Forest Spirit itself, the bringer of life AND death - which incidentally
is beautifully shown through its footsteps, where we see flora grow at first
wherever its foot touches the ground, and then immediately wilt and die. To
the observing viewer, the film is filled with such ample metaphors, which
immediately invite to repeated viewing.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment is presenting "Princess Mononoke" in a
beautiful
widescreen presentation on this DVD. The disc restores the film’s
original 1.85:1
widescreen aspect ratio and is
enhanced for
16x9 television sets. The result - mesmerizing! The print used for this
transfer is free of any blemishes, speckles or other deficiencies, creating
an absolutely clean and solid image. But it is ultimately the fantastic
color palette that breathes life into the film, and this DVD does a
marvelous job capturing and reproducing these colors to the point that they
truly leap off the screen. Lush greens, vivid blues, powerful reds, and
anything in-between is remarkable well delineated in this transfer, making
it an experience to remember. The incredible level of detail found in the
transfer and the entire lack of distracting edge-enhancement further
enhances the magnificent image quality. The solid blacks finally dot the I,
and give the transfer depth and balance, making it clear that this is a DVD
that someone paid a lot of attention to. The presentation is also free of
any compression artifacts, leaving the high definition fully intact and
maintaining the sharply defined lines that make up much of the film’s
animation style.
As I mentioned above, Buena Vista Home Entertainment took the DVD back to
the drawing board at one point to add the original Japanese language track
to the disc. As it is released now, "Princess Mononoke" contains English,
French and Japanese
5.1 channel
Dolby
Digital audio tracks. No matter which one you prefer and choose, either
one is extremely well produced and clear. I was surprised at how well even
the English dub of the film was done, and how well the voices matched the
characters. Dialogues are very clean and understandable, and the music and
sound effects are also well integrated. Surround usage of the audio track is
somewhat limited, but he tracks make very good use of the front sound stage
with a wide stereo field.
Interestingly, "Princess Mononoke" contains two different English
subtitle tacks. The first one is the subtitle track for the English dubbed
version of the film, which is, naturally, not literally translated and a bit
more free flowing. Just like the Japanese audio track, the second subtitle
track is for the purist fans, containing the literal translation of the
Japanese audio. Is was very surprised - and pleased - by the extra effort
Buena Vista Home Entertainment put into this end of the release to make sure
to cover all ends.
I was completely smitten with "Princess Mononoke," I have to admit. While the presentation is marvelous, it is the film itself that touched me and made me ponder. Intelligent, imaginative, sophisticated and magically beautiful, "Princess Mononoke" is a poetic film and an epic story that can easily be compared to live-action films in its scope and importance. It works on may levels, and children will walk away form the film, understanding that trampling on nature is not a good thing to do. Adults on the other hand will get a harsh reminder that nature, as granted as we may take it, is a very fragile and delicate bio-system that we destroy on a daily basis without second thoughts. But do we really have to? Watch the movie on this DVD and then answer that question for yourself.
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DVD Stats BUENA VISTA HOME ENTERTAINMENT AND ANIME CONJUCTION Aspect Ratios: Widescreen Sound: Dolby Digital (English) 5.1 Subtitles: English Support: Interactive Menus, Scene Access Extras: Featurette and Theatrical trailer Rating: 12, some violence, mild gore Original Release: 1997 ___________________ Ratings (Out of 5 Stars) Ratings (Out of 5 Stars) Video Quality: * * * * * Sound Quality: * * * * ½ DVD Supplements: ** Movie: * * * * * Value: * * * Overall: * * * * * EXCELLENT
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Critic comments:
- "Princess Mononoke" is a "combination of "Star Wars" and "Lawrence of
Arabia" set in a 13th century Japanese forest.
--Neil Gaiman, writer, English-language adaptation - It's a great work of fantasy, a classic quest narrative in the tradition
of
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, [...] next to the beauty and tragedy of
"Princess Mononoke," "Star Wars: Episode I" looks like dim radiation
from a dull and distant galaxy.
--Andrew O'Hehir, Salon Magazine - Miyazaki is a magic maker [...], creating a fresh, complex,
doomed universe-Tolkien meets Kurosawa.
--Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine - [Mononoke] is about as close to a perfect animated epic
as you're likely to get.
--Melanie McFarland, Seattle Times