Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke
$39.99

Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) is a 1997 anime epic historical fantasy adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli. A beautifully realized tale of civilization versus nature, Princess Mononoke is a true epic by Japan's master animator. While protecting his village from a rampaging boar-god, the young warrior Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a deadly curse. To find the cure that will save his life, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest Spirit's realm where he meets San (Princess Mononoke), a girl raised by wolves. It's not long before Ashitaka is caught in the middle of a battle between iron-ore prospecting humans and the forest dwellers. He must summon the spirit-powers and all his courage to stop man and nature from destroying each other. From the Studio Ghibli Collection. Special Features Alternative angle storyboards Princess Mononoke in the U.S.A. (Featurette) Original Japanese theatrical trailers Original Japanese TV spots U.S. theatrical trailer Awards Won Japanese Academy Award for Best Film (1998) Won Mainichi Film Concours Awards for: Best Film, Best Animated Film (1998) Won Blue Ribbon Award, Special Award (1998) Won Hochi Film Award, Special Award (1997) Nominated for Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing (2000) Princess Mononoke Movie Reviews “Princess Mononoke is more than a stunning artistic achievement. It also provides a complex exploration of the uneasy balance between our human culture and our status as members of a natural environment. Hayao Miyazaki is as great as they all say he is—and this film more than proves it.” DVD Verdict “One of the most wondrous films I ever hope to see… It is a film for all ages!” Roger Ebert “A windswept pinnacle of its art, Princess Mononoke has the effect of making the average Disney film look like just another toy story.” Entertainment We­ekly “…a landmark feat of Japanese animation from the acknowledged master of the genre, it's very easy to understand the film's phenomenal popularity. Outdone only by "Titanic” as Japan's box-office champ, this intricate, epic fable is amazing to behold. No wonder the filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki, is acknowledged as an inspiration among his American counterparts who have reinvented animated storytelling in the post-“Little Mermaid” era. “Not a day goes by that I do not utilize the tools learned from studying his films,” John Lasseter (“Toy Story,” “A Bug's Life”) has said. Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft, whose “Mulan” shows strong evidence of Mr. Miyazaki's in­fluence, are on the record with “Miyazaki is like a god to us.” “Princess Mononoke,” which was shown over the weekend as part of the New York Film Festival (an unusual distinction for an animated feature), explains what they mean. This exotically beautiful action film features gods and demons locked in a struggle for the future of the unspoiled forest and an elaborate moral universe that Mr. Miyazaki has created. As such, it is a sweeping, ambitious version of the comic-book storytelling that engendered it. Frequent battle scenes, graphic enough to make a sharp distinction between “Princess Mononoke” and animation made for children, keep the story in motion. These are often breathtakingly rendered, but it is the film's stirring use of nature, myth and history that make it so special…" New York Times “it offers a complicated and untraditional view of gender and a highly contemporary lesson about human economy and its inevitable effect on the environment, along with a steadfast refusal to think in simplistic good-vs.-evil equations.” Salon.com