Princess Mononoke: Raised by wolves, but ultimately human

Princess Mononoke (animation, adventure, fantasy)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Starring the voices of Billy Crudup, Gillian Anderson, Clare Danes and Minnie Driver

Miramax | 1999 | 133 min | Rated PG-13 | Released Dec 19, 2000

The Film 4.5/5

Here’s another film from Studio Ghibli that hasn’t yet seen a Blu-ray release. If you read my recent review of My Neighbor Totoro, you’ll know that I love Miyazaki’s animation, themes and characterization. This film has a different feel to Totoro and is aimed at older audiences.

The story lasts 133 minutes and is quite violent in places. The opening scene shows a boar possessed by a demon, which is an immediate threat to a village. Ashitaka (Crudup) tackles the beast and ultimately kills it, but injures his right arm in the process. The arm is essentially possessed and the infection is expected to spread throughout his body, killing him. He’s a danger to his own people and reluctantly has to leave in search of a cure.

Like most of Miyazaki’s characters, Ashitaka is a good person. One clue to his character is the way he treats Yakul, the red elk that he rides. The two seem like partners and it’s clear that he loves the animal.

Further clues to Ashitaka’s character can be seen when he saves another village from attack and rescues two drowning men from a river. We see that his infected arm seems to have additional strength and that enemies hit by his arrows can be decapitated. As I mentioned at the outset, the film is aimed at older audiences than those targeted by Totoro. It’s bloody and violent in places and death is always a possibility.

The first magical scene takes place in a forest. The locals fear it and the tree spirits that live there, but Ashitaka has no such fears. He sees the tree spirits as happy and childlike and willingly follows their directions. They lead him and the injured men to safety. He also catches a glimpse of the Forest Spirit, which is an altogether more powerful entity and has a big role to play in the story.

Ashitaka returns the men to their town and is thanked by the town’s ruler, Lady Eboshi (Driver). She’s one of the most interesting characters in the story. She’s capable of giving people a chance where others wouldn’t and has taken in prostitutes and lepers and given them honorable roles in her town. But she’s also fiercely ambitious and thinks she’s powerful enough to kill gods to gain more wealth and power. She’s a truly divided woman, but not definitely good or evil. She does seem to genuinely want to help the people under her care and protection. Her character changes significantly by the end of the story.

Princess Mononoke has been raised by a wolf-god (Anderson) and regularly rides one of its two cubs. She hates humans because she only ever sees them harming the forest. Her character is wild and reckless and will attack the town in an attempt to stop the people causing further damage to her beloved forest. She feels that if she kills Lady Eboshi, the threat will cease to exist.

Miyazaki’s animation doesn’t look modern. It has the look of a watercolor painting and is simply drawn; but with simple drawings, he’s capable of expressing a lot of emotion. When Ashitaka looks at his elk, the animal looks friendly, loving and intelligent. Its gaze and simple expression conveys all kinds of positive feelings. The forest is also a beautiful place and you’ll find that you want to see it protected and unharmed. The tree sprites project joy and innocence and that innocence is a common theme in Miyazaki’s work. I’m not sure how he does it, but it’s powerful and moving.

The final act is full of action and a number of key characters suffer major wounds. It’s not clear who will live and who will die, but not everyone survives. Some of the animals in the story are much more than dumb beasts and many are gods capable of mutual respect when they encounter souls who deserve it. There’s a sense of that respect throughout the film and the characters live by their own honor code.

Miyazaki places us right in the middle of the action and commonly uses a panning technique as if the frames were filmed instead of drawn. He also takes his time establishing scenes and it’s common to see water ripple, grass wave in the wind or clouds move across the sky. He seems to revel in the beauty of his worlds and I find that it helps me appreciate it all the more.

The conclusion of the story feels satisfying and right. It’s not a contrived ending at all, but one which could actually happen given the personalities of the characters and their situation. It’s interesting that Miyazaki’s villains usually consist of misguided people rather than truly evil individuals. This is often the case in real life and it works better than having a stock villain like those found in most animated movies.

The actors do a good job in the English version, but the Japanese dub is included with English subtitles for anyone wishing to experience the original version.

I have only seen Princess Mononoke three times and found it a bit muddled the first time. It improved with each viewing and I now consider it just below Miyazaki’s very best work. If you thought My Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo were too childish, give this a try.

Let’s hope that a Blu-ray release isn’t too far away.

Overall score 4.5/5

See where Princess Mononoke ranks among my Top 20 animated movies.

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My Top 20 animated movies: Part 1, #16-20

My Top 20 animated movies

Animated movies rarely get the respect they deserve. It’s common to hear people refer to them as cartoons and to regard them as lighthearted entertainment fit only for children. I suppose that idea comes from the fact that the majority of us enjoyed short cartoons when we were kids.

Classic Disney titles have been around for over 70 years and focus on material that is suitable for young children, but that doesn’t mean it’s not suitable for adults.

My Top 20 includes a number of Disney titles. Some have universal appeal while others are aimed at older audiences. Other films on the list contain messages that can appeal to people of any age. Some of the themes are complex and will only be understood by adults. I’ll mention which category each of my selections falls into.

It’s important to keep an open mind about animation and not label it as something too childish to bother with. You’ll miss out on some stunning stories if you do. There are currently 51 animated titles in my Blu-ray collection and the number would be much higher if other titles were available on the format.

Those of you who read my Top 20 Drama articles will know that Grave of the Fireflies is among my favorites. For that reason, I chose to omit it from this list.

That’s enough talk; let’s get started:

20. A Bug’s Life (1998)

Directed by John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton

Starring the voices of Kevin Spacey, Dave Foley and Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Pixar’s second movie focuses on a colony of ants. The story is about standing up to bullies and pursuing your own course even when you’re regarded as different or weird. That’s a good message for children. Flik (Foley) is a young ant with an imagination. He invents laborsaving devices to help his colony gather food for a group of aggressive grasshoppers, led by Hopper (Spacey). When an accident causes the gathered food to be lost, Flik is sent on a trip to enlist bugs willing to help the colony stand up to the grasshoppers. They are essentially getting rid of him and don’t expect him to succeed, but he returns with help. The new allies help the ants come up with a plan to defeat the grasshoppers. It’s a coming-of-age tale with lovable and quirky characters.

The animation looks great, especially on Blu-ray. Every blade of grass looks real and the detail is incredible. The story is a little scary in places, but is ultimately a lot of fun. It’s suitable for the whole family. 

19. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders

Starring the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson

Here’s a movie that I expected to love, but it didn’t really grab me the first time I saw it. Maybe I was in the wrong mood that day because my opinion of it improved significantly on the second viewing.

The story is similar to the one in A Bug’s Life in some ways. It tells the story of Hiccup; a young Viking hoping to hunt dragons like most of the town’s inhabitants. The problem is, he’s undersized and seemingly lacks the requisite skills. He likes to invent things and one of his weapons hits the most ferocious species of dragon, a Night Fury. When he eventually discovers the injured beast, he finds that he’s unable to kill it. Instead, he names it Toothless and builds a device that will enable the dragon to fly again. The two form a bond and he starts to question whether his people are right in their assumption that dragons are dangerous and should be killed on sight. The story is full of action, which peaks during the flight scenes.

The Blu-ray presentation is excellent and the story should interest the whole family. There are currently eight books in the series and second movie is due to be released in 2014.

18. Mary and Max (2009)

Directed by Adam Elliot

Starring the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette and Eric Bana

Mary and Max is one of the weirdest animated films I have ever seen. It’s full of dark humor and is often sad, but I find myself laughing most of the time. Mary Daisy Dinkle (Collette) is an 8-year-old Australian girl, with a birthmark the color of poo, who picks a name at random from the Manhattan phone directory. The name is that of Max Jerry Horovitz (Hoffman), a 44-year-old Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome. Both are terribly lonely, so when she writes to him, the two develop a friendship. The dialogue is hilarious. Mary thinks that babies are found in the bottom of beer glasses; Max informs her that they actually come from eggs laid by rabbis. If you are Jewish, they are laid by Catholic nuns. If you are an atheist, they are laid by dirty, lonely prostitutes. The whole movie is full of similar dialogue. Max is brutally honest and says things that are completely inappropriate for 8-year-old Mary.

The claymation looks highly-detailed on Blu-ray. I wouldn’t be comfortable showing the movie to small children because it could raise some awkward questions. Themes include sex, theft, alcoholism and death. If you like weird humor, this is probably something you should check out.

17. Whisper of the Heart (1995)

Directed by Yoshifumi Kondô

Starring the voices of Brittany Snow, David Gallagher, James Sikking and Cary Elwes

If you read all 20 recommendations, you’ll see Hayao Miyazaki’s name mentioned several times. Although he didn’t direct Whisper of the Heart, he wrote the screenplay, and his imprint is all over the movie. Shizuku is a girl of about 13 who doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life. She’s clever and creative, but lacks direction. She's intrigued when she discovers that almost every library book she checks out has previously been borrowed by the same person. When she meets the boy, the story starts to take off. It’s a charming story filled with people who are generally good. Children respect their elders and the elders have time to encourage the children. Friendships are strong and meaningful and it’s a nice world to spend some time in. It’s a coming-of-age story in which Shizuku discovers her calling in life. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a teen romance; there’s so much more going on than that. Miyazaki creates characters that you’ll quickly like and often come to love.

Whisper of the Heart is released on Blu-ray in Japan on July 20, so there’s a good chance it will be available elsewhere by the end of 2011 or the start of 2012.

16. Princess Mononoke (1997)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Starring the voices of Billy Crudup, Gillian Anderson, Clare Danes and Minnie Driver

Princess Mononoke is an animated film dealing in adult themes. Its 133-minute running time is barely sufficient to explore the vast world and complex story and it’s a little disjointed at times, but seems smoother every time I watch it. It was the highest-grossing film in Japan until Titanic was released.

Our hero is Ashitaka (Crudup), who saves his village from a possessed boar, but suffers a wound that could eventually result in his death. He is forced to leave the village to seek a cure. He rides an elk and shares a strong bond with the animal. Ashitaka is a noble and heroic young prince who always has good intentions. We see him save two men from drowning and he returns them to their village. He enters the Forbidden Forest, which is considered certain death, but it turns out to be nothing of the sort. Ashitaka encounters forest sprites who are full of joy and childlike wonder, and they lead him to safety. As with virtually all Miyazaki films, most of the danger comes from misunderstandings rather than true evil. The story is deeply spiritual and demonstrates Miyazaki’s love of nature. Princess Mononoke is raised by wolves and hates humans, but Ashitaka tries to show her that not all humans are bad. It’s a sprawling story filled with gods and mystery, but the long running time never feels boring. The simple animation style is beautiful and the music enhances the whole experience.

There’s no Blu-ray release as yet, although it will eventually happen. The DVD is worth checking out if you don’t have the option to stream it. The story is quite violent in places with bloody scenes involving enemies being decapitated. It may not be suitable for small children.

Here's my full review.

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Conviction: True story of the fight to free a wrongly-convicted man

Conviction (drama, biography)

Directed by Tony Goldwyn

Starring Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver and Melissa Leo

20th Century Fox | 2010 | 102 min | Rated R | Released Feb 01, 2011

Video:

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC

Video resolution: 1080p

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio:

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

French, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles:

English SDH, Spanish

Disc:

Single 50GB Blu-ray Disc

The Film 3.5/5

Conviction tells the true story of Betty Anne Waters (Swank) and her 18-year fight to free her brother Kenny (Rockwell), who was convicted of murder. She was a young woman with two children, working in a bar at the time of Kenny’s conviction. Instead of accepting it, she decided to study law part-time so that she could access evidence and fight the case on his behalf.

The story is told with the use of a few flashbacks. The first shows us how Kenny is arrested by police officer Nancy Taylor (Leo), while others show us the relationship between Kenny and Betty Anne when they were small children. Kenny is originally cleared of suspicion, but is arrested a second time two years later. After a series of damning testimonies, he receives a life sentence.

Both siblings struggle to adjust. Kenny tries to commit suicide in prison and Betty Anne almost flunks her class. She splits with her boyfriend and is dismayed when her two boys ask to live with their father because she doesn’t spend enough time with them. Imagine having to give up your children in that way. Her decision to help her brother consumed her.

Betty Anne is given new hope when she learns in school that DNA testing has freed other wrongly-convicted prisoners. She passes her exam and qualifies as a lawyer, enlisting the help of classmate Abra Rice (Driver) and a group specializing in freeing prisoners with the help of DNA evidence.

One of the biggest problems she faces is tracking down evidence that is so old. She eventually discovers some disturbing facts about the case and fights to reveal the truth. Kenny is powerless to help, but Betty Anne gives him the courage to go on with his life. She’s his inspiration.

The main theme of the story is the love between a brother and sister and how it impacts each of their lives. It’s an inspirational tale and Swank and Rockwell nail their roles. While all the ingredients are there to make a moving drama, something doesn’t quite work.

Betty Anne sacrifices so much and we should feel elated when she achieves her goal, but the setup was lacking and I wasn’t completely drawn in. Maybe it’s that we are never totally sure that Kenny is innocent? Or perhaps it’s because all the childhood flashbacks involve scenes in which the siblings are breaking the law in some small way? Maybe it’s because Swank and Rockwell are so good in other roles that I had unrealistic expectations?

Video Quality 4.5/5

The film looks great. Detail is sharp throughout and I couldn’t detect any obvious problem with the presentation. There isn’t a lot of beauty in the film as the settings were drab and grimy for the most part, but everything looks natural and real.

Audio Quality 4/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix does everything it is supposed to. This is a story driven by dialogue and it comes across clearly in every scene. There’s nothing flashy and the rear channels are used sparingly, but the track is free of any blemishes.

Special Features 1/5

There’s just one feature included in the package and it only lasts 10 minutes. Director Tony Goldwyn talks to the real Betty Anne Waters. We learn how long it took for the film to be made and some of the problems encountered along the way. The feature includes a rather sobering fact: Kenny died in an accident just six months after being released.

This is a good film. It’s well-acted and easy to follow. There are some strong scenes, especially when Swank and Rockwell are on screen together. But it’s not a great film, and I can only recommend it as a rental.

Overall score 3.5/5 

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