Lord Taylor of Warwick

Rating scale:  = excellent , = good , = poor

Princess Mononoke is Japanese in origin and is dubbed in English. It can be described as an animated fantasy adventure film. When young prince Ashitaka battles an evil boar to save his village he gets infected with an incurable disease. He is told to travel to the Far East where he hopes to find release from the curse. He is told to travel “with eyes untainted by hate”. Whilst defending himself from armed men in a neighbouring village he fires his bow with his diseased arm.

His arm pulses and the arrow flies wickedly and takes the armed mans head clean off. This unexpected scene helps show the power of the hate within Ashitaka. After many days of travelling he comes across a gigantic battle between the animals of the forest and the men of Irontown. The town is cutting down the forest in order to fuel the creation of iron. Ashitaka visits both sides of the battle, meeting a deer god of the forest and lady Eboshi, the leader of Irontown. Ashitaka gets shot whilst breaking up a fight between the young forest girl San and Lady Eboshi. He escapes into the forest but is seriously injured. This leads to the start of a foreseeable relationship. This forms as San and the wolves (her family) help Ashitaka recover with the help of the deer god. Ashitaka tries to persuade San that there are no sides of the battle, peace is the only way. When Ashitaka wakes from his sleep the war between the forest and Irontown is at its peak. A herd of stubborn boars are charging onto Irontown to rid the world of the forest destroyers. Lady Eboshi lays a trap for the boars, luring them into the open and blowing them up with mines and guns. San and the wolves go in to try and stop them before devastation happens. Outside men get involved when they try to secure the iron of Irontown by killing the last spirit of the forest. The same spirit that helped Ashitaka after he was shot. Can Ahistaka save the day? I will not spoil the ending. As it turns out, the very boar that gave Ashitaka his incurable disease was shot by a gun from Irontown and this turned it into a demon. This spread to Ashitaka. A drop of hate spreads ripples of hate. If in life we can prevent hate clouding our judgement, then we can face life for what it really is. I think this is the central message of the film. Throughout the film, the animation is excellent. The detail allows you to watch this film over again without getting bored. The story is serious and shown in a world of imagination and fantasy. I would highly recommend this film.

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