Word: ashitaka
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...Studio Ghibli) is there as a lush forest drawn from high above, with blocks of clouds marked A to D - an instruction to the assembly line to animate them in that sequence, at a speed carefully specified on one of the clouds. In another layout, the camera swoops before Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke as he gallantly draws a bow at his enemies while riding a giant antelope. The image falls somewhere between reality and magic, which was probably the intention. "There is reality in the fantasy created by Studio Ghibli," says Ryusuke Hikawa, an animé critic for over three...
...medieval Japan, Mononoke imagines a war involving several bands of humans--and a more desperate battle between man and the environment. Ashitaka (given voice in Neil Gaiman's American adaptation by Billy Crudup), the youngest survivor of a vanishing tribe, is gored by a demon boar that is a protector of the great forest. His wound will kill him if he can't solve the mystery of his curse. He meets Eboshi (Minnie Driver), ruler of Iron Town, and her fiercest foe, San (Claire Danes), or Mononoke, which means spirit. They want to use him or escape...
...Animation frees directors of the difficulties actors present, giving the director nearly complete control of their performances. At the opening of Princess Mononoke, for example, Ashitaka, the future leader of an Emishi village, defends his village from a Tartari Gemi, an enormous creature covered with snakelike tentacles that destroys everything in its path. No creature shop in Hollywood today could create a Tartari Gemi as convincingly weird as that drawn by Shinji Otsuka, Hiroshi Shimizu, and the other animators. To hear a low, gravelly human voice issue from the monster is almost as frighteningly intriguing as his words: "Filthy humans...
...Unfortunately, the use of famous voices to attract general audiences in America degrades the brilliance of what is, on its own, a wonderful film, and interferes with the creation of a captivating fantasy. Several of the vocal performances are wonderful, such as Billy Crudup as Ashitaka and Gillian Anderson as Moro the Wolf Goddess. Crudup is entirely believable, sounding in turn appropriately brave, vulnerable, and kind. Gillian Anderson's voice is altered here, designed to sound more godlike (the effect succeeds). Her growling tones are menacing and eerie, and her Moro is as intelligently complex as many of the human...
...When she first appears in the film wearing a strange mask and riding the back of a giant wolf, fighting acrobatically with Eboshi's warriors, Princess Mononoke inspires awe. When she appears next, sucking the blood from her brother-wolf's wound, she is terrifying. When she looks at Ashitaka and says, "Get out," she is laughable. Fortunately, Princess Mononoke spends more time rushing into battle or hand-to-hand combat than talking...