Word: ashitaka
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Dates: during 1999-1999
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...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...
...Hayao Miyazaki, writer and director of Princess Mononoke, is among the most celebrated directors of Japanese anime. Mononoke Hime, as it is called in Japan, takes place in the Muromanchi era, and begins in a remote Emishi village under attack from a Tartari Gemi, or "curse god", who curses Ashitaka, the last descendant of the Emishi royal house. In reality the last Emishi village had been taken over by the Japanese empire long before the Muromanchi era; the threat of the Emishi's extinction introduces one of Princess Mononoke's major themes--that of threatened ways of life. Ashitaka goes...
...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...