Princess Mononoke (1997)
★★★★ — Princess Mononoke (1997)
Princess Mononoke arrived in 1997 as something of a landmark for Studio Ghibli and for Japanese animation more broadly. Hayao Miyazaki had spent the better part of two decades building a reputation through films like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988), but this was his most ambitious and expensive production to that point, with a budget of around $23.5 million that made it the costliest Japanese animated film ever made at the time. It became a substantial commercial success in Japan, briefly overtaking Jurassic Park as the highest-grossing film in the country's history. The film drew on Japanese folklore and Miyazaki's long-standing interest in the relationship between industrialisation and the natural world, themes he had been returning to since Nausicaä. An English-language dub, produced by Miramax with a screenplay by Neil Gaiman, helped bring the film to wider Western audiences a year later.
It's great, but it's nowhere near Ghibli's best imo. Studio Ghibli’s art style is so flawless it makes most other animation look like a rough sketch on a napkin, especially for 1997! The attention to detail? Unreal. Every frame of Princess Mononoke could be framed and put in a museum. The world is rich, immersive, and alive, and the characters? Some of the most engaging I’ve ever seen in animation. Ashitaka is a great protagonist, but it's San and Lady Eboshi that steal the show. Both complex, both compelling, both completely right and wrong in their own ways. The cloudy morals, the stunning action sequences, the sheer scale of it all… it’s just a special film. Not my absolute favourite Ghibli, but damn if it isn’t one of their most ambitious.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 1997 | Watched: 2011-03-04
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Hayao Miyazaki: Castle in the Sky (1986) · Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) · Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) · My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
More from Japan: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Blue (1993) · The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More fantasy: Viy (1967) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
