“You’re under a curse? Well, so what? So is the whole d— world.” These are the words of one of the characters, a truth that echoes throughout the story of Princess Mononoke. Humans and spirits are converging in a battle around a little village in the West, and it may be a battle to see who survives… and who doesn’t. You see those words describe exactly what’s happening between the two factions- the humans are angry and upset that the Gods do not want them to continue growing and expanding, while the Gods and spirits are upset that the humans raze forests without care and turn good animals into stupid, cruel ones. They are cursed by a deep misunderstanding, an unwillingness to listen to each other, and it almost leads to a great amount of pain and destruction on both their sides.

One of the things that always amazes me is how real these characters seem. The ‘bad’ guys are not necessarily evil through and through. For all the trouble Lady Enoshi causes, she has nonetheless saves women from being slaves in whorehouses and gives them an amazing amount of freedom and equality for that day and age, and shows kindness and care to lepers that everyone else would shun. The wolves and boars aren’t cruel creatures- they are losing their homes and families, and are trying to save themselves. Both sides have valid reasons for fighting each other, none more right or good than the other.

This is part of what makes the story so intriguing and interesting to watch- you see both sides equally, why they feel that it is so necessary to make the choices they do. And that is why it is so nice to see the story develop as the movie goes on. The pacing of the story is slow but sure, with each side eventually coming to a sure conclusion that they must work together in order for them to live peacefully.

There are other small things that add to how great this is- such as how the dub is equal in quality to the Japanese voice actors. The only thing that brings down my score is that the environmental message can come across a little too strongly.

Violence/Gore- There is no more violence in this than in Lord of the Rings, but it's still there. This has an unusual amount of gore for a Ghibli production- early on, you see a boar killed with an arrow through its eye (just the arrow hitting is shown- no bloodhappened when it is shot), there are soldier attacking a few villagers, and one of the attackers has his arms ripped clean off from an arrow- no blood spurts but you do see the wounds clearly. Some fighting happens, and this includes explosions and some boars dying. Early on, one of the wolf gods is shot. The girl gets the bullet out by using her mouth to suck it and the infectious agents out. A few men fall off a cliff- the implication is that all but two of them die, though their bodies are not shown. Some blood is shown being spat and around her mouth. Ashitaka does get shot, and he does bleed.

Theological Themes- Akihito is under a curse and it does take a visible form on the body -it can be a bit disgusting since it looks like oily, black worms. The story revolves around the animals of the forest rebelling agains tthe humans that are destroying their lands. They can communicate with humans in some cases, and there is a forest god that is shown, as well as little forest spirits (helpful, friendly ones) as they walk into the forest).

Nudity/Sexual Content- The village where this takes place is made up of women that were saved from brothels, and reference is made to this as well as a few flirtatious remarks.

Other Themes- There are perhaps three swears in the film, usually the d-word.

Genre: Historical/Fantasy

Studio/Creator: Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki

Distributor: Miramax

Running Time: 2 hours, 14 minutes

Suggested Age: 13+ (MPAA: PG-13)

My Rating: 10/10

Summary: Set in feudal Japan, this is the story of a young warrior named Ashitaka who becomes cursed when he fights a boar that has attacked his village. He exiles himself and that’s when he meets San, a girl raised by wolves, and Lady Eboshi, a woman who wants to oppose the forest gods. Which side will Ashitaka choose?

Review: This is my number two favorite Ghibli movie, right behind Spirited Away. What’s really interesting about it is how different it is from the rest of Ghibli’s filmography. Firstly, it has a male lead rather than a female lead. Second, it’s the only Ghibli movie without a flying sequence.

Lady Eboshi seems like the villain of the story, but you can actually sympathize with her. You can see that her village benefits from her. All the women are from brothels and owe her their freedom. She’s also taken in lepers and treats them like people.

The animation is vivid. I love the lush greens of the forest. Even though there is an environmental subtext, it’s clear that both sides of the issue are presented fairly.

Sub/Dub: The dub is really hit-or-miss. Some of the actors clearly haven’t had enough experience in voice acting to do it right. The ones who do have experience come off very well, like Keith David, who plays the boar demon. I’d urge you to stick to the sub.

Music/Score: Joe Hisaishi once again composed a great score. It accents the story well.

Violence: (7/10) Ashitake’s curse gives him superhuman strength. In some battles, he is capable of beheading enemies or removing their limbs.

Language: (2/10) Just a few curses.

Nudity: (0/10)

Sexuality: (0/10)

Religion: The forest is the home to several spirits. There is also a huge deer-like spirit who serves as the protector (a genus loci actually), and kodamas, who are like the dryads in Greek myths. If their trees die, so do they.

Violence: I agree with Atria35, that the violence is no worse than Lord of the Rings. There's some loss of limbs, and characters are shot and bleed. Animals are hurt, including the wolves. There is also a scene with a bloody boar, which I thought was kind of gross. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Demon Slayer have much more gore than this movie does.

Sex and Nudity: Nothing more than a passing reference to brothels.

Theological Themes: There are nature spirits that are involved. They are both animals and tree spirits. Ashitaka has a cursed arm.

Problematic Themes: There might have been some light swearing.

Overall: This movie is another Ghibli favorite. It is very well written, as you can see both sides of the argument. Both the forest creatures and the people of Iron Town have solid points. They have equally good reasons behind their actions. Neither Lady Eboshi or San and her wolves are depicted as pure evil. Ashitaka acts as a mediator, as he tries to get the two to reason with each other. All the characters are well written and engaging, and the plot was very nice, as it veered from the standard "good versus evil". I definitely recommend this one, though for teenagers and up.