MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

This $20 million animated adventure/fantasy quickly became the highest grossing Japanese film in Japanese film history (making $150 million in Japan during its first seven months). Set in the 14th century, the ecology-themed epic was directed by Hayao Miyazaki whose previous films were acquired by Disney for U.S. distribution plus other territories. Princess Mononoke depicts a mystical battle between Animal Gods of the forest and humans during Japan's Muromachi Period. Young Ashitaka receives a fatal infection after a demonic wild boar attacks his northern village. Seeking a cure, he sets out to locate the deer-like god Shishigami. Along the way, he sees the rape of the Earth by a mining village. The constant plundering by the village has brought the wrath of the Wolf God, Moro, who attacks the village along with San, a human who was raised by the wolf god. She communicates with the nature spirits -- which is why she is called Princess Mononoke ("spirits of things"). Ashitaka wants these opposing forces to co-exist, and he hopes to bring peace between San and the ironworks owner, Lady Eboshi. However, he is thwarted as higher powers, intent on killing the Shishigama, intrude, and a battle erupts over the future of all nature. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English
• Features:
  • • Featurette
    • Theatrical trailer
    • French-language track
    • 5.1 Surround
    • Widescreen [1.85:1] enhanced for 16x9 televisions

AWARDS

• Telluride Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1999

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Hayao Miyazaki

• Producer:

  Toshio Suzuki

• Screenwriter:

  Hayao Miyazaki, Neil Gaiman

• Cinematographer:

  Atsushi Okui

• Composer (Music Score):

  Joe Hisaishi

• Editor:

  Takeshi Seyama, Hayao Miyazaki

• Executive Producer:

  Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Scott Martin

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Kazuhiro Wakabayashi

• Animator:

  Kanada Yoshinori

• Voice Director:

  Jack Fletcher

• Animation Director:

  Masashi Ando, Yoshifumi Kondo, Kitaro Kosaka

REVIEW:

• The epic film effort of director Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli, Princess Mononoke preserves the director's spirit of humanism while succeeding as a daring action-adventure. Though it contains more violence than his earlier works, it expands on his frequent ecological themes without falling into the black-and-white polarity of good guys versus the bad guys. Humans, animals, and gods have reached a point where they cannot live in harmony, and each faction -- be it lepers, wild boars, or forest spirits -- is warranted some dignity. Based on drawings of ancient forests, the scenery is breathtaking, being the first of Miyazaki's films to utilize computer-generated animation, although the bulk is still, thankfully, drawn by hand. Once the highest grossing film in Japan (before being surpassed by Titanic and later Miyazaki's own Spirited Away), Princess Mononoke was dubbed into English and distributed by Miramax. Fortunately, the raging forest battle does not get a sentimentalized treatment from the U.S. company. Rather than stock Disney-anthropomorphized animals, the forest creatures are represented with a variety of sincerity, compassion, and ferocity. The plight of the animals and forest gods rarely resorts to a simple moral explanation, and the central romance is not written off with a happily ever after. What Princess Mononoke does have is a beautifully rendered mythical forest inhabited by inventive creatures, while evoking as much rousing adventure as a sense of wonder. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi