The Toronto Star 


October 29, 1999, Friday, Edition 1 

SECTION: ENTERTAINMENT 

LENGTH: 543 words 

HEADLINE: ANIMATED FEATURE A BIT DARK FOR KIDS 

BYLINE: Peter Howell 

BODY: 
    Minnie Driver, Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, Jada Pinkett and 
Gillian Anderson. At the Paramount theatre. 




Princess Mononoke arrives in theatres today as both a celebration 
and an experiment. 


A landmark of the lush Japanese animation art known as anime, the film triumphed 
in its homeland when it was released in 1997. It broke $150 million at Japan's 
box office (the only film besides Titanic ever to do so) and won the country's 
equivalent of the Oscar for best picture. 

Its creator, animation icon Hayao Miyazaki, is revered in Japan the way Disney 
is revered in North America. He has often been compared, understandably, to 
legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa for his use of samurai themes and epic battle 
scenes. Miyazaki's images are painterly and fantastic: the shape-shifting 
Nightwalker spirit creature of Princess Mononoke is like a cubist Picasso 
painting set in motion. 

Yet the success of Princess Mononoke seems far from assured in North America, 
despite its release here by the canny Disney subsidiary Miramax. Anime remains 
merely a cult fascination outside of Japan, conditioned as we Westerners are to 
short, snappy 'toons with Technicolour tints and wiseguy dialogue. (The latter 
problem may have been solved by dubbing the voices of American stars over the 
Japanese originals and using comic book writer Neil Gaiman (Sandman) to spruce 
up the screenplay.) 

There's also the question of whether Princess Mononoke is for childen or adults. 
The story of a feral girl fighting battles in medieval Japan will remind many 
kids and parents of Mulan, although Miyazaki's highly detailed animation - he 
used 144,000 hand-drawn images - makes the other film seem like Etch-a-Sketch. 

But it's Mulan for the arthouse, with a huge cast, a complicated story and a 
long running time (2 hrs., 14 mins.) that will make young butts wiggle. 

The film could also be described as Mulan as made by Greenpeace, since the 
highly allegorical tale is all about what happens when people trifle with 
nature. 

A lot of bad things happen. Angry spirits rise out of the forest to attack, 
aided by huge fearsome animals who are eager to crush human oppressors. 

The film is often very violent, and very dark. It opens with a scary scene in 
which a young warrior prince named Ashitaka (voiced by Billy Crudup) becomes 
infected with a fatal flesh-eating disease, during a battle with a gigantic wild 
boar, who symbolizes evil. 

''Whatever passes, you are dead to us forever,'' a soothsayer tells Ashitaka. 

The young prince channels his curse into great strength to fight for his people, 
but we see him literally rot as he battles. 

Some of the dubbing has dumbed-down Miyazaki's elegance. It assaults the ears to 
hear the voice of Billy Bob Thornton make a monk sound like an Arkansas hick 
(''So you say you're under a curse,'' he tells Ashitaka. ''So what. So's the 
whole damn world'') and neither Clare Danes nor Jada Pinkett Smith sound very 
medieval. 

But Princess Mononoke does raise the bar for excellence in animation, and that's 
always a good thing. And look on the bright side - with a film this cerebral, 
you won't be bugged to buy Ashitaka or Mononoke action figures at the McDonald's 
drive-thru window. 



GRAPHIC: DUB SIDE: 
Having Billy Bob Thornton dub the voice of Jigo (right) didn't do Princess 
Mononoke any favours.