‘Life is suffering. It is hard…’
Having previously been uninitiated into the world of Studio Ghibli and anime, I am now beginning to immerse myself into a genre that is as critically adored as it is unique. Spirited Away was my entry point, but I have also now taken in Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbour Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies from the Ghibli oeuvre, as well as Your Name from elsewhere. Whilst many of Ghibli’s projects are eulogised, Princess Mononoke is perhaps the most revered of all, and it’s easy to see why…
The plot is incredibly complex so I’ll summarise by saying a number of competing parties battle for the future of a mythical forest. That’s not to say that the plotting is convoluted or incoherent, more that legendary director Hayao Miyazaki has crafted something so wondrous and epic in scale that it would be impossible to sum up in one pithy paragraph. Just watch the damn thing if you want to know the plot.
So yes, this is by far the most ambitious and complex work in the Ghibli canon (at least the ones I have seen), but it is all the better for it. This is a master story teller at work with Miyazaki doing more in one feature film than most directors manage in an entire franchise. Princess Mononoke makes Avatar look like Clifford the Big Red Dog. The sheer scale of Miyazaki’s masterpiece puts most Hollywood productions to shame. It’s also worth noting that despite being animated this is absolutely not a children’s film. To label it as such would be reductive.
There is still an inherent snootiness in some quarters about anime and its place in the history of film. Anyone harbouring those doubts should be made to sit down and watch Princess Mononoke, it would change their mind.