Hey folks, Harry here. Quint saw this at the same time I did, but I'm holding my opinion and review till after I tape my next appearance on Roger Ebert's show... No way am I giving advance word one way or another on this film. But... here's our scurvy seaman, Quint for the time being.... amazing that he chimed in before Robogeek... hmmmm....
Ahoy, Constant Readers, Quint here again with a review of Princess Mononoke. I would have included it with the other report of flicks seen at the Austin Film Festival, but I thought it would already have abundant coverage on the site. I haven't had access to my computer in a while. It was hooked up to my radio on the Orca... at least until me and Brody got into a fight. I'm certifiable. Anyway, I just saw that there hasn't been one review of Mononoke on the site, at least in the last week or two. So, I thought I'd give you my impressions of the film.
I had heard of Mononoke many, many, many times. I had never seen it until the screening at the Paramount, though. I didn't even know what it was about. For those that want to know, Princess Mononoke is about a warrior that defends his village from a demon. He saves his village, but in doing so was touched by the demon's evil, which causes an infection that is bound to kill him. The village elders commend him for his bravery, but since he is now a host to evil, he must go on a quest to either find a cure for himself or die. It's while on this quest he meets the title character and all hell breaks loose.
What a cool film! Now, I'm not exactly the world's biggest anime fan. In fact the only other anime film I've seen is Ghost in the Shell, which I liked, but didn't love. I love Princess Mononoke and I look forward to taking my little brother to see it when it's released. One of the things that most impressed me about the film was it's use of violence. It goes from tender, touching moment with the our hero to an arrow that takes off a bad guy's head. It's just graphic enough for the hardcore geeks in the audience to go, "Cooooool," while not being so graphic it makes kids have nightmares for the rest of their lives.
Most people that have seen the film could give less of a shit about what I said above. They want to know how well the English dub on the film is. In a word: outstanding. It's not Pokeman or early '90s Nickelodeon Japanimation wacky, high pitched voices, but well timed and never out of place acting. They brought real actors on, not just voice talents and it helps. Even though the majority of the actor's voices dissapear in the characters, it's still fairly easy to pick up Billy Bob Thornton's voice. But, if anything, that only raises the enjoyability factor up a notch. For me, at least. Neil Gaiman, of Sandman fame, was asked to write a script of the translations of the dialogue for American audiences and he did a tremendous job. Every effort was put to having the dialogue match up with the lip movements of the on screen characters, so you don't end up with the stereotypical "Godzilla is attacking the city!!!" trying to fit into one or two spoken words on screen. He also ran every change to the dialogue by Myazaki (forgive the possible misspelling), the director of the film, for approval, so there is no change in the spirit or tone of the original work.
All in all, I was impressed and I can't wait to see it again. I applaud everyone involved with this project. You guys and gals brought an amazing movie to the American public and didn't cheapen it through translation. If anything, it could only possibly be improved.
-Quint
