Princess Mononoke is a historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli, released on the 12th of July, 1997.
Ashitaka, an Emishi prince, is cursed by a mad god while protecting his village. Banished, he must travel west to save his life, and ends up in the middle of a conflict among gods and men.
This film is set in roughly 1400’s Japan, which meant that I knew it was on shaky footing to begin with, but I held hope in my heart anyway. This was Studio Ghibli we are talking about after all, and more importantly Hayao Miyazaki. I have gone on record stating that “Miyazaki is good at airplanes.” He can normally seamlessly incorporate them in his works, and capture such a raw form of their appeal that it is truly striking. Unfortunately, in this movie, he does no such thing. Over the two hour runtime of this movie there is not a single airplane, fantastical or otherwise, nor is there even friendly flying god or dragon to give Ashitaka a lift. Out of every Miyazaki movie that I have seen, this one is by far the worst.
does a great job damaging Miyazaki’s credibility, both as an airplane guy and as an artist, and earns itself a big, fat zero out of five airplanes.
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