A different kind of animation

By STEVE PERSALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 24, 1999

Princess Mononoke is no Toy Story 2, and yet it will find an audience in those who want something un-Disney.

Princess Mononoke is everything American audiences don't expect an animated film to be. That doesn't necessarily mean this Japanese anime import should be everything it is.

Hiyao Miyazaki's film is one of the highest-grossing releases ever in Japan, where cartoons aren't exclusively child's play. Even the ones aimed at children generally have a more sedate, mature aura than Disney films. Much of anime is notable for serious, epic topics and scope, usually in a science fiction or rugged fantasy vein. Pokemon is a silly exception, not the rule.

Princess Mononoke practically begs to be considered as a serious work of art, even at the expense of entertainment. The epic 135-minute running time is an endurance test, and hand-drawn images look positively archaic in these days of computer-generated animation. Comic relief is almost non-existent; there are no cuddly sidekicks or Broadway-style show tunes. Each frame is saturated with somberness.

Of course, this is precisely why a segment of moviegoers are panting over the film's stateside arrival. Princess Mononoke isn't the same old thing, and supporting the movie doubles as a jab at Disney's animation empire and pretenders to that throne. Liking the movie -- or any anime, for that matter -- gains a viewer membership in an exclusive club.

Princess Mononoke focuses on young Ashitaka, a brave lad who defeats a giant, demon-possessed boar in the opening minutes. He is injured, and the wound becomes a plague that will kill him unless a trip through a magic forest turns up a cure.

Ashitaka meets San, a young woman raised by wolves who mistrusts all humans because of our ecological missteps. Together, they face the challenge of Lady Eboshi, who wants to destroy the forest spirit, an elklike creature with a kind human face.

That brief synopsis doesn't cover all of the treachery, occult whims and bloodshed in Princess Mononoke. Live-action movies are seldom this somber, and cartoons are rarely this violent. Heads and arms are constantly lopped off by arrows or swords, and the entire mood is so pensive that our attention is dulled. The animation technique is pleasantly old-fashioned and somewhat fresh to most domestic eyes.

The movie has been re-dubbed for its U.S. release, recruiting voices such as Minnie Driver, Claire Danes and Billy Bob Thornton for box office appeal. However, the effect isn't entirely successful. One key to Disney's animation triumphs is that characters are drawn and scripted to match the personality of the celebrity voice. That is impossible in these after-the-fact circumstances.

Don't expect American audiences to embrace Princess Mononoke, when a perfectly good Toy Story 2 is opening the same day. Anime devotees will enjoy a few days of insider status before being sent back to their home video collections again. Miyazaki's daring vision deserves to influence American animators -- as in The Iron Giant -- but it won't steal Disney's thunder.

Princess Mononoke

• Grade: B-
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Cast: Voices of Claire Danes, Billy Crudup, Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver, Jada Pinkett
• Screenplay: Neil Gaiman, Hayao Miyazaki
• Rating: PG-13; graphic violence
• Running time: 135 min.