The boar god who dies in the opening scene is covered in swirling snakes. When it dies, it decomposes down to its skeleton in seconds. Battle scenes include shots of dismemberment and decapitation. The boar gods die gruesome deaths. Blood is visible when characters are wounded. All of this is presented in the context of a violent era involving warring factions and a life-or-death struggle between human and animal. Boars are later killed with grenades. Characters do battle with swords, grenades, poison darts, rifles, bows and arrows.
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Aspects of Japanese culture and mythology drive the storytelling. Features strong female characters who are also quite complex. Even as San comes to care for Ashitaka, she never relinquishes her independence. Lady Eboshi defies gender stereotypes as an ambitious and savvy leader who empowers other marginalized women and disabled people who work in Iron Town.
Main character Ashitaka demonstrates courage when he defends his village from an attack by a demon boar god (which leaves him cursed), and perseverance as he searches for a cure. San, a human girl raised by wolves, matches if not exceeds Ashitaka's bravery and strength. Caught on two opposing sides in the conflict between the human and natural world, Ashitaka and San show empathy for each other. Even the antagonistic Lady Eboshi reveals a compassionate side by employing social outcasts such as sex workers and lepers in Iron Town.
Positive Messages
a little
Central theme concerns debate between preserving and protecting the environment versus humankind's exploitation of natural resources in order to thrive and prosper.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Hayao Miyazaki-directed anime in which young warrior Ashitaka (voiced by Yōji Matsuda in the original version and Billy Crudup in the English dub), stricken by a deadly curse, must find a way to rescue the forests of the west. This movie is darker and more intense than many of Miyazaki's other classics. Although it's an animated fantasy, it has the scope and grandeur of a live-action historical epic and has many battle scenes and other violent sequences, as well as additional gruesome elements. Characters do battle with rifles, swords, bows and arrows, grenades, and poison darts. There are scenes in which characters are decapitated or lose their limbs in battle. A character compares soup to "super donkey piss." Mention is made of the female rifle makers of Iron Town being former sex workers. While it's probably too much for most younger kids, older tweens will be thrilled and engrossed, and teens are likely to love the mythical story. The cast of memorable characters, including strong female leads, offers nuanced depictions of compassion, courage, empathy, and perseverance. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
i would have to say that the movie is good for kids around 13-18, mainly cause the movie has some pretty graphic scenes like ashitaka shooting an arrow that completely decapitates someone's head. the movie isn't as suited for younger kids as well as my neighbor totoro and kiki's delivery service is cause it does feature some curse words such as piss and damn which isn't really suitable knowing how impressionable kids can be hearing curse words. the movie overall is fantastic and has a very well valued moral behind it all.
This movie shows more blood in it than probably any other movie I have seen. Multiple heads are shot off by “demon” arrows, Princess Mononoke sucks mouthfuls of blood out of a wolf god’s wound to clean it, the main character is shot through the chest from which blood flows puddles on the ground as he exerts himself to open a city gate, a man has his arms shot off and pinned to a tree where they dangle for a moment, the decapitated head of a wolf-god bites off a woman’s arm, a ten-ton boargod vomits buckets of blood repeatedly, another boar-god rots away into a reeking carcass in seconds—and that is just the big stuff. This all sounds worse than it seems however, as the film’s cartoon nature makes the gore much less pronounced or offensive. As for sexual content, the film is mostly clean although “not applicable” is definitely an inaccurate rating. A band of women, who giggle a lot, is depicted in relatively modest kimonos (basically bathrobes) which nevertheless show a little cleavage. Many of them have, apparently, been rescued from more disreputable pasts and one man describes them as having been “wasted in the brothels” (a term which is used at least thrice in the movie). The women themselves say that their new life of manual labor is better because “the men no longer bother us…unless we want them to! *tee hee tee hee*” At one point, the main character goes to visit them (not in an inappropriate way) and helps them pump the billows for an iron mine. His efforts toss them lightly into the air which they find quite entertaining, but their bathrobes rumble a bit and one women jokes to another (off-screen) “Whoops! Better keep that kimono closed tight!” As for language, God’s name is abused a couple of times and b*stard, b*tch, d*mn and H*ll are each used, but only about once each. I like this website because of the user reviews, but whoever at CSM wrote this review clearly liked the movie too much. I mean: “Language = Not Applicable”? if b*stard, b*tch, d*mn, and H*ll don’t count as foul language, there is not much that does.
What's the Story?
PRINCESS MONONOKE begins in 15th century Japan, as Ashitaka (voiced by Yōji Matsuda in the original version and Billy Crudup in the English dub), a young prince from a remote tribe, is cursed by a dying boar god from the forest region of western Japan. His journey to the source of the curse takes him to Iron Town. There, Lady Eboshi (Yūko Tanaka/Minnie Driver) runs an operation that smelts ore taken from the surrounding mountains once dominated by wolves and boars. Ashitaka is drawn to San (Yuriko Ishida/Claire Danes), a girl raised by wolves. Together they work to try to stop Lady Eboshi and the corrupt monk Jigo (Kaoru Kobayashi/Billy Bob Thornton) from waging war on the animals.
This film is a masterwork of animated storytelling from esteemed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. Charting an epic battle of humans versus gods in old Japan, Princess Mononoke is filled with adventure and beauty. It boasts the scope and grandeur of a live-action historical epic yet also has the fantastic elements of animation. These elements, in the form of talking animals and a magical forest spirit, are treated with utmost realism. The animals debate their plight with dead seriousness and attack humans in murderous rage. They're nothing like the talking animals in Disney features.
The English dub features several actors well-known to British and American audiences, mixing accents from Lady Eboshi's British lilt to the monk Jigo's Southern drawl to San's modern American teenage inflections. Other famous English-language cast members include Gillian Anderson as the wolf god Moro, Jada Pinkett-Smith as Toki, and Keith David as boar god Okkoto.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the role of violence in Princess Mononoke and in real life. How does the impact of the violence in this movie compare to that of live-action films?
What audience do you think this movie is most likely to appeal to? Why? Who do you think it's intended for?
How does this movie explore the tension between protection of the environment and humankind's consumption of the planet's natural resources?
How do Ashitaka and San demonstrate courage and perseverance? Why is it also important that they have compassion and empathy? How do these traits help them?
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