Pazu is an orphan who works for the owner of a mine and one night after everyone has left he sees something falling from the sky. He runs up to a platform and sees that it's a young girl floating down from the heavens. Just as he tentatively reaches out to catch her, almost as if she weren't real, she stops floating and falls heavily into his arms, almost knocking him off the platform himself. The girl's name is Sheeta and she is on the run from the leader of an organization who wants to get his hands on a crystal Sheeta got from her grandmother and keeps on a necklace. Pazu decides that he'll help Sheeta escape both the man and an unruly gang of pirates who are also after the crystal. This back and forth chase leads everyone to a mythical castle in the sky. Pazu's father got lost in a storm surrounding the island and Pazu has been preparing to go find the floating castle that his father was searching for. The crystal has great power that can be deadly, and has a connection with this mystical castle in the sky. Will the bad guys get their hands on this potentially deadly power? And if they do, is there anything Pazu and Sheeta can do to prevent a most certain disaster?!
This is a wonderful film. There is action, adventure, romance, and suspense. It's both whimsical and grounded at the same time. The movie is about a dream of a floating castle, but that fantasy and whimsy is brought down to earth by greed and power. The characters are wonderful and I enjoyed the dynamic between Sheeta and Pazu. A wonderful film for all ages.
This movie is a classic. The animation is spectacular and the story very well done. I happen to be somewhat into Japanese culture as of present, but before I was so into it, and people who I know now who are not into it, sometimes Japanese media goes over their heads. The cultures are kind of different and place importance on different things and when a person used to seeing one kind of story or moral repeated over and over in different ways sees something else... well they may not immediately appreciate it (an example of this would be how at the end he doesn't end up with the girl). This happens in almost every western movie because we are very focused on the 'happy ending' fairytale, validating the storyline with the 'kiss at the end', but that doesn't happen in all cultures). However, I found Princess Mononoke to somewhat transcend this confusion, because the story is so relatable and well told. I found it to be so when I first watched it, which would be late elementary school, and feel this way even more now.
The story can be translated in many ways, but the general message I got out of it was the modern attempting to erase tradition. The people of Iron Town worked hard to destroy the forest because by doing so they could earn a living in the new world making iron. The only way they could do this however was to cut down the forests, which meant that they would have to kill the gods from the old world, who were already dying out. The thing is that the Lady Osono is painted in something of a bad light as she is cutting down the forest and killing the gods, but she is an amazingly strong humanist. She's a proactive woman in a time and place where women weren't liable to have that status (the status might help to paint her as a 'bad guy' however, because even though we are making progressions, many people are still very sexist... I would bet you that if not you yourself, someone you know thinks that women are by nature evil or devious... in 2008). So when looking at it in this light Osono is opting for humanity. She takes in lepers, she saves brothel workers from whatever fate they would face in brothels, etc. and yet she's the 'bad guy'. Interesting to note at any rate.
Ashitaka is a great protagonist. A pacifist to the end. He goes on his journey to find something to remove his curse. Not for selfish reasons I don't think, but to right the wrong. He's a pretty selfless person. At the beginning of the movie, the reason he got the curse was because his sister was in the way of the cursed boar, so he had to shoot it, but before that he was trying to talk to it and calm it's anger. This is basically how he acts throughout the movie. He tries to get things done without violence, but if it comes to it, he will resort to violence to protect himself or those he cares about.
I didn't really notice the environmental message when I first saw it. I was more focused on cultural loss. But recently, with the environmental bludgeon the media has been playing around with, I noticed just how 'for nature' this movie was. Traditionalism would of course take the stance against industry which would be a way to save the forest, so it makes sense, but I guess I just went into it too symbolically. It does have a pleasant environmental message however, better than a lot of other animated environmental movies.
The first maybe 15/ 20 minutes of this movie are really annoying and just seem like these two girls are running around trying to be cute and carefree. Those few minutes made me acutely aware that I was an adult watching a child's movie, in the most unpleasant way possible. Thankfully it improves. In fact, if you play the movie again right after you've seen it once, you'll most likely still have the happy/ magical feeling and will still feel a connection to the characters, so can pass of the annoying as...... endearing.
The girls take us on a journey, seeing the world through their eyes. The story begins when the girls and their father move to a new house in the country. When they get there they start bumping into spirits, and continue to do so throughout the movie. The story itself is a very plain story about two girls living their regular lives, waiting for their mother to come home from the hospital, but this magical world that only the girls can interact with and see takes the story to a whole other level. The magical beings the girls interact with can easily be rationalized as the imaginations of these two girls as they make more of their surroundings than is actually there (for example the soot gremlins could be just dust balls), but even if that is the case, it makes the story that much more fantastic. A child, who is already prone to accepting the fact that magic can exist, will accept this story as it is presented, two girls who meet forest spirits. an adult however, much more skeptical than a child, may not do so and will look for instances to rationalize away the magic (soot gremlins = dust balls), and to that adult this story has the wonderful lesson of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. That's also why it helps to watch the movie twice as an adult to enjoy it, you get over your inhibitions and desire to make it fit into your own life after seeing it the first time, for those who don't need the first time I salute you. It's a wonderful movie, and as it's a Myazaki film, definitely worth the watch.
This movie is in my list of most watched movies. It's about a witch who (after going to live on her own for a year) loses her ability to fly and has to struggle with herself to find who she is to be able to fly again. Every witch has a special power that she does best, like her own personality manifested. When Kiki loses her power, its like the struggle a lot of young girls (and boys) go through to find out why they're here and who they are.
I first saw this movie when I was in grade 7, and her not knowing what her power was at first, finding it, loosing it and then how she gained it back by realizing what was truly important really touched a chord in me. I thought to myself 'hey! I go through that all the time!' and watching her rise out of her inability always made me feel better about myself when I was feeling a bit sad. Showing a light at the end of the tunnel if you will.
I recommend this movie to all young girls as its a truly touching movie of finding your own way in the world, your purpose, which is to be the best you you can be.
