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This review is incredibly hard to write, because, after only one viewing, I'm not sure I have a good sense of how good this movie was. Most films are simple and easy to rate after one viewing. Confidential was a great movie - not the least because it starred one of my favorite actors, Kevin Spacey (but why does he keep getting shot in movies?
When Worlds Collide - on a theater marquee. But Confidential was hard to follow the first time through, mainly because the plot was complicated and some characters only appeared on-screen briefly, but were then mentioned again and again by other characters. Films like Confidential and Shakespearean films, as opposed to, say, Adam Sandler movies, improve with repeat viewings - I suspect Princess Mononoke will too.
Before I delve too much into what I didn't follow, let me describe what I did get from one viewing. First off, this is a really impressive production. The artwork is original, and, at turns, breathtakingly beautiful, bizarre, powerful, subtle and humorous.
The beautiful: Some of the animation rivals Disney, which is (rightfully or not) often considered the measuring stick. In one scene, our heroic prince, Ashitaka, rides through the forest on his red elk, prettily dappled in sunlight. In another quick scene, late-afternoon sunlight streams across the view, striated as it passes over rocks and vegetation. Beautiful pastoral images.
The Bizarre: Japanese animation can be really strange, so over-the-edge that I can't lose myself in the movie. Example: In one anime film ( Ninja Scroll ), a villain's humpback is revealed to be a big nest of bees (!
Folks, I've done some art that people consider strange, but this sort of thing is weird, weird, weird. Perhaps there's a fine line between being original and being off-putting. Perhaps I can relate to some weirdness but not other weirdness. Perhaps it's an indescribable personal thing, my weirdness versus your weirdness, you dig?
In any case, some of the images in Princess Mononoke are strange, but not so far-out that I lose suspension of disbelief.
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