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View Full Version : Princess Mononke: the animated film you must watch before you die.

MonkeyFunk
07-23-2006, 03:00 AM
Last night the UK's Channel 4 did a documentary titled "50 Films to See Before you Die", as chosen by a load of experts. The list can be found here (http://www.channel4sales.com/news/news-article.aspx?year=2006&id=77).

The one animated movie on the list is Princess Mononke (http://www.keyframeonline.com/Animation/Princess_Mononoke/153/), which came in at around 40. Any thoughts?
lupercal
07-23-2006, 04:48 AM
It's very good, and probably should have been Miyazaki's best, but I don't think it is, let alone Ghibli's best. I think it's a bit marred by a rather ragged, unconvincing ending. Overall I want to like Mononoke the best, as I love the rest of the film, but I think I do prefer Spirited Away overall, with the understated Whisper of the Heart getting my vote as my personal Ghibli favourite. Mind you, with the exception of 'Castle in the Sky', which for some unaccountable reason I'm not mad about, and 'The Cat Returns', which is pleasant but just too lightweight to go up gainst the others, I've rated all of Ghibli's films either 3.5 or 4.0. I do think Miyazaki has a problem with his films falling over to some extent in the last 10 minutes , though (maybe with the exception of Porco Rosso, which I think managed to sew up the ending properly, and 'Howl's Moving Castle', which was all over the shop by the halfway point)

Loop
MonkeyFunk
07-23-2006, 06:34 AM
Yeah, you could make a case for Spirited Away; I think Mononoke had the edge because it's more adult-oriented (well, to Western viewers, anyway). There's also Grave of the Fireflies.

Outside of Ghibli, the only animated movie I could really see making the list is Jan Svankmajer's Alice.
lupercal
07-23-2006, 07:32 AM
Yes, I think Grave of the Fireflies is better than anything of Miyazaki's, but I think 'Whisper of the Heart' is even better.

Loop
Thalia-is-Crazy
08-11-2006, 10:16 PM
Dude, if that was my list of 50 films, they'd probably *all* be animated.

Sorry but animated films are... just... way too good for only one to hold a place on that list.

And so low down>? Blah.