The Lost World: PRINCESS MONONOKE

Animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s 1997 fantasy epic Princess Mononoke is back in theaters with a beautiful new 4K restoration showing exclusively in IMAX. It’s always a pleasure to be transported into its world of squabbling mortal factions made small in the face of the gods of nature. There’s the noble prince Ashitaka, cursed by a demonic infection, sent into exile to find the root of the disruption to the natural order. There he finds the wild girl San, who lives with the wolves, and is in battle with Lady Eboshi of Irontown for control of the forest. The forces of nature are besieged by the incursion of a burgeoning technological revolution—exemplified by the massive bellows forging iron that’ll make rifles and bullets. What are the wolves and apes and boars to do in the midst of this impending destruction? Conflict draws nearer. There’s also a beatific god of the forest, an elk with the face of a man, who walks on water and wordlessly wanders the woods leaving fresh growth in his wake. He’s endangered by poachers sent from the greedy emperor who has asked for the god’s head. The various factions of man do battle as the needs of industry and the free flow of nature reach a crisis point. In true Miyazaki fashion, all villainy and heroism is brought out in the fullness of complicated humanity, and all gripping action flows with fluid motion and a sense of scale and consequence.

Here is a complicated fantasy vision, effortlessly involving world-building and vividly imagined creatures and places, that unfurls with folkloric earnestness, spiritually engaged and classically structured. It feels like it’s a story that’s always existed. And its every frame reminds us it’s been crafted with human touch. Its hand-drawn spectacle, full of the deep breaths and luxurious pauses, the extra attention to details of wind and ripples and sighs and flinches that bring such richness to Miyazaki’s animation, is an illusion of movement and life given shape and form through the dedicated focus and attention of skilled artists with pen and brush. The characters are memorable, complicated, and lovable. The action is quick and exciting. The tension is gripping, and the detail of the environments are enveloping. And it’s all done in the patient, lovingly drafted images of Miyazaki and his team. This re-release is a good excuse to sit in the dark in front of an enormous screen, surrounded by booming sound, and be reminded of the primal magic of moving drawings. More than even the best CG animation, and certainly more than the pernicious anti-art prompted by technologists who think algorithmic computer programs can entirely replace the minds and efforts of artists, hand-drawn animation is a direct access to our shared humanity, and the wonders of which the human mind is capable. A film like Princess Mononoke will last; dishonest images spat out by a server copying its style won’t.