THE year is 2025, but the forest still rumbles with the thunderous return of a 1997 legend. Yes, Princess Mononoke is back on the big screen, re-released with its original Japanese audio and English subtitles, inviting veteran fans to rewatch it for the thousandth time and discover something new, as always, while giving newcomers the rare gift of experiencing Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic epic the way it was meant to be seen: loud, luminous and absolutely feral.
For those unfamiliar with this towering achievement in animation (how?), this is not your typical fairy tale. There are no clean-cut heroes, no damsels in distress and definitely no musical numbers (unless one counts the haunting orchestral score by the ever-iconic Joe Hisaishi). Instead, there is a cursed prince, a wolf-riding girl who bites people in the face and an entire ecosystem of gods, guns, grudges and gushing green goo.
