Let's start with the title - 'Mononoke Hime'. After watching the movie, one can easily concur that the title is a mismatch.
The movie starts off great. Immediately we are introduced to the main character taking down a demon god and was cursed in the process. He sets out on a journey to find a way to lift his curse. At this point i was greatly engrossed & was really looking forward. Man!! It was a big let down.
Characters:
We have a main character 'ashitaka' who is so lame and useless that if you remove him from the movie, the story would remain the same & not a thing would change. His presence do not impact the story in any way. All he does is postpone the inevitable. This kind of characterization applies to others as well.
We have a woman who wants to destroy forests to build guns & conquer the country . Why ?? we weren't told.
We have a emperor who wants to kill a forest god. Why ?? May be Immortality but then again it was never confirmed. All we have to go by is a conversation between two of his subordinates trying to speculate on it.
This do not stop here. Even the forest gods in the story are stupid. The best character in the story is a middle aged guy who acts as a spy and was tasked with killing the forest god.
Story:
The plot is basically a fight between forest spirits and the humans who want to destroy the forests. A bunch of random events are thrown in to make up the length of the movie. The main character remains clueless and confused throughout the story. He neither makes an effort to stop the fight nor side with one of them. He just remains half -assed wanting to stop yet wouldn't do anything for the cause.
The climax is basically a reset of the all events happened until then. All the lost forests comes back to life and all the people responsible for the deforestation remain alive vowing to restart and build even a better village.
Animation:
the animation is good but the plot & characters made it difficult enjoy it.
