Studio Ghibli Weekend: Princess Mononoke

My husband and I first watched Princess Mononoke in our mid 20's Anime phase.  It's a phase that we've not really grown out of to be honest but the volume of consumption has definitely dwindled this side of parenthood.  As Studio Ghibli is one of the more broad audience orientated studios we thought Princess Mononoke would be a good introduction to Anime's often unique form of storytelling for our children so we sat kid 1 down one Friday night so see how it would go down.  She loved it!  We however, didn't find it quite as satisfying the second time around although Studio Ghibli always have a certain magical quality to their productions.


Princess Mononoke follows the adventures of Ashitaka as he travels far from his homeland to find the cure for his curse from the legendary Forest Spirit.  When he arrives in the western forest he finds himself caught up in the battle between the ambitious humans and the disturbed forest creatures led by the beautiful Princess Mononoke and he struggles to help them both live together in peace. 

Rating: We enjoyed the film but we [the parents] probably won't bother seeing it again.  However kid 1 liked it more and would see it again.  The theme of environmentalism is a bit belaboured but it gives a good opportunity for discussion afterward.


Naughty bits: Princess Mononoke is on the more mature end of Ghibli productions.  There is quite a bit of gore and violence and plenty of weird blobby creatures.  This really is for older children or teenagers because the likelihood of nightmares and awkward conversations are rather high if your kids are sensitive or younger than double digits.  The language is mostly clean though and there is not really any sexual content.

If you are unfamiliar with Anime or Japanese film-making you need to be aware that their spiritual outlook is quite different to traditional Western spirituality and this heavily influences the content of their films.  This is fine if you are happy to introduce your kids to different worldviews and perspectives but parents who are unaware of this may find it unsettling.

Snacks: Blue Jelly and marshmellows

Family In-quotes: "Ugh, I smell like a human"

Related Goodies:
Studio Ghibli Museum