[VIDEO] In theaters this Wednesday, the animated film “The Stag King” is a legitimate spiritual son of “Princess Mononoke”!

While blockbusters have been disappointing lately, animated films continue to delight in spectacular films that are both popular and intelligent. A new demonstration this Wednesday, May 4 with the Japanese film “The stag king” which presents itself as a legitimate successor to Miyazaki’s masterpiece, “Princess Mononoke”.

Approach, good people, and hear the fabulous story of the deer king ! In this once feudal and fanciful time, the land of Aquafa is occupied by the mighty Zol Empire but a pocket of resistance remains on the side of the Domain of the Fire Horses. A far cry from all that is Van, who yesterday was the greatest warrior of the Lonely Palm clan and today is enslaved deep in a zolite salt mine.

One night, a pack of giant wolves whose bite is vector of a terrible magical plague sweeps over the mine and decimates all its occupants. With the exception of Van, however bitten, and Yuna, an adorable little girl whom he will take under his protection, and soon in affection… Learning of their existence, the Zolite power sets out on their heels, a formidable huntress and an eminent scientist in the hope of finding in them the key to a cure for the curse, while influential Aquafeans hatch some plot… Van and Yuna’s escape will take them very far… and beyond. of the.

For Studio Ghibli fans

If the complexity and harshness of the animated film universe The Deer King inspired by Nahoko Uehashi’s eponymous saga, intended for a fairly informed audience (which our children are, after 12!), it will delight fans of the most eco-pacifist Ghibli productions, such as The Castle in the Sky and above all Princess Mononokewhich we think about a lot.

It is not a coincidence. Although this is Masashi Ando’s very first production (with the help of Masayuki Miyaji), he previously shone as animation director for the greatest authors of Japanese animation: Satoshi Kon ( on Paprika and Tokyo Godfathers), Makoto Shinkai (on Your Name and The Children of Time)… and finally Hayao Miyazaki (on Princess Mononoke and Spirited away)!

Notwithstanding, The deer king is not a demarcation of the medieval-fantastic masterpiece of the venerable genius but a way of extension. The form differs significantly: the design here is a little more angular, the rhythm slower, the narration more emphatic and the animation stiffer… But the background, so singular, so precious, so remains: significance of nature, rejection of Manichaeism, rejection of warmongering heroism, valorization of exchange and openness… Spectacular passages are not lacking (and are not disappointing!), as well as the felt dialogues but the moments that some would say are hollow are not neglected, on the contrary: a scene from peasant life, training, a campfire, a medical-scientific approach, a paternal hug… These are these outbursts of humility in a epic gesture that make the majesty of the Deer king.

“The Stag King” from Masashi Andō and Masayuki Miyaji hits theaters this Wednesday, May 4.

[VIDEO] In theaters this Wednesday, the animated film “The Stag King” is a legitimate spiritual son of “Princess Mononoke”!