We picked this up from GKids as part of our ongoing quest to explore anime beyond Ghibli. This had some real appeal to it, but was far too derivative of Ghibli, and especially of Princess Mononoke, to be really great. The world is completely ahistorical and fictitious, which is fine, but the details don't come together as effortlessly and compellingly as they always seem to for Miyazaki and co.
Like Mononoke, at the beginning of the Deer King a pestilence infects an unsuspecting prince, setting the stage for the broader adventure. And while Mononoke could be read as an allegory for industrialization and de-enchantment, the Deer King levels up on this: the prince's infection is presented as a curse of the kami spirits in the Ghibli film, but the Deer King dramatizes the discovery that it is actually caused by biological agents. Yet for all the playful engagement with the Ghibli masterpiece, this fun film never really escapes the magnetic pull of its inspiration. The high rating is from my kiddos-I would go for a six or seven.
Like Mononoke, at the beginning of the Deer King a pestilence infects an unsuspecting prince, setting the stage for the broader adventure. And while Mononoke could be read as an allegory for industrialization and de-enchantment, the Deer King levels up on this: the prince's infection is presented as a curse of the kami spirits in the Ghibli film, but the Deer King dramatizes the discovery that it is actually caused by biological agents. Yet for all the playful engagement with the Ghibli masterpiece, this fun film never really escapes the magnetic pull of its inspiration. The high rating is from my kiddos-I would go for a six or seven.