Writer-director Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke may be a cartoon, but it’s an “adult” movie in the best sense of the word. While it features the same fanciful images that one typically expects from animated flicks, Princess Mononoke has a moral and ideological intricacy that has evaded most of this year’s live-action releases.

The film takes place in 14th-century rural Japan where the balance between civilization and nature is starting to collapse. As a result, a small village of the Emishi tribe is attacked by a rampaging boar god. Normally, the animal gods stay put in the forest, but this creature has been wounded by a mysterious weapon: a bullet. Now legions of giant worm-tentacles cover the monster’s skin.

The village’s brave warrior Ashitaka (voiced by Billy Crudup from Without Limits) manages to kill the beast, but he winds up being infected with the monster’s curse. His arm is now discolored and decaying. Because of the curse, Ashitaka’s village disowns him in spite of his heroism. Ashitaka rides into the countryside hoping to find a cure. When he encounters random battles during his quest, he discovers the curse makes him deadlier. Now, a single arrow from his bow or a wave of his sword causes enemies to lose limbs.

Through his journeys, Ashitaka finds that the source of the bullet is a village called Iron Town. The town’s ruler, Lady Eboshi (Minnie Driver), has been chopping down the local forest to mine iron. Doing so has provoked the wolf goddess Moro (Gillian Anderson) and her adopted human daughter San, the Princess Mononoke (Claire Danes). She repeatedly attacks Iron Town with her lupine siblings. To stop San and the other forest inhabitants from attacking, Lady Eboshi and the corrupt monk Jigo (Billy Bob Thornton) conspire to kill the Great Forest Spirit so that the mystical forces that protect the trees will cease to be a hindrance.

Of course the situation is a good deal more complicated than any the participants imagine, and that is exactly what makes Princess Mononoke so fascinating. Miyazaki skillfully weaves traditional Japanese folklore and history with his own creations and perspective. The movie itself is an allegory about the way urbanization has absorbed most of the land in Japan. But Miyazaki does more than simply sing the praises of environmentalism. The characters may be imaginative (like the swivel-headed forest sprites called Kodama), but Miyazaki makes his protagonists as involved and as flawed as real people. For example, Lady Eboshi may be the enemy of tree-huggers, but her village is home to outcasts like prostitutes and lepers.

Even if the story were as vapid as a typical Pokémon episode, Princess Mononoke would be worth viewing merely for Miyazaki’s lush images. Few details escape his eye. Even the clouds are carefully rendered. Unlike some recent Disney efforts, the film isn’t marred by dull obligatory songs or pat conclusions. It is rewarding to see a cartoon that has more than a McDonald’s tie-in for inspiration.

Miyazaki’s craftsmanship and originality have made him one of the most revered figures in Japanese cinema. Thankfully, the new English dub by director Jack Fletcher and writer Neil Gaiman is suitably cast and handled. Whether American audiences can embrace Miyazaki’s odd but enchanting films remains to be seen, but Princess Mononoke is easily one of the grandest achievements of animé. (PG-13).

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