One of the best animated movies of all time, Princess Mononoke is yet another Studio Ghibli film by the master Hayao Miyazaki and again has nature as one of it's themes - something which is very common in Japanimation. This was the first of Miyazaki's films to get mainstream attention in the western world and has changed many people's perception of anime since.
It's not quite as good as Spirited Away, but Princess Mononoke can be remembered in history as being the anime film that made Anime mainstream again in the western world. An amusing story about it's adaption for the US exists on Wikipedia, and it does say something about how Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli work.
On hearing that Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein would try to cut Princess Mononoke to make it more marketable, one of Studio Ghibli's producers sent an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts".
To some that could seem like a threat, but to me that shows their dedication to the quality of the film - they've worked on it to make it exactly as they want it for the eastern audiences, and they want the western audience to experience the same richness of culture and story that fills their films.
As the film starts it introduces us to the principle character, Ashitaka who is the prince of his village who are a lost tribe that were once well known for the red elks that they ride. He protects his village from a demon which is in the form of a giant wild boar covered in some sort of black goo. Whilst protecting his village his arm is touched by the beast and it infects him - threatening to one day end his life in pain. The villagers banish him and he goes off in search of a cure by looking for the people that created the iron that infected the creature. On his travels he comes across some samurai attacking a village, he puts a swift stop to them but something strange happens with his infected arm and it gives him greater strength (strong enough to decapitate someone with an arrow, not very realistic regardless) and it ripples with the same corruption. Afterwards he meets another "traveller" who helps him pay for some rice to eat, and we see him again later working for the village who made the iron. Eventually a series of events makes him encounter a girl who rides with three wolves who are great spirits of the forest. He believes it is through them that he can find the cure for his ailment.
As you may have noticed by this point, again we see another example of the heroes journey - he has a quest that he must complete and is willing to sacrifice his life in doing so. It's not quite your typical version of the story though - there is the Princess (San, who's not exactly a damsel in distress though), but the other elements of the journey aren't there.
After encountering San at the river Ashitaka returns the wounded soldiers to their village and gets to know the villagers there. Most of them are good people, it is just the woman that leads them who is misguided through her lack of understanding of the forest and it's spirits. Whilst there San attacks the village and Ashitaka stops them from killing her, but gets shot in the process. His wound comes close to killing him, but San takes Ashitaka to a lake in the forest where the Night walker comes and heals his wounds - but leaves the great boars curse on him.
The rest of the film progresses with Ashitaka continuously trying to help both sides in an attempt to save the forrest without causing any more death.
It's a film I really enjoy watching, and have watched it a few times because of it's great story and the quality of the animation. The soundtrack is another unforgettable one and is easily as good as the soundtrack to Spirited Away.
