Easily in my Top 5

Rating: 10/10 (10 March 2015)

I remember the first time I saw it, it was right when this title came to DVD here in America. I wasn't yet double digits, and it was the first time I felt fear without having to look away or needing someone there near me.
It was not a fear I had felt, and in fact calling it fear may be the wrong word, but to me moments got my heart racing, my hair rising on the back of my neck. It felt like there was a real risk within the first scene of the movie.
There were so many things I didn't understand, but I remember the thing that stood out to me the most was there was no actual villain. The gods were killing humans to preserve their world. The humans were killing the forest to preserve their species. No one was 100% right nor 100% wrong. Even the worst person in the film was praised for seeing lepers as real people, for saving girls from brothels and teaching them to fight.
I will absolutely be showing this to my children when they are around 8 or 9. I think showing them that in the real world there is no obvious bad guy is important. Everyone has a side, everyone is doing what they think is right, be it for their betterment or the betterment of those around them. We do not do things to purposefully take from others, only to give to ourselves. It's an important lesson and Princess Mononoke gives us this lesson in a movie with absolutely stunning musical accompaniment, some of the best animation I have ever had the pleasure of seeing, and great voice acting from people you might not recognize right off the bat.
I'd recommend to absolutely everyone to see this movie at least once. I am not a fan of anime in any sense of the word, but this movie will never leave my Top 5.