Behold, the Princess Mononoke.

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2009)

If this can't be called the peak of anime art, I would like to say, "Well, that's ridiculous." By all means, Mayao Miyazaki gave the world a movie that's worth 100 viewings. And the achievement in the movie history already proved that.
Check the IMDb plot keyword "Epic", and you will know Princess Mononoke is not the best animation movie, but also one of the best saga created in modern technology. The story involves a warrior, Ashi-taka, who had to leave his remote village for the the middle Japan, after he killed the enraged Mountain Pig and was cursed by it. Experiencing all the pains from the curse, he can't help being involved into the triangle conflict between the forest, the cannon-manufacturing city and the samurai......
The movie had its own mythology, in which the forest was protected by the ancient beasts who are now called "gods" by other beings. The conflict between human being and the nature was a total war in every aspect. In the development, humans tried to destroy the habitant of the animals so they could derive all the necessary resources. The animals lead by their gods also tried their best to guard the frontier of the forest, killing as much human as they could. Does this sound familiar to you? I guess so because that's the very situation happening a thousand years ago and still happening now. The only difference is the nature only strikes at human in a larger scale in reality. So the movie is somehow unrealistic? No. Wait until the end to conclude. The whole script was so well thought out that every element, every single shot was legendary. You will remember the intense struggle to come to terms between Human and nature in both a symbolic way and a literature way. You will remember the holocaust created by human deeds. And, you will remember the visual style.
Differentiated from all the other Miyazaki productions, Mononoke has an cutting-edge look that contains many bloody and gory scenes, decorated with the latest technology at its time. Though the technology it used didn't redefine the whole industry, it overwhelmed the whole movie industry, claiming the coming of an age that animation movies can carry great value like a real-set movie, and deserve more credits. Not after 6 years,an Academy Award for the best animated feature was delivered to Hayao Miyazaki, for his most famous production "Spirited Away". I believe without Miyazaki's effort, without the case of Princess Mononoke, we would never have such an award.
10/10. I still gave more credits to it than Wall-E.