The best work of a genius of the genre.

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2003)

Although I truly love Spirited Away, I strongly feel that Princess Mononke is Miyazaki's crowning achievement. Not only do I prefer the animation, but the complex storylines are amazing:
SPOILERS AHEAD. ACHTUNG!
This film, like Spirited Away, addresses several themes simultaneously: life and death; nature and culture; conservationism and industry; humanity and its surroundings; friendship, honesty, and tradition. It gets very old reading the musings of viewers who complain about the plot, the pacing, and the point of Miyazaki's films. His vision is not limited to a single theme and his plot is not laden with wooden villains and sterling protagonists; indeed, it may be reasonably argued that there is no real villain in Mononoke and that the only "hero" is Ashitaka, the prince who has been infected by a demon boar and is trying to firmly grasp his surroundings with "eyes unclouded".
I have also read rather daft musical analogies made about "Japanese animation" (a rather broad generalization which, apparently, could include Miyazaki as well as Dragon Ball-Z) and Baroque era music; for these folks, it may be inferred that the plots seem to resonate with the same interest in applying mathematical structure and rocococo stylings to music as witnessed in the work of Bach, Corelli and Handel. (If not, then the analogy is truly absurd.) Disney, for these same commentators, creates "classical" animation, work to be admired alongside Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. This is silly and also a strange analogy. Disney's animated features are mainly plot driven (songs, unfortunately, typically serve as character development), predictable, and obsessively focused on the basic dichotomy of good and evil with, over course, good triumphing in the end. This can be said about Disney's early period as well as its most recent spate of Pixar movies, which seem more interested in vapid slapstick than real development. Miyazaki, on the other hand, does not seem interested in creating such stark polarities, saccharine endings, and simple situations. Mononoke deals with basic issues of existence and does so with complex characters and startling images. There is no happy ending during which all the good characters shout huzzahs and vanquished evil characters either die or mumble "drat". Instead, the characters are left to deal with the very same issues which they have been addressing the entire film, something more akin to actual human life.
Finally, do yourself a favor and watch the movie in the original Japanese, with subtitles if you do not know the language. Of course, I know some folks are going to gasp, "Subtitles? The horror!" There are two reasons to do this. First, the film was written for Japanese and is improved by the cadence of the language as well as the voicings of the actors; remember, it is the Japanese actors who Miyazaki chose to realize his vision, not Gillian Anderson and Billy Bob Thornton. Second, it seems that a lot of people seemed distracted by the "Hollywood actors" who voiced the English version. I am guessing folks won't be distracted by Yuriko Ishida and Yoshi Matsuda.
In sum, if you want an animated film that will make you think, marvel, and hopefully reflect on your consumption patterns, see Mononoke. If you want some dumb laughs and Tim Allen, well, you know the drill.