This movie is the reason I love anime

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2012)

I first watched Princess Mononoke a year ago, when a friend of mine recommended it to me. I'd never really liked anime, but I gave it a shot anyway, because it looked interesting. Within in the first twenty minutes, I was hooked.
The story takes place in an old-style Japan setting. It's about a young prince in a village called Ashitaka. One day he fights and kills a boar demon that was threatening to destroy his village, but in the process he is gravely wounded with a dangerous curse. The curse fills him with hatred; pain, a lust for violence, all this as it also slowly starts to kill him. Shunned by his village, he is forced to leave and search for a cure for the curse. He goes on a journey to the far-off mountains where the boar demon supposedly came from, hopeful for a solution to his problem. When he gets there, he discovers a town that is mining from the mountains and the surrounding forest, but they're slowly destroying the forest and all the creatures that live there. While staying in the village, it's attacked by a pack of wolves and a young girl called San, who lives with and was raised by the wolves. They're defending the forest and all the creatures that live in it, especially the magnificent forest spirit, which the villagers plan to kill in order to destroy the forest. Ashitaka decides to stop the villagers from killing the forest spirit because he knows the forest is sacred and beautiful, but he wants to avoid violence at all costs. Princess Mononoke has the title of being both the first anime film I ever saw, and also one of my favorite anime films of all time.
The artwork and animation is gorgeous; the landscapes are beautiful and vast, the forests simply amazing, the characters excellently designed and the violent yet incredible battle scenes are drawn attentively, down to the last, tiny detail. For some anime movies or TV shows, I've noticed the English dub is poor compared to the original Japanese audio, but in this movie the English dub might even be better. The voices match the characters very well, even though they're speaking in American accents.
The music is part of my main love for this movie. As a musician, I often listen more keenly than others to the background music for movies or TV shows. And I can say this movie has one of the best original scores I've ever heard. The music is oriental in style, as can be expected of an anime film, but the main thing I love about it is because it sounds so different to any other piece of music I've heard. With some American movies, the music is very dramatic and beautiful (think Lord Of The Rings), but it's still undeniably film music because it's predictable in parts. However, with Princess Mononoke, the music was unpredictable, but still brilliant, almost to the point of sounding like a piece of real classical music. The music suits every situation perfectly; it blends into the scenes so well that it almost seems to become part of that scene.
In summary, Princess Mononoke is an absolutely brilliant movie, and one that should not be missed. I know that Spirited Away is considered the best of the Studio Ghibli films, but personally, I enjoyed Princess Mononoke more. It's darker, richer in music, artwork and is more adult than Spirited Away. It's one of the best animated films I've ever seen.