As of year 2000, the best film I ever saw. Go see it.

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 2000)

I went seven times to the theatre to watch this movie. I had never done that before. Globally, I saw this movie with more than twenty different people.
Some were nconditional animé fans. Some, like me, liked animé without going up to fandom. Some where here because it was a Studio Ghibli film. Some really did not like this kind of movies, but we had convinced them to at least give the film a try. Some saw it dubbed, because they really hated subtitles, some saw it subtitled, because they really did not like dubbed versions. Some where there for action, other for the japanese 'aura', others to check the quality of modern animation.
Every one left the theatre amazed. Me, my friends, the other visitors. The vast majority of people agreed to say this was a great film. The debate was on wether is was "the" best film, one of the best films, of "simply" a very good one.
I strongly suggest you go see it to a theatre, if the film is still played near you. The French distributor had made the audacious move to program the film, for its initial release, in a relatively sparse number of theatre, all of which being high quality theatres, not really accustomed to this kind of movie. The result was incredibly good.
But what about the movie?
Well, lots of good reviews have already been written, so I do not have many original things to say. I think the most important characteristic of Mononoke-hime is that it embodies characteristics of a wide range of movie kinds. You have a love film, an action film, an animé, an ecological film and a humane film. But it also is a samuraï film and mythological film. It has aspects of documentaries, and of sociological films. And all these kind of movies fit together very well, thanks to the remarkable work of the team at the Studio Ghibli. It could have just been a patchwork of scenes from those different kind of films, just like a film produced to please everyone. But no. Everything fits together perfectly well -- smoothly.
I think that one fact is not mentioned enough in the reviews. This film, just like many other Miyazaki productions, gives a very important place to women. Not in the sense of duration or other measure of screen occupation, but in the sense that lots of women I went to see Mononoke-hime with really felt Miyazaki had touched something profound with the role he gives to women. They are not submissive, dedicated to their men. But they do not dominate them, either. They are, in the profound sense of the term, free.
In fact, in Mononoke-hime, men and women stand equal, just like human and nature do. Neither wins, they just manage to live together.