Ashitaka, the last prince of his dwindling people, is injured while saving his village from a boar demon. As a result, he is banished forever. He travels far to the west in hopes of finding a cure for the injury that must otherwise kill him.
San (the Princess Mononoke) is a young woman who has been raised from infancy by the white goddess wolf. She can never be a wolf, though she runs with the pack, and yet she can never trust or live among humans.
Lady Eboshi, the most mysterious of the characters, has come to an iron-working village, bringing with her the art of gunsmithing. She has realized that humans can tame the powerful magic of the forest and render the beasts of the forest dull and useful by cutting down all the trees and killing the forest's god. But she also provides shelter and honorable employment for lepers and prostitutes.
Princess Mononoke is an anime film from Japan, and evidently one of the finest of the type. It was a smash hit in Japan and has been picked up by Miramax for release in the United States. I am not familiar with the genre, so I must comment on its appearance as it struck me, a neophyte. To me, the anime style is ... inanimate. Each scene is magnificently drawn, both backdrop and the characters that inhabit it. Superb artwork. But there is scarcely any movement in the scenes. Trees don't toss their branches, humans who are not speaking or running are as still as turned-off robots. I know this is a stylistic choice, and not a low budget sacrifice, because the film contains several wonderful sequences in which the forest god, in his nighttime form, flows transparently above and through the forest, and the animation there is marvelous.
This nitpick aside, I recommend Princess Mononoke without reservation. Those who made it have translated onto the screen their great love of both nature and humanity. It is beautiful, and witty, and profound.