Use XML::Bare unless you have a need for XML::Simple or XML::Twig or XML::Whatever.

Bunch of XMLs:

-rw-r--r--  1 okram okram    3843 2009-12-02 06:15 all_skill.xml

> time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Bare -E'$a=XML::Bare::xmlin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_skill.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Skill}}'
17

real	0m0.059s
user	0m0.030s
sys	0m0.000s

> time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Simple -E'$a=XML::Simple::XMLin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_skill.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Skill}}' 
17

real	0m0.163s
user	0m0.140s
sys	0m0.030s

=====

-rw-r--r--  1 okram okram   87924 2010-02-11 19:08 all_ritual.xml

> time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Bare -E'$a=XML::Bare::xmlin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_ritual.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Ritual}}'
270

real	0m0.055s
user	0m0.040s
sys	0m0.010s


> time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Simple -E'$a=XML::Simple::XMLin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_ritual.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Ritual}}' 
270

real	0m0.681s
user	0m0.540s
sys	0m0.030s

=====

-rw-r--r--  1 okram okram 2765295 2010-02-11 19:08 all_item.xml

> time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Bare -E'$a=XML::Bare::xmlin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_item.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Item}}'
7418

real	0m0.223s
user	0m0.140s
sys	0m0.080s

> time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Simple -E'$a=XML::Simple::XMLin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_item.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Item}}' 
7418

real	4m9.700s
user	4m7.290s
sys	0m0.640s

FOUR MINUTES vs 0.2 seconds?

Updated 20100315 (on another machine) letting XML::Simple use the "faster" XML::LibXML:

$ time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Simple -E'$XML::Simple::PREFERRED_PARSER="XML::LibXML::SAX::Parser";$a=XML::Simple::XMLin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_item.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Item}}'
7418

real	0m32.659s
user	0m32.338s
sys	0m0.260s

And using XML::Parser, also "faster":

$ time perl -MFile::Slurp -MXML::Simple -E'$XML::Simple::PREFERRED_PARSER="XML::Parser";$a=XML::Simple::XMLin(scalar read_file("xmls/all_item.xml"));say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Item}}'
7418

real	0m15.530s
user	0m15.325s
sys	0m0.172s

And using XML::Twig, in "simplify" config which gives the same data as XMLin()

$ time perl -MXML::Twig -E'$a=XML::Twig->new->parsefile("xmls/all_item.xml")->simplify;say scalar @{$a->{Results}->{Item}}'
7418

real	0m56.200s
user	0m55.647s
sys	0m0.388s