Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
by Hayao Miyazaki

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Gor? Naya, Hisako Ky?da, Ichir? Nagai, Mahito Tsujimura, Sumi Shimamoto
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); Japanese (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Japanese (Dubbed)
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment

Movie Reviews of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Movie Review: The Work of a Giant (One Not Yet Fully Grown)
Summary: 3 Stars

I wonder what my impression of this movie would have been if this were my first encounter with Miyazaki. Yes, Nausicaa has the same remarkable imagination of Miyazaki found in all his films. Fascinating and grotesque creatures abound throughout. Unfortunately, this film simply does not hold up in comparison to the three other Miyazaki films I have yet seen (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle).

The real problem is probably that Miyazaki had not yet matured as a feature director. There is too much dialogue when scenes would work just as well, or even better, if we were just allowed to be drawn in visually. And as a whole it is poorly plotted. Two hours was not too long for Spirited Away, but it is too long here. I suspect that part of the problem was transitioning from the original serialized story to a longer piece.

One of the greatest reasons that Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle are more mature films is because they didn't take themselves so seriously. The comic moments in both of those films easily survive translation. Nausicaa also pales beside Princess Mononoke, in this case because the two films are so similar. Hero works to save the remaining humans from rampaging forest creatures filled with rage at human abuse of the environment. In the case of Mononoke, the ecological message serves the plot and characters. In the case of Nausicaa, the ecological message is preachily rammed down our throats.

In the end, Nausicaa is more than decent, but it not Miyazaki's best. The problem is that it does not distinguish itself enough from other anime films. Don't watch it assuming that it will be another Spirited Away. Watch it to see where Miyazaki has been, and to realize how far he has come.

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Summary of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Hayao Miyazaki gained widespread attention in Japan for his complex ecological manga series, Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind (1982), which he adapted for the screen two years later. One thousand years after a war devastated much of the Earth, humanity clings to existence at the fringes of a vast, polluted forest inhabited by monstrous insects. Only Nausica?, the princess of the tiny realm of the Valley of the Wind, grasps the environmental significance of the forest. She sees beyond petty wars and national rivalries to the only viable future for the planet. In Nausica?, Miyazaki began to explore elements he would develop more fully in his later films: daring, compassionate heroines; exciting flying sequences; colorful side characters; strong interpersonal relationships; and a call for an ecologically sustainable way of life. Nausica? prefigures Sheeta in Castle in the Sky and Chihiro in Spirited Away, just as the rough and ready Asbel anticipates Pazu in Castle in the Sky and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. For years, Nausica? was available in the United States only as the badly re-edited Warriors of the Wind. The new English dub from Disney presents the film in its entirety, with strong vocal performances by Uma Thurman, Patrick Stewart, Alison Lohman, and Edward James Olmos. (Rated PG: violence, frightening imagery) --Charles Solomon

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