Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Well, while I may have gone to far as saying a few words about how great Miyazaki's work is and how it's sad that he retired from writing and directing full length films during the end of my review for The Wind Rises, the fact remains that I said all of that knowing that there was still one movie he wrote and directed  that I had yet to watch. Luckily, my friend Blaine recently bought the film shortly after first seeing it himself, so he let me borrow it along with some other films that I hope to get to watching and reviewing before the week is out. So here at last is my review for the second movie Miyazaki ever wrote and directed (even before Studio Ghibli was founded apparently) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Plot: A thousand years ago, an apocalyptic war destroyed human civilization and created a toxic jungle filled with mutated insects and deadly plants. Now there only a few scattered human settlements left where the toxic jungle hasn't grown yet. In one of these settlements called The Valley of the Wind, Princess Nausicaä tries looks after her kingdom while her father is ill. But when an airship that belongs to the kingdom of Tolmekia, carrying an ancient powerful weapon, Tolmekia troops attack the valley and kill Nausicaä's father, she is forced to be join the Tolmekian princess to go to another kingdom, all while Nausicaä tries to keep people from killing each other.

While I expected this movie to be good, I had no idea that the story would be so epic. I may not be saying a whole lot in my plot paragraph, but trust me when I say that there's a ton more to that. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a very big step for Miyazaki to have taken for just his second project in writing and directing, and it pays off. There is a lot of things that make this a very epic film with its story, animation, action and characters. As I said, there is a ton of things that are happening in the film, and there's also a lot of explaining how this world works and how its relevant to the story. But it also makes it a film where you have to pay close attention to what is happening in order to understand it. Part of it is because it is a Miyazaki film, and so like most of his work, he tells his stories with a unique structure to it. But even then, there still is so much to know to the point where the film may feel like it's longer than it really is. One of the most creative things about this film, at least in my opinion, is the idea that this apocalyptic world mainly consists of this growing, dangerous toxic forest with only places where humans can survive, as apposed to a normal apocalyptic world where everything is completely destroyed. It is more interesting, because it is more of a fantasy kind of destroyed world. I won't even bother going to detail about the animation aspect of this movie, because there really is no point, it's great Miyazaki animation plain and simple. And like many of Miyazaki's films that Disney has an English sub, this film has a very nice collection of actors to voice these characters. From Patrick Stewart as Lord Yupa, to Mark Hamill as the mayor of  Pejite, to Shia LeBeouf as Asbel, there's just a lot of actors that you can enjoy hearing them voice act for this film. On top of that, the characters are very likable too, the primary example, Nausicaä herself. I personally really like that she's a princess in this film, because in a way, it makes it even more likable how strong and independent she is. She always has a plan, she cares very much about life, she's very smart and she's even a very spirited fighter in the case of one scene. So I really admire that despite the fact that she's a princess, Miyazaki made her this very active and determined character, especially at a time where I think the only other princess like that was Princess Leia. True, there are times where she also can be emotional, but it's very understandable when she does considering how she's trying so hard to help her people and her valley. Granted, one personal problem I have with the film, is that I feel there should've been more time with certain characters. I mean the other characters are very well developed and interesting, but I feel there are times where I felt I didn't get enough of some of them. Like Kushana and Kurotowa have this interesting relationship together, where they seem to admire each other and yet hope the other one dies at the same time or something like that. It's all done well, but I felt they didn't really give some sort of conclusion, for lack of better term, between them. But more than that, I honestly feel there was hardly any time with Asbel as a character. I mean, again, his goals and personality is clear, but I really felt that they just established that, and then moved on with the rest of the film, not giving us too much to work with him. Another problem I personally have with the film, though it's really a nitpick, is that the music would feel off at times. Like on occasion, there would be this odd sort of 80s music would play, and it would be during a dramatic or emotional scene. I will grant though, that it's probably something where you just have to consider the time period and how it might've worked back then.

And that's my review for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. There are some characters that I think could've been done more and some of the music doesn't work at least to me, but it's still a very intriguing and epic story with this unique apocalyptic world, great animation as usual, and a very strong main character. I'm glad I finally saw it, and if you haven't seen it yet, I say defintiely take a look.

Rating: 85%