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Very disappointing...

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

"Nausicaä of the Valley" of the Wind is a movie that just seems to get everything right: how to take its audience to a fully-realized fantasy world (steampunk-tinged yet bursting with opulent color); how to tell a story with an emphatic but not smothering environmental message; and anchor it with a strong female character. I was just as enthralled with the animation as I was with the music.There's an amazingly empathic heart beating inside Nausicaä and it feels like a deeply personal effort. Studio Ghibli's reputation for quality and imagination is firmly established, and this is no disappointment in that respect.Absolutely worth seeing.8/10

Anime has been a favorite of mine for years, starting with dubs of Pokémon and getting better from that point. I have known, similarly, that Akira was among the first popular anime films in North America and thus opened the way to dubs of Studio Ghibli films. However, I have been wondering if maybe an attempt was made earlier than 1988, all the way back to after this film's release in Japan. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, being the founding film of Studio Ghibli, is quite easily an S-tier movie. The characters are complexly developed and can deliver both eerie calmness (like Nausicaä herself) and blowout action (like the Commando). This is supplemented by the pristinely elaborate story, giving us a glimpse of the post-apocalypse with depictions that seem relevant in a time when stories like this would only be told by conspiracy theorists. The relative lack of music doesn't hinder the film at all and actually helps it in areas when it is trying to feel realistic or get its message across. To match this is the animation, which I am actually surprised took only 9 months to complete; its drawings of various large objects like the airships and especially the Ohmu seem like they took so much more time to animate so fluidly in 1984. All I can say is, you will miss much if you decide to pass this film, even in favor of other Studio Ghibli films.

I have tried to see many more films from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese cartoon creators who have produced many magical films over the years, this was another one I found, dubbed into English, directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo). Basically a thousand years have passed since apocalyptic war the Seven Days of Fire, that destroyed civilisation and created the vast poisonous forest the Toxic Jungle, swarming with giant mutant insects. In the kingdom of the Valley of the Wind, a prophecy predicts a saviour will guide the people to the pure lands, the princess of the Valley of the Wind, Nausicaä (Drag Me to Hell's Alison Lohman), can communicate with its creatures, including the gigantic, armoured trilobite-like creatures called Ohm, she hopes the jungle and humans can co-exist. One night, while the Valley's swords-master Lord Yupa (Sir Patrick Stewart) is visiting, a cargo aircraft from the kingdom of Tolmekia crashes, Nausicaä tries to help a wounded passenger, Princess Lastelle of Pejite (Emily Bauer), who pleads her to destroy the cargo ship before dying, the cargo ship is an fact an embryo of a Giant Warrior, one of the lethal bio-weapons that caused the Seven Days of Fire. Military state the Tolmekians seized the embryo and Princess Lastele, but they were attacked by mutant insects, one of the insects emerges wounded from the wreckage, poised to attack the frightened villagers, but Nausicaä calms it and guides it away on her jet-powered glider. The next day, Nausicaä's father is killed and the Giant Warrior embryo taken by Tolmekian troops, led by Princess Kushana (Uma Thurman), and Officer Kurotowa (Fright Night's Chris Sarandon) who plans to use the mature Giant Warrior to burn the Toxic Jungle. Kushana takes Nausicaä and five hostages from the Valley, before leaving, Yupa discovers jungle plants in a secret garden, reared by Nausicaä, who determined plants that grow in clean soil and water are not toxic, but humankind has tainted the soil of the jungle. The Tolmekian ship carrying Kushana and her detachment is shot down by an agile Pejite interceptor, crash landing in the jungle it disturbs several Ohm, which Nausicaä soothes, she leaves to rescue Pejite pilot and Lastelle's twin brother Asbel (Shia LaBeouf), both are swallowed by quicksand and find themselves below the jungle in a non-toxic area, Nausicaä realises the polluted topsoil can be purified by the jungle plants, producing clean water and soil underground. Nausicaä and Asbel return to Pejite, but insects have ravaged the capitol, those remaining are making plans to recapture the Giant Warrior, Nausicaä is captured, but Aspel and his mother help her escape. While flying home Nausicaä finds a team of Pejite soldiers using a wounded baby Ohm to lead thousands of Ohm in a herd into the Valley, the Tolmekians deploy tanks, their firepower cannot the Ohm, and the prematurely hatched Giant Warrior is deployed, but disintegrates. Nausicaä frees the baby Ohm and gains its trust, they stand before the raging herd and are both run over, Nausicaä is killed, but she is revived by the Ohm, she is revealed as the saviour from the prophecy. In the end the Ohm and Tolmekians leave the Valley, the Pejites remain, helping the people rebuild, meanwhile deep underneath the Toxic Jungle, a new non-toxic tree is sprouting next to Nausicaä's lost aviation goggles. Also starring Mark Hamill as Mayor of Pejite, Edward James Olmos as Mito, James Arnold Taylor as Muzu, The Little Mermaid's Jodi Benson as Lastelle's Mother, The Simpsons' Tress MacNeille as Obaba, Scooby-Doo's Frank Welker as Gol and Tony Jay as Narrator. Set in a post-apocalyptic world it is a simple story of a warrior princess forced to take action to stop economical disaster, so there is an environmental message, the story is perhaps a little underdeveloped, perhaps confusing in moments, but the cast dubbing into English are chosen well, and the animation and colourful imagination is superb, overall it is an enjoyable animated fantasy adventure. Worth watching!

I can directly tell that this is a great movie indeed. The Japanese are great people in designing fantasy worlds. I like how the world has so great diversity in contrast. Anyone versed enough in movies can immediately spot the things that gave ideas to other movies. I see this movie's influence on Avatar (the ship design, the plants design, the forest design), Attack on Titan (the Titan's own design), and even Starship Troopers (the whole insects theme, and the ohmu's design on the brain bug). The story is unfortunately is a straightforward a children's story of good versus evil with minor twists here and there. There it's very much predictable. I saw the original version with Japanese voice, adding adequate authenticity to the experience.