Publisher: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Ages: five and up
Parental
Advisory:
Violence
and scary moments
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is an early anime film directed by Studio Ghibli animation master Hayao Miyazaki, and his touch is seen throughout the film through its compassionate but spirited heroine, its awe-inspiring flight scenes, and its gorgeous artwork.
The movie takes place far in the future, where a venomous jungle guarded by huge insects called Ohmu threaten to eliminate the last remnants of the human race. One of these scattered communities is the Valley of the Wind, where the winds keep the toxins of the jungle away from the few people who live there, and Princess Nausicaä rides the winds on her glider. One day, the peace is shattered when a huge airship from Pejite, a neighboring community, crashes in the valley, carrying a strange cargo.
It isn't long before another clan, led by the ruthless Kushana and her officer Kurotowa, enter the valley and claim both the cargo and the valley for their own. Nausicaä is now their prisoner, and soon she is plunged into the adventure of her life, both in the air and in the midst of the toxic jungle itself.
Nausicaä is everything that you would expect from a Miyazaki film. Brilliant animation and stunning backgrounds complement the compelling story and interesting characters. The title character is a smart, spunky girl with surprising inner strength and determination, qualities she will need to rely on for her adventures.
Her pacifist ideologies contrast her very strongly with Kushana, and their battle is not only against the Ohmu, but each other. Kushana speculates that the only way to stop the poisons of the jungle is to kill every last Ohmu, while Nausicaä believes that the humans and insects can somehow live together in peace. The locales featured in the movie are fantastical, and Miyazaki combines fantasy and post- apocalyptic science fiction with a grace that most American studios can only envy.
While Nausicaä has many qualities of a Disney film, by no means should you mistake it for one. The movie, while optimistic and sweet, has a good deal of violence and some scary moments. The Cat Returns, another DVD being released by Studio Ghibli and Disney, is generally a much better choice for children and families.
The film features a brand-new English language track with big-name actors such as Alison Lohman, Uma Thurman, Patrick Stewart, Chris Sarandon, and Mark Hamill. Hiring big names could have been a big mistake, as it was in Miramax's dub of Princess Mononoke, but here, the actors deliver passionately and convincingly, making the English language track a pleasure to listen to. Also included is the original Japanese language track, complete with subtitles.
Most of the bonus features on the DVD are in the first disc. There is an amusing featurette on the making of the English dub, with interviews of several of the actors. There is also a collection of Japanese trailers, and an interesting film documenting the history of Studio Ghibli.
The DVD is being released as a "Two-Disc Special Edition", but in reality, the second disc is just storyboards from the movie, and nothing else. Don't let the "two disc" claim fool you. But if you enjoyed Princess Mononoke, it is likely that you will love this film as well.
-Alysha Kawamoto
