DVD Review - NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND

I watched a lot of cartoons when I was young. Saturday morning was the highlight of the week for a child of the seventies and eighties. I have vague memories of seeing this animated movie once, about these giant slug-beetle things with lots of eyes, and this girl riding this glider. That's about all I remember, but it's a strong memory that's stayed with me for 20 years, as if to say "This is really good, you should watch this again." Unfortunantly, I couldn't remember the name of this film, so I never saw it again. Then a few weeks ago at Target I was browsing the DVDs and saw it. "Holy SHIT, " I exclaimed! A grandmother covered the ears of a 5-year old and scowled at me. This was the giant slug-beetle thingee. On a DVD called Nausicaa of the valley of the wind. I ran to the checkout, bought it and the next day, sat in front of the Alford's 81 inch home theater and.......WOW!
I'm a casual fan of anime. I enjoy but don't obsess over it like certain customers and employees of BAM. As a kid, Robotech was by far my favorite cartoon series and in college my art major (i.e. stoned) roomate Tim got me to watch some, like Akira and Fists of the North Star. This film is much more appealing and accessable and makes me want to run out and buy the other films by master anime director Hayao Miyazaki.
In an apocalyptic future, small villages try to survive with mininal technology (windmills are their only power source) as a vast toxic jungle creeps across the land. The spore of the jungle are deadly to humans, as are the giant insects that reside in them. Nausicaa is the princess of one of these villages, she enjoys exploring the jungle, talking to the insects and flying around on a glider. Their village is threatened by two other, stronger citites (they actually have airships and tanks) who want to resurrect an ancient fire being to destroy the toxic jungle. The fire guys are the reason Earth was devestated in the first place.
It's an interesting story but what keeps the film pumping is the great characters. Nausicaa is at times flighty and irrelevant but a natural leader to her village and willing to sacrifice all to save it. The voices are perfect, featuring a new English dub done by Disney in 2005. It features Patrick Stewart (Capt. Picaard) as the great swordsman Lord Yupa, Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) as the viscious general Kushana, Mark Hamill (LUKE!!) as the mayor of the opposing city, and Alison Lohman (Big Fish, Matchstick Men) as Nausicaa. All give great performances and are a huge improvement over the English dub from 1984, when the film was released in the US as "Warriors of the Wind," according to people on IMDB.
Some scenes are truly breathtaking. Especially the glider scenes. I'll compare this to another film I liked, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The flying scenes in Sky Captain were frantic with planes zipping here and zinging there, but mostly it was confusing and at times even nausianting. The scenes of the gliders and airships zipping around in Nausicaa are jaw-dropping. No quick cuts, no confusing fly-bys, but incredible visuals that convey speed and grace. You have to see it to appreciate it.
This was the first animated film from Hayao Miyazaki's animation studio, but later he went on to make such classics as Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, and Acadamy-Award winner Spirited Away (Best Animated Film, 2003), all rate above an 8 at IMDB and the later two are in the top 250 of all-time. I haven't seen any of these, but I'm making it a goal to see them this year. Rent this movie and enjoy seeing something different then you're used to. Expand your film-viewing horizons to some of the best anime ever created. You won't be sorry, and you may get a memory that sticks with you for 20 years.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A+