Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds Disney 116 minutes English/Japanese English Subtitles Released: 02/22/2005 Reviewed: 03/01/2005

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There's a man to whom I'd like introduce you, his name is Jerry Garcia. Now, if you knew Jerry well (and I suppose that I might) you'd know that the man's sole, singular, monomaniacal obsession over these past few years has been this movie. Nausicaa, something he had seen so long ago that most of the elements to the plot were lost to the deep trenches of his mind, nowhere to be found but the ancient history of his Filipino ancestry. I was not at all familiar with Nausicaa, other than the positively hilarious box art for the chopped up American release. I guess, though, if I've learned one thing about anime it's that you can trust Hayao Miyazaki to release something that'll keep you interested for the entirety of it's run. Plus this one was from the 80s! There's nothing I like more than hearing music that sounds like it was composed on a Casiotone in some guy's basement.

I'm not being facetious. If I had my way Nausicaa would be the story of a clan of ninjas who were also a pizza delivery service. These ninjas, whose motto would be "Your pizza in 30 minutes or less or we KILL YOU (no anchovies, dude!)", would fly through the night protecting the emperor whilst delivering delicious Hawaiian specials to the countryside. I think that would make quite a banging event, but apparently Miyazaki disagrees with me.That's okay, because the story he writes probably makes a bit more sense than mine. Where are you going to find a pizza place nowadays that offers you anything for that 30 minute offer? Nausicaa instead focuses on the princess of a small kingdom in a world that's slowly getting taken over by poisoned forests and malignant insects. Unsurprisingly, as it's the way of many films this man has made, the insects aren't really bad guys and it's sort of humankind's fault that the world is the way it is. Tell me you didn't see that one coming a mile away.

And like many of his films, the characters in Nausicaa are all complex and nobody's necessarily BAD. They all have the goal of staying alive and trying to cure the damaged Earth. Some do it by farming and planting forests and some invade other countries, rape their women, and try to resurrect giant red monsters that shoot laser beams out of their mouths. I guess either way could work... it's really just up to user interpretation. Nausicaa is an idealist, as Miyazaki's heroes and heroines frequently are. She wants to believe that peace can be attained without violence and seems to develop quite the masochistic streak as the movie goes on. In the last twenty minutes or so it pretty much becomes her JOB to get shot, fall out of the air, get her feet plunged into acid lakes. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving the world, just as long as I don't have to ruin my boots in a pool of acid while getting shot at with a .50 caliber gun. That's not my style. If it works, it works, I guess. The bugs seem a lot less grumpy afterwards.

For this movie Disney picked what I consider to be quite the stellar dub cast. I'm not just talking about Patrick Stewart (who definitely doesn't get enough play**), but many of the other talented cast as well, I mean... Mark Hammill? That just tickles me. The only thing that really irks me is Shia LeBouf, who makes the teenaged Asbel sound like he's 40. This is sort of funny (depressing) considering Mr. LeBouf is a full five years younger than me. The only other offense in the dub is that Tony Jay, as narrator, only has like four lines. The guy was the freakin' elder god. Show some respect! Otherwise, it's hard to think of anything better to do on a Thursday night than sit down with a couple friends, a few orders of General Tsao's chicken, and this movie. Miyazaki's films always have this sort of disarming charm and Nausicaa is no exception; that the movie is from the 80s only sweetens the deal. For evenings of good natured pleasure without any of the horrid trappings of "normal" anime, Nausicaa is no slouch. The only reason I'm not giving it a "5" is because it doesn't make me feel nearly as bombastic as the other thing I'm writing about today. That, and I'm still kind of holding out hope for the Hawaiian pizza thing.

**Considering how many "Number 1!" and "Warp 9!" jokes we were making, he actually probably got more than enough "play". I was starting to get sick of it.