|
Nausicaa of the Valley of the WindRating:
Release Date: 31 August, 2004 Retail Price: $29.99 OUR Price: $19.99 You SAVE: $10.00! |
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Reviews
A fair start for Miyazaki...
This film was hard to rate.
It's not good enough for a 4, but not bad enough for a 3. So lets stick in the middle, shall we? "Nausicaa" is a film that is not as good as the ones that come after, but it is Miyazaki after all. And what does that mean? A GOOD STORY!!^^ The story for Nausicaa is intruiging and kinda makes you think. It takes place a thousand years after a horrible war. Nausicaa is the princess of a valley that has one of that last human colonies. Now the Earth is almost covered with a toxic jungle...and it's spreading. It's a nice story, but it moves a bit to slowly for me. However, you have the art and animation to look at, and listen to. The animation is good, especially when it comes to the giant bugs that guard the toxic jungle: the Ohmu.
Visuals put aside, we now focus on sound. The voice acting, I thought, was well done. Sometimes the villagers seemed a bit flat and, in some cases, obvious. But Nausicaa sounds good, and her voice fits her almost perfectly. Patrick Stewert gives a great preformance of Lord Yupa, and theres this villan with a voice that makes you want to hate him. Sweet. The music might take some getting used to, though. It's done by the man who did Spirited Away, and he has come far. The music for "Nausicaa" ranges from beautiful piano pieces, to strange synths that sound vaugely reminicsent of Pokemon games, and the slightly freaky memory music. All in all, the music is well fitting for the film.
Overall, "Nausicaa" is a good movie with good characters, and a beautiful ending. I would reccommend this to ANYONE.
Anime of the Wind
I don't know anime, but I know what I like. I've always said it, and probably will always say it. "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", a 1984 film by Hayao Miyazaki, is a film I like a lot. It's unique, it's got atmosphere, and it's got a great message, I thought.
Nausicaa is the pretty, caring and well loved princess of the valley of the wind, a communal little place who get by on their crops and various wind powered devices. They live in a world far into our future, a world where civilization as we know it has been destroyed and reinvented. It's a world of giant insects, poisonous forests and deadly spores, of petrified trees, of rival kingdoms, of prophecies and complex ecosystems. It is a very interesting world indeed.
It's a colourful and unique work, and the curious creatures in the film are intriguing. It's all very well drawn, and well paced, there's enough time to soak it all in, to consider what everything is and what's going on. Though it's used sparingly, (which is a good thing) I quite liked the music. There's some organ, some synths, a bit of orchestral stuff and some pretty 1980s drums (I think its a drum machine). Fitted the film well, I thought. Nausicaa is a sensitive yet strong girl, and she's as fascinating as everything around her as a character. The themes are pretty fascinating too. Even in the far future, it seems that man is still the same here, squabbling among itself, misunderstanding the environment that keeps it alive. The idea of nature itself being able to solve its own problems (by forcing a threatening species to become extinct) was a notable one, too.
Special features include some original 1980s Japanese trailers, a full set of storyboards that go along with the film and a documentary in Japanese (with subtitles) called "The Birth of Studio Ghibli). There were quite a few things I didn't know, like how to pronounce "Ghibli", or that one of the young animators who worked on "Nausicaa" went on to be one of the guys who worked on "Neon Genesis Evangellion" (some anime I quite like actually).
If you're at all interested, I recommend you get a hand on this DVD. It'd be a good watch for anime fans, fans of interesting animation of all kinds, I reckon.
More Customer Reviews (62 total)
You like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind?
|
© 2004, 2005, 2006 DVD Booty | Don't Plunder Our Cache of Booty, Matey!
Hosting made possible by donations from Payday Loan Players, Debt Free Recipe, and McDebt
