First of all, the story of the movie is surprisingly full. By that I mean there seems to be a lot of plot happening at all times with not a lot of "meaningless" downtime. Most of Miyazaki's later films have a lot of parts where the viewer can just take a break from the film but this one doesn't have that. I do like all of his other movies all the same and they are not worse because of it, I just think that it makes a movie of this nature flow really well for what it is: a fun adventure. The adventure feeling of this movie is done very well but, in my opinion, not quite as well as his next film Laputa: Castle in the Sky. I say this because in Laputa, the adventure came from the locations that they visited and the amount of time spent in those places. In Nausicaä, however, I felt that there was too much time spent in some locations and not enough time spent in others. For example, there is a scene where Nausicaä meets a boy and they talk in a magical place beneath a poisonous jungle. This scene has so much depth and great scenery that I was surprised not a whole lot of time was spent in it. The plot of the film isn't exactly straightforward but I'm not sure if I'm okay with that or not.The film also takes a lot of twists and turns that I wasn't exactly expecting it to take and caught me a little bit off guard. There is a character named Kushana, who serves as the antagonist of the film. I found her as a very interesting character and just when I though they were going to explore her and maybe giver her some backstory or perhaps set up some kind of rivalry relationship with Nausicaä, they just never seemed to go through with it. It didn't necessarily take away from the movie as I thought the overall plot was done very well, but definitely was room for expansion.
The music, though good, was a little disappointing. The tracks did fit the mood of the scenes they were in but weren't very memorable in the long run. Something I would listen to, just not buy. I don't blame this on Joe Hisaishi. After all, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was his first film score and it definitely shows based on the overall quality. A phrase to describe it: generic adventure.
The voice acting was very good and Disney had a lot of talent come in for the roles. These voices include Uma Thurman, Patrick Stewart, and even Shia LaBeouf to name a few. They all did a great job of portraiting their characters. Except Shia LaBeouf. I don't know if it was the performance or just that he's become a living meme in the past year, but it just didn't click with me. It might be because the character looks a lot younger than LaBeouf sounds. It isn't too distracting; just kind of strange.
Overall, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was a very well done first film for Miyazaki and, though not one of my favorites, I'm sure it has a place in many fans' hearts.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is very good with minor problems.
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