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DVD Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Hayao Miyazaki gained widespread attention in Japan for his complex ecological manga series, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1982), which he adapted for the screen two years later. One thousand years after a war devastated much of the Earth, humanity clings to existence at the fringes of a vast, polluted forest inhabited by monstrous insects. Only Nausicaä, the princess of the tiny realm of the Valley of the Wind, grasps the environmental significance of the forest. She sees beyond petty wars and national rivalries to the only viable future for the planet. In Nausicaä, Miyazaki began to explore elements he would develop more fully in his later films: daring, compassionate heroines; exciting flying sequences; colorful side characters; strong interpersonal relationships; and a call for an ecologically sustainable way of life. Nausicaä prefigures Sheeta in Castle in the Sky and Chihiro in Spirited Away, just as the rough and ready Asbel anticipates Pazu in Castle in the Sky and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. For years, Nausicaä was available in the United States only as the badly re-edited Warriors of the Wind. The new English dub from Disney presents the film in its entirety, with strong vocal performances by Uma Thurman, Patrick Stewart, Alison Lohman, and Edward James Olmos. (Rated PG: violence, frightening imagery) --Charles Solomon
What an amazing movie. I purchased this for my kids, but whenever it is playing, I find myself plopping down on the sofa with them. Like most of the other Miyazaki movies I've seen, the animation is a gorgeous feast for the eyes; there's simply nothing like it among today's crop of computer generated animated fare.
Beyond the rich visuals, I think the storyline of Nausicaa translates for American audiences better than many of the other Studio Ghibli productions. A more serious work than Totoro, making it appealing for older kids, it also avoids some of the more graphic and at times startling images and themes found in Princess Mononoke and Sprited Away, although I was a little surprised when I first realized that Nausicaa apparently wears no underpants.
The actors who dubbed the English version all acquit themselves nicely, making the dialogue merge effortlessly with the images.
A wonderful movie.
Lovely quiet
I love this. It was done in 1984, but I love it. Similar style to Princess Mononoke-hime. I love the way in which Japanese animation can be so quiet. I never realized how much constant music, as in most American/European animation, moves the action of the film even when nothing is really happening. It's as though the viewer never gets to relax and just view. In Japanese animation there are often lulls of musicless movement that are very active but almost in a meditative internal sort of way. It's really lovely and this film has many of those moments. They still manage to engage the viewer but you can do so in a nice detached space. No wonder western animation stresses me out so much.
Imaginative but too heavy on the pollution message
The characters were very imaginative but I thought the emphasis on the polluting of the environment was laid on way too thick. I know we're bad but please don't keep nagging about it. I'd like to hear a message that says we're trying. I'd have given it a 5 for imagination but the repetitive message brought it down to a three.
Porco Rosso (The Crimson Pig, 1992) ranks as Hayao Miyazaki's oddest film: a bittersweet period adventure about a dashing pilot who has somehow been turned into a pig. Miyazaki once said, "Initially, it was supposed to be a 45-minute film for tired businessmen to watch on long airplane flights... Why kids love it is a mystery to me." The early 1930s setting enabled Miyazaki to focus on the old airplanes he loves, and the film boasts complex and extremely effective aerial stunts and dogfights. In the new English dub from Disney, Michael Keaton as Porco delivers lines like "All middle-aged men are pigs" with appropriate cynicism, but his voice may be too familiar for some Miyazaki fans. Susan Egan makes a curiously distant Gina, the thrice-widowed hotel owner bound to Porco by... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Hayao Miyazaki DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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My Neighbor Totoro is that rare delight, a family film that appeals to children and adults alike. While their mother is in the hospital, 10-year-old Satsuki and 4-year-old Mei move into an old-fashioned house in the country with their professor father. At the foot of an enormous camphor tree, Mei discovers the nest of King Totoro, a giant forest spirit who resembles an enormous bunny rabbit. Mei and Satsuki learn that Totoro makes the trees grow, and when he flies over the countryside or roars in his thunderous voice, the winds blow. Totoro becomes the protector of the two sisters, watching over them when they wait for their father, and carrying them over the forests on an enchanted journey. When the children worry about their mother, Totoro sends them to visit her via a Catbus, a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Hayao Miyazaki DVD Release Date: Released the 07 March 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Cat Returns (2002) brings back Muta, the cranky fat cat, and Baron von Gikkingen, the elegant statue, from the feature Whisper of the Heart (1995). On her way home from school, Haru, a confused 17-year-old, prevents an elegant gray cat from being hit by a truck. She's inadvertently saved the life of Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom, and his royal father decides to thank her. He fills her locker with gift-wrapped mice and decides she should come to his kingdom and marry Lune. Haru seeks help from the Cat Bureau, and eventually returns to relatively normal life, with the assistance of Muta and the Baron.
The Cat Returns recalls Whisper of the Heart and Takashi Nakamura's Catnapped, but it offers neither the wistful charm of the former nor the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Chizuru Ikewaki - Yoshihiko Hakamada Director(s): Hiroyuki Morita DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This epic, animated 1997 fantasy has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, Princess Mononoke represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator, Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style, vivid character design, and stylized approach to storytelling take ambitious, evolutionary steps here.
Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki's original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 19 December 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Inspired by "Gulliver's Travels," the fantasy-adventure Castle in the Sky (1986) was Hayao Miyazaki's third feature, and helped to establish his reputation as a visionary in both Japan and America. The orphan Sheeta inherited a mysterious crystal that links her to the legendary sky-kingdom of Laputa. With the help of resourceful Pazu and a rollicking band of sky pirates, she makes her way to the ruins of the once-great civilization. Sheeta and Pazu must outwit the evil Muska, who plans to use Laputa's science to make himself ruler of the world. Castle echoes elements in Myazaki's earlier Nausicaä, and anticipates imagery in his later films, from My Neighbor Totoro to Spirited Away. Disney's new English dub, which features Anna Paquin... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 15 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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