February 22, 2005
Today on DVD... MIYAZAKI
Naussica of the Valley of the Wind by master Japanese animator and story teller, Hayao Miyazaki is released on DVD today along with two other of his films, Porco Rosso! (AKA The Crimson Pig) and The Cat Returns. Nausicaa is one of my all time favorite movies of any genre. I first saw a heavily edited version back in 1984 by the title Warriors of the Wind. Miyazaki San has always hated that illegally made version because it chopped up his story and his art. I was unaware of this until the early 1990's and even though it chopped up Nausicaa really moved me with its deep story, rich and strong cast of characters and message. Because of the illegal version Miyazaki San kept his movies from the West for a very long time. Thanks to a close personal friendship with John Lasseter and the recent American success of his films Princess Mononoke and Oscar winner Spirited Away all of his films are finally being released in the West with both the original Japanese language tracks and English dubs. It's about time too. His films - and there is a long list of them - are outstanding examples of art in motion and story telling at its very best. I highly recommend all of his films to everyone. They are appropriate for viewers of all ages. I am looking forward to a anime butt-numb-a-thon this coming weekend!!!
A synopsis of each of the films being released today on DVD is provided below.
Naussica of the Valley of the Wind
A thousand years after a great war, a seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind is one of the only areas that remains populated. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley are engaged in a constant struggle with powerful insects called ohmu, who guard a poisonous jungle that is spreading across the Earth. Nausicaä and her brave companions, together with the people of the Valley, strive to restore the bond between humanity and the earth.
Porco Rosso
World War I has ended, and peace reigns again. Aviators from around the world circle above the Adriatic Sea, keen to recapture the romanticism of flight lost during the war. Many have turned to air piracy, in amongst which a hero emerges: a man with a pig's head, known as Porco Rosso (once an Italian air force pilot called Marco Paggot).
As mercenary law-enforcer of the skies and oceans, Porco Rosso protects cruise ships from the air pirates above them. When his actions are challenged by Curtis, an American who flies with the pirates, Porco Rosso is forced to defend his honour against this newcomer, which leads him to Fio, a feisty young engineer who rebuilds Porco's plane for the big dogfight.
The Cat Returns Note: Miyazaki San is the Executive Producer for this film. He did not direct or write it. I have not yet seen this film, so I can not give a critique. However, I am going to buy it because as far as I am concerned if Miyazaki San touched it it's gonna be enjoyable, and it's about cats!
Haru, a schoolgirl bored by her ordinary routine, saves the life of an unusual cat, and suddenly her world is transformed beyond anything she’s ever imagined. Her good deed is rewarded with a flurry of presents, including gift-wrapped mice, and one very shocking proposal of marriage - to the Cat’s King’s son! Haru embarks on an unexpected journey to the Kingdom of Cats where her eyes are opened to a whole other world and her destiny is uncertain. To change her fate she’ll need to learn to believe in herself, and in the process she will learn to appreciate her everyday life. THE CAT RETURNS is a magical animated adventure that will delight and inspire everyone.
More information about each film and all of Miyazaki San's works can be found at Nausicaa.net
Nice! Any kind of butt-numbathon is great.
If Nausicaa is any bit as good as Mononoke is (Will and Jenne drug me and Deb to see that outdoors on the lake in Columbia several years back and I practically burned pavement running to buy the DVD), then it must be awesome!
Posted by: Steve-o on February 22, 2005 01:06 PMNausicaa is one of the greatest movies I have ever been fortunate enough to see.
Pure Genius!
I've waited a very long time for this to be released. Yipee!!!
Since I posted this entry I have been thinking about how I would put Miyazaki San's film in order of my favorite to most extreme favorite. You see there is no 'least favorite' where his films are concerned. So given the understanding that there is no such thing as a bad Miyazaki San film here is my list from favorite to extrmeme favorite.
*Lupin the Third, Castle Cagliostro
*Porco Rosso
*My Neighborhood Totoro (a favorite with the nieces and nephews)
*Princess Mononoke (our cat San is named after the lead character)
*Kiki's Delivery Service
*Laputa, Castle in the Sky
*Spirited Away (the Oscar winner)
*Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Since Will and I are retarded super fans here is my list.
7) Lupin the Third, Castle Cagliostro
6) Laputa, Castle in the Sky
5) Princess Mononoke
4) My Neighborhood Totoro
3) Spirited Away
2) Kiki’s Delivery Service
1) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
I must really recommend Kiki's Delivery Service as a personal highlight. It's a small, simple piece of just magical film making. It's wonderful! Gush gush.
Posted by: mm on February 22, 2005 04:50 PMWow, MM, I've never heard you gush before! ( I think Kiki's Delivery Service is my favorite so far...but I haven't seen them all)
Posted by: Lynn on February 22, 2005 08:31 PMOh really... I *have* Warriors of the Wind on VHS - loved it when I was a teenager. I'll have to get the DVD and see what I've missed!
Posted by: Jaime on February 23, 2005 12:40 AMJaime,
Around the mid 1980s, a severely-edited version of this film was released in video under the title Warriors of the Wind. The editing was done without the knowledge of Miyazaki San or Studio Ghibli. They were unhappy when they learned about it and want those who have seen it "to dismiss it from [their] minds."
You've missed about thirty minutes of the complete film and some excellent character development scenes. Oh, and in the WotW chopped version there were some script changes too that muddled with the story as Miyazaki San had written it. By the way "Nausicaä" was an epic manga (comic book... Ahem, it's a graphic novel Joel) before it was a movie. The film is based on Miyazaki San's manga, "Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä". There are seven volumes in total, and the movie covers about the first two volumes.
He started serializing the manga "Nausicaä" in the animation magazine "Animage" in 1982. At first, Miyazaki San did not want to make "Nausicaä" into anime, since he wrote the manga to express something he couldn't express with animation, and since the manga was still at an introductory stage. As a result, the story of the film was substantially changed from the one in the manga.
My geek factor continues to climb!
Peace,
--Will
Posted by: Will Burnham on February 23, 2005 09:31 AM
That gets added to the list of things I need for my collection. I'd unfortunately missed any information on it as I was in NARUTO bliss at Katsucon this past weekend. That's right, I said it. NARUTO!
That said, nothing holds a candle to Miyazaki's characterization and storytelling. It's rare to see such a dynamically unique approach to an animated tale. He's truly a master at his craft. Now if he'll only make a story about NINJA KIDS, he'd be a SUPER MASTER!
Sorry for the extreme geek-out. I've been soaking in Naruto for a couple of weeks now, so it's just about every other word that comes out of my mouth.
Posted by: mephistopheles on February 25, 2005 09:45 AM