Review of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

So this is it, the anime that "created" Studio Ghibli. Story: Today, we all know the usual concept of an environmental fantasy story. An all-loving hero (or heroine) tries to stop stupid militaristic people from destroying nature and therefore endangering the human race as well. In the 1980s this was a message that needed to be put out there, even if it meant to be a little more direct with it. Nausicaä does a pretty good job in putting its message into an entertaining story that does not feel too heavy and doesn't get boring either. The ending is a little farfetched, but its in typical fairytalefashion, so it is pretty much what you expect and there is no need to be disappointed by it. However, after so many years of environmental education, Nausicaä can feel a tad forced at times.
8/10

Art:
Lovely, colorful and detailed. Ghibli is a name that stands for animation quality and rightfully so. For a movie that is over 30 years old now, it still looks fresh and enjoyable. The character design is not very diverse, but they all look good, especially Nausicaä herself. The backgrounds are amazing as always and the animation fluent. It only really falls a little flat when compared to later Miyazaki works, but that is kind of an unfair thing to do. Comparing its age to its quality, there is hardly something they could've done better.
10/10

Sound:
The soundtrack has a lot of different sounding pieces, so it's kind of a hit or miss thing. For me personally, most of the tracks sounded pretty cool, though they didn't always fit the scene. The key scenes however all got beautiful, fitting songs attached to them. The voice actors all do a pretty good job, I especially enjoyed Iemasa Kayumi as Kurotawa with his snarky attitude.
9/10

Characters:
The whole movie revolves around Nausicaä, so it was essential to make her as likeable as possible. And she is. I mean, her character archetype has been done to death by now (and even before Nausicaä), but if a characters actions and reasons are coherent and make sense, that is not a real problem. I for once wanted her to succeed and felt bad for her whenever things went wrong, that's the best thing you can achieve. The rest of the cast did its job, but let's be honest, this movie is a one man...er, girl show. Which is a shame, because some of them seemed interesting, but they hardly have the time to shine.
9/10

Enjoyment:
This is a beautiful movie that stood the test of time, like so many Ghibli movies do. I wouldn't call myself a fan, but I can acknowledge their quality. While I found Nausicaä to be one of the most likeable main characters I've encountered, the focus on the message was a bit much for me at times. It's a good and important one, but I prefer things to be a little more subtle. Nonetheless, I was entertained well and would watch Nausicaä again.
8/10

Overall:
8.8/10