Review of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

The giant potato bugs are good! They're still incredibly creepy and ugly but they're simplistic creatures who just want to be treated with respect and they have magical golden feelers. Deception is a common theme of the Ghibli franchise with the mantra- "appearances aren't as they seem." I really don't like bugs so that was a turn off for me. I loved the film's main message of seeking cooperation over toxic governments who seek war and destruction over cooperation. It is very on the nose for the world we live in (cough cough American imperialism/materialism.) Nausica is a lovely main character. She is very empatheticto animals and people alike as she seeks for peace over war- and life over death and carnage at every turn.

Girl (Naussica) meets boy (Azba); this is a rather tired cliche of Ghibli which is present in this movie.

The major problem though is that I didn't find the movie very enjoyable to watch due to the slow pacing and boring parts. Unfortunately, the starkness of the landscape was also quite dull after a while. Additionally, the animation was quite basic as it lacked intricate details like the kind in Spirited Away. The movie really dragged throughout the middle although the beginning and end were enjoyable. The film also lacked complexity.The movie definitely felt like a kids movie as it was too simplistic for my taste. Even still, I enjoyed it when Nausica frolicked in the field of gold(en nom feelers) while a child's singing played in the background as it had a surreal dream like quality. I feel like they definitely could have milked the scene where the blind lady realized that the savior was Nausica, and not a guy. Why was she the only one to realize it though? This tells us that the valley of the wind peoples are possibly sexist in that they expected a male saviour rather than a female one but why didn't they make a bigger deal out of such a consequential revelation?