I've tried to make a point of watching all of the Miyazaki animation, even the ones obviously geared toward children. The animations are always stunning and the stories are usually decent. I have the Disney releases through Studio Ghibli so the English casts are always a who's-who of talent as well. ...I mean, I totally watch them all in the original format...ahem.
This one isn't the strongest, story-wise. It's a little too heavy-handed on the environmentalism message for me and it comes off a little stilted.
Princess Nausicaa lives in one of the last unspoiled valleys of a world slowly being overcome with a toxic forest of mold. As the name implies, the valley relies on wind power from the sea to keep the mold spores away. Then an airship carrying a strange cargo and a kidnapped princess crashes nearby and the valley inhabitants are suddenly thrust into the middle of a war between two neighboring countries, the Tolmekians and the Pejites. The princess in the ship was Pejite and only survives a minute after the crash but the cargo is unharmed. They learn that it is the only remnant of giant fire-men that burned the world to ash a thousand years ago. The Tolmekians want to use it to destroy the Toxic Jungle once and for all. Nausicaa, being a wind-riding hippie, is dead-set against this. With the assistance of the dead princess' brother, she sets out to stop all the senseless fighting.
Also, there are giant bugs. Like the size of a bus.
The English cast has luminaries such as Patrick Stewart, Chris Sarandon, Edward James Olmos, and Uma Thurman. Allison Lohman plays the titular Princess, and Shia LaBeouf is in this for some reason or another. Still, he's less annoying when I can't see his hideous fish lips.
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