The Ghibli Novice: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind isn't exactly a Studio Ghibli film. It was actually produced and released before the studio was founded, but many of the same artists and creative talent worked on it. It's sort of a proto-Ghibli film and is distributed alongside the others.

The film is based on director Hayao Miyazaki's manga of the same name, which had begun two years before the film debuted in 1984 and continued to run for ten more years, telling a different story. Rather a smart move as this gives readers and viewers different experiences.

This post-apocalyptic piece begins a thousand years after the Seven Days of Fire, a war that destroyed human civilization. Three human communities are touched on in the film: the Valley of the Wind, a small kingdom that receives clean air from the ocean; Pejite, an ally; and the warlike Tolmekia.

Nausicaä, princess of the Valley, is exploring and studying the nearby Toxic Jungle, so named for its poisonous plants. She eventually discovers that the poison comes from the soil, not the plants themselves.

Meanwhile, a Pejite aircraft crashes near the Valley with a warning of danger from the Toxic Jungle's gigantic insects. Meanwhile, Tolmekia plans to burn the jungle.

With an epic story of battle, Nausicaä has a pro-environment conservation and anti-pollution message that asks viewers to think twice and look deeper into what they think they know. It was pulled off very well with gorgeous animation.

The Ghibli Novice: Kiki's Delivery Service

Sometime back, I asked friends to ask me about movies and I'd tell you if I had seen them or not. Among the list of things I hadn't seen was the catalog of Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation studio specializing in traditional animation. The films are noted for good design and fluid motion.

With the launch of HBO Max, who offer the catalog, I decided it was time to check it out. Kiki's Delivery Service was not their first film, but I watched it first as I'd been curious about it, plus a number of friends highlighted it as a favorite.

Kiki is a young witch. For her, magic exists in a matter of fact fashion: she can fly on a broom and talk to her cat Jiji. This is really the extent of her magic powers we see in the film.

The film begins as Kiki leaves her family at age thirteen to begin a life in a city. While the people are surprised to see a witch flying around, they don't seem to be afraid of her. When a woman leaves a pacifier for her baby at a bakery, Kiki delivers it to return it. The owner of the bakery suggests Kiki begin a delivery service on her broom and offers her room and board if she minds the bakery every now and then.

During Kiki's time in the city, she makes several friends, including a boy named Tombo who she develops feelings for. One day, she finds herself unable to speak to Jiji and unable to fly her broom. What is blocking Kiki's magic?

The story is about Kiki maturing. In the beginning, she is very reactive. It is not her idea to begin the delivery service, it's suggested to her. Her service of course is a reaction to what people want. Towards the end of the film, we see her acting proactively. It's a deceptively simple story that actually has a lot of character development going on.

Anyway, yeah, I found it a good movie. It does a lot of things you don't expect to see in other animated films like taking longer on visual scenes, which are wonderfully designed and animated.

In A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Once upon a time, a filmmaker named George Lucas had an idea to bring back the space adventures seen in old movie serials like Flash Gordon. In fact, he tried to make a movie adaptation of Flash Gordon, but was unable to get the rights, so he made his own story about planets full of fantastic peoples and creatures.

Star Wars debuted in 1977 and became a smash hit, and this risky little venture from 20th Century Fox was soon extended into a trilogy of films following the adventures of Luke Skywalker and his friends. And of course, there was merchandise, tie-in novels, comic books, TV shows and movies and video games.

Over the next sixteen years, the movies became beloved on television broadcasts, theatrical reissues and home video. People who'd seen them as kids on their original release were having their own kids and sharing it with them.

Well, that is, except me. My family just wasn't a Star Wars family. Most likely it was because my parents were over twenty when the first film was released so it wasn't part of their childhoods.

So here comes 1999, I was thirteen and everyone was going crazy over The Phantom Menace, a new Star Wars film that would start a prequel trilogy to the original series. It was, in fact, the first Star Wars film I watched. Not willingly. They were having a movie night at church for the youth group and lo and behold, that's what it was. It was not a good entry point.

This isn't to say that I was unaware of anything in Star Wars. It permeated pop culture enough to know lines like "Luke, I am your father" (even though that's not the actual line), most of the principal character's names, even some other reveals. (Thanks, The O.C.)

Anyway, I didn't watch the original trilogy until about 2008. There's a thing I didn't say about the movies until now: they have often been re-edited. About 1997, George Lucas added in new computer-generated special effects and other alterations and made these versions the only ones available going forward. In fact, going forward, when the movies would see a new release on DVD and eventually Blu-Ray and 4K UHD, there were new alterations to watch for. These changes have been criticized as many believe the films that audiences fell in love with should be available untouched. One little change, though, was that the first Star Wars film became A New Hope so Star Wars could be the series name with little confusion (unless you remembered when it was just named Star Wars).

Eventually, the "original theatrical versions" were made available on DVD and it was this version I watched in 2008, thanks to Netflix's DVD rental program.

Honestly, I really liked A New Hope. It's a good introduction to this universe, following young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he's thrust into a battle of good and evil that arrives on his doorstep. We're not given explanations for everything, we get to see how this universe works. It's a theme other theatrical films in the franchise would come back to: common people coming together and stepping up to fight evil, even when it feels overwhelming. In the original trilogy, it's in the form of the Empire and its emissary Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones).

The two other films I found myself getting a little bored with. The stuff about the Force and the Jedi, I didn't really care about. But still, I thought they were solid films.

So, it took me some time to buy my own copies of the films. By that time, Disney had acquired Lucasfilm and had begun a sequel trilogy as well as a series of films set in the same universe. I decided to give the new movies a shot because I hadn't seen Star Wars on the big screen, though I actually started with buying a Blu-Ray of The Force Awakens. Shortly, I picked up "The Complete Saga" collection on Blu-Ray (the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy), and later found a set of the DVD releases with the "original theatrical versions" at a pawn shop for $5. I simply kept up with the new films.

So, about two months ago, I decided to finally sit down and watch the entire film series. I know, there are various TV series (most animated) and some TV movies, but I watched just the live action films released in theaters.

The Phantom Menace—as I expected—works better as a "sequel prequel," a prequel that is best enjoyed after you've experienced the original work. That said, while there's some experienced talent at work (particularly Ewan MacGregor and Liam Neeson), a lot of the acting (particularly the child actors) was just wooden. Jar-Jar Binks was even more bearable than some of that acting.

The story follows a young Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan MacGregor) and his Jedi mentor Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson) as they assist Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) weeding out treachery in the Senate as they meet young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), a boy with a strong connection to The Force.

Attack of the Clones picks up some years later, Anakin (Hayden Christensen) has been training with Obi Wan and attends directly to the Queen. Meanwhile, Obi Wan discovers an army of clones has been created and he tries to discover what it's for. This one is markedly better than Phantom Menace.

Revenge of the Sith is easily the best of the prequel trilogy, showing how Anakin turns against the Jedi and becomes Darth Vader. However, the prequels largely exist to set up the original trilogy, which was enjoyed for years without them. While they have some good moments, they're largely skippable.

Two films Disney greenlit for Lucasfilm fit in here. Chronologically first is Solo, a prequel about Han Solo (played in the original trilogy by Harrison Ford, played here by Alden Ehrenreich), a rogue pilot who teams up with a shaggy humanoid creature called Chewbacca. Frankly, I often say that this is my favorite Star Wars movie as it's a rollicking good adventure that is largely unaffected by the other films.

Next is Rogue One, which is very much a prequel to A New Hope, with its ending being exactly where that film starts. A patchwork group of rebels find the plans for the Empire's new weapon, the planet-destroying Death Star, so the Rebel Alliance can find how to destroy it. With a colorful cast of characters, this prequel hits all the right points.

So that takes us to the Original Trilogy. A New Hope sees Luke join the Rebel Alliance with Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo and Chewbacca, as well as the droids R2D2 and C3PO (Anthony Daniels) as they seek to destroy the Death Star.

The Empire Strikes Back sees the Rebel Alliance evading the Empire as Luke meets Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz), the last surviving Jedi Master. Luke also winds up face to face with Darth Vader, who reveals an incredible secret. (Which you already know.)

Return of the Jedi wraps up the original trilogy as the Rebels come together united on the planet moon of Endor to take down an Empire base as Luke has to face both Vader and Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).

This takes us to The Force Awakens. The First Order, led by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is set on conquering the galaxy. A new generation of rebels joins the new Resistance, led by Leia as they seek the location of the missing Luke Skywalker.

The Force Awakens is a nice way to bring back the series with a new generation of heroes, though a lot of its DNA is clearly lifted from A New Hope, even down to taking down a new planet-destroying weapon.

The Last Jedi sees Rey (Daisy Ridley) train with Luke while Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) struggles with working under the leadership above him in the Rebel Alliance, who are dwindling fast under assault from the First Order.

That brings us to The Rise of Skywalker, the latest film and the finale of the sequel trilogy. Emperor Palpatine is revealed to be the mastermind behind the First Order as the Rebels try to find his base and Rey discovers her true lineage.

The last two movies of the sequel trilogy split fans. Frankly, I like that The Last Jedi tried to toss new twists into the mix. The Rise of Skywalker was less so ambitious and tries to have a big emotional conclusion it didn't really earn. Still, there's some sort of story there, setting up future adventures in this universe.

So, there's probably the least strongly opinionated review of the Star Wars franchise you'll ever read.