This first of many triumphs for Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki is set a thousand years after a nuclear holocaust has gutted the globe. After the death of her father and an attack by the hostile Tormekia, Princess Nausicaa must use her uncanny ability to communicate with the giant crustacean Ohmu to unite her people against the threat of annihilation. Based on the manga of the same name, and using Miyazaki’s distinct stylistic flare for the dreamlike and fantastical, the film also inaugurates Miyazaki’s enduring collaboration and friendship with composer Joe Hisaishi. Its visually breathtaking, truly dexterous animation is more than worthy of a repeat viewing, let alone a first.