Big bugs don't bother princess.(The Dallas Morning News)

Byline: Nancy Churnin

"Spirited Away" snagged an Academy Award for writer-director-artist Hayao Miyazaki. But for many Miyazaki fans, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" is his true masterpiece.

And for those fans, this new release of the exquisitely drawn classic, beautifully dubbed in English, should delight. The extras seem aimed at fans, too: close-up looks at the original storyboards, interviews with the voice actors and a feature on Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki.

"Nausicaa" is set a thousand years in the future when small bands of humans have survived a great war that has poisoned a jungle, populated by giant insects. The insects threaten to engulf them. And Nausicaa (Alison Lohman), a brave and empathetic princess who tries to reach out to the insects, suddenly finds herself and her people caught between warring tribes that each claim they can destroy the toxic jungle.

To step into the world of "Nausicaa" is to enter a world in which most of the rules designed by American animators don't hold. Forget getting quickly to the point of conflict. Expect to take your time as the story unwinds with unexpected twists and turns and pivotal characters are introduced well into the plot. There are ...