Why wouldn't I recommend a good film from an excellent director?
Although I understand the sentiment - In regards to adaptations; Examples being the Persona animes which I can best summarize as spunk-flavored-lollipops. The Silent Hill movies which couldn't have missed the point entirely, if they fired in a different direction and the point was in a different country altogether.
Although sometimes I find that certain adaptations do things better, and if there's something Miyazaki does well beyond great storytelling then it is audio design. There are certainly, like that, which you won't find in other mediums of storytelling -- I haven't read the manga, never planning to either, as I don't read comics or graphic novels anymore, be it Japanese or Western.
Judging it as a film, especially by Miyazaki, it is worth people's time.
But hardly an alternative.
Hell, it's like if the LOTR films went from Frodo meeting Aragon, skipped to Helms Deep and finished off when they bowed at Minas Tirith.
Yeah... the ending of that movie is only 300 pages into a 1400+ page manga.
It gets the point across in like, the 10 minutes the movie lasts (war, environment, messiah figure etc...) but it's so underdeveloped in all these areas that it comes off as... well, bad.
So watch the movie first if you're gonna get into Nausicaa. Cos after you read the manga you'll never want to go back.
But at the very least...
It's not iRobot bad.
God that film is awful in every way possible (as an adaptation, of course.)
I haven't read the manga, never planning to either, as I don't read comics or graphic novels anymore, be it Japanese or Western.
Don't know your reasons...
But it's a shame.
You're the kind of dude who'd love Berserk and Vagabond.
Especially since you have a great eye for detail and nuance.
It'd come in handy with two stories that heavily rely on their art to tell the story.
Especially Vagabond.