View Larger Image |
Lupin the 3rd - The Castle of Cagliostro Director: Hayao Miyazaki Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Letterbox Format: Dubbed, Subtitled Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 100 minutes Studio: Palm Pictures/Manga Video Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-04-25 Buy from Amazon |
 "Great Movie!!!"Well let me first say I have watched this possibly 50 times. But that was on VHS. Since the VHS copy I have was looking really bad I decieded to get the DVD copy. It looks fantastic. One thing I found a little strange though...they re-did the voices. It's almost a different movie with the new soundtrack. The conversations they have are completely different. Granted the new soundtrack makes more sense then the original, I still had a little trouble with it. And there was a few shots that were re-edited. So the story went a little differnt. I would have liked if they included the other track. But otherwise a great movie. Lots of action with alot of comedy. Which is why I love to watch it so much. "The best of the Lupin movies"There has been a flood of other Lupin DVDs put out since the success of this disc. But don't be fooled, this one is easily the best of the bunch. Reminds me of an anime version of "Princess Bride". Action packed, very funny, and a decent English dub for those (like me) who enjoy watching movies more than reading them. Adding foul language was poor a dubbing decision, but it's my only minor quibble with an otherwise excellent film. Recommended for ages 6 to Adult. Fighting, some intense scenes, but no blood.  "The movie is a lot of fun, but starting to show some age"Ref. Editorial Review for story. The movie reminded me of the old Peter Sellers movie "The Pink Panter Strikes Again" with a touch of James Bond. The setting is similar and there's a lot of the same kind of gags. Not that this has to be a bad thing, but it does give the movie a slightly dusty 70's odor. The same goes for the animation in selected scenes. For example, the movie's damsel in distress, Fujiko, is drawn in a "cute anime girl" style that looks a bit dated today. On the positive side, the movie *is* a lot of fun, and well worth watching. Not to mention that the story appeals to all ages and is fairly safe for family viewing(no nudity, violence limited to slapstick comedy). A lot of the animation is really good as well, just don't expect overall visual quality like Princess Mononoke or other more recent works. "Terrific animated comedy-romance-adventure from Miyazaki!"Acclaimed Anime genius Hayao Miyazaki scored his first box office hit with this charming, fast-paced, enjoyable tale about a clever thief coming to rescue--you guessed it--a princess from a dastardly monarch who wants to marry the lass for his own purposes. He's accompanied by a loyal gunman and a solemn but cunning ninja and pursued by a Japanese police detective who actually helps him at one point of the story. Along the way, there are a bunch of other obstacles to overcome, including bad guys with armored claws, the mazelike corridors of the Cagliostro castle itself, and a counterfeiting scheme. The animation is obviously dated, since the film is over 20 years old, but there are elements of Miyazaki's characters in his later films to be found in the designs of the protagonists and antagonists--the big, round eyes, wide-opened mouths when laughing and/or shouting, and of course, their everchanging facial expressions. The jazz-rock underscore by Yuji Ohno lacks the richness of Joe Hisaishi's scores for Miyazaki's films after this one, but it suits the tone of the film perfectly. Although not as beautiful, meaningful, or powerful as Miyazaki's later films, CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is a joy to watch, with plenty of action-packed sequences, humor a-plenty, and enough fun to keep one enchanted. (Wait until you see the tools that the hero posesses!) The DVD version features a respectably good transfer presented in its 1.85:1 aspect ratio, even if it does show its signs of age, such as occasional film scratches and/or smudges. However, this is probably best to be expected since the film is over 20 years old. The Japanese language track is presented in mono, and sometimes sounds as though it was transferred through, say, a telephone. (A characteristic of the recording techniques of the early years, no doubt.) The English language track, on the other hand, is presented in clear stereo with a full, rich sound. One wonders how they were able to clean up the soundtrack for this dub -- it sounds like it could have been made recently. I only spotchecked the Japanese language track, but the acting is decent, from what I heard. The film was originally dubbed in English by Carl Mecak of Streamline Pictures. I have not seen this dub, but I heard it received mixed opinions; it has its fans while others detested it. However, I DID enjoy this "new" dub created by Manga Entertainment, which follows the script closely, despite some questionable inclusions of profanity in the dialogue ("We're rich bastards!"). The voice cast is well chosen and sound like they are having a great time hamming it up. On the downside, the DVD contains no special features other than trailers for MANGA releases, rather lame menu selections, second-rate packaging, and not enough chapter selections for advancing. A film this wonderful deserves a better treatment. A "Making-Of" documentary, please? Don't let the drawbacks hold you back, though, CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is ***** material, as can be expected from the master of Japanese animation. I recommend it very highly. "James Bond meets a screwball comedy"It's my understanding that the Japanese culture is totally different from American culture in that animation is not exclusively for children, but for adults as well. So keep this in mind that this movie is not made for children, though children will most likely enjoy it and probably the language is no worse than some of the stuff that appears on cable television. Having said that, I will tell you this is a terrific film and Lupin is a wonderful character - sort of a screwball comedy in the best sense, with James Bond thrown in for good measure. And this movie lends itself well to rewatching it - and I have. Many other reviewers here have gone into the technical details much better than I'm capable of doing, so for that info please check their reviews. I have seen the subtitled version, so I don't have an opinion of the dubbed version. But I do have an opinion of the content of the movie and that is it's a terrific movie and you _need_ to see this great movie to appreciate Japanese anime'. |
