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Castle in the Sky Director: Hayao Miyazaki Number of Items: 2 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Animated, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 125 minutes Studio: Walt Disney Home Video Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15 Buy from Amazon |
 "Simply amazing"A magical story.. full of mystery and adventure.. I highly recommend to watch this movie.. it's the best animated movie i have ever seen.. i would give 10 stars not just 5  ""A girl just fell from the sky, boss!" "The difference between most animated features and those made by Hayao Miyazaki is that the famed director-animator always tries to incorporate insightful themes and ideas into his works. "Castle in the Sky" is no exception. While at his job one day, a young man named Pazu (voiced by Mayumi Tanaka) is surprised to see a girl float down from the sky. The girl is named Sheeta (voiced by Keiko Yokozawa) and she is in possession of a strange piece of jewelry. Pazu befriends Sheeta but the mystery behind her appearance deepens further when it turns out she is being pursued by the government and a group of pirates. The two youngsters soon learn that Sheeta is attracting so much attention because she may hold the key to finding the mythical floating city of Laputa. "Castle in the Sky" is not only a visual delight but also a well-paced action-adventure story filled with distinctive characters. It is enjoyable on that basic level but a close viewing of the film makes you realize that there is so much more at work here. Its exploration of the importance of nature in our lives and the ease in which one's humanity can be lost in the quest for technological superiority makes "Castle in the Sky" something substantial. Those not familiar with Miyazaki's body of work should take a look at this film to get an idea of the astonishing amount of creative talent this man possesses.  "One of the Best among Miyazaki Movies"This is one of the best movies by Miyazaki. Amazing imaginary world, beautiful animation (especially considering the fact that this film was made in 1986) with matchingly beautiful music by Joe Hisaishi, and heart warming story. Enjoyable both for children and adults. I would strongly recommend everyone to watch with original Japanese recording with English subtitle. Somehow, they chaged all the orchestration when they dubbed in English. Very bad orchestration!! Too dramatized and noisy. Dubbing was done poorly too. They added more words than the original. I would have given 5 stars if they didn't touch the music and didn't add extra words in dubbing. It was very disappointing to find these out as a long time fan of Miyazaki movies. Nevertheless this is one of the best animation movies of all time! "A great animated family film"This is one of the best animated family films of all time, IMHO. Moreover, virtually all of the serious rivals for this title came from the same creative mind of Hiyao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli. Specifically, other great animated family films include "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Kikki's Delivery Service." "Spirited Away" is quite good, but a bit too creepy for typical family fare - better for teenagers and adult. The one thing that sets "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" apart from Kikki and Totoro is that it is far more of a tension-filled adventure ride. Some of Myiazaki's other films, such as Princess Mononoke are not really for kids, although they are fine films in their own way. Why is this film so good? Because it's a complete package: the animation is very well done, and the story is truly engaging and compelling. Most Japanese anime is imaginative alright, but it is also decidedly dark or cynical or violent; and the animation itself is often jerky, stylized, and juvenile. None of these problems plague Castle in the Sky. It has imagination to burn, and the characters are well drawn, if slightly exaggerated versions of realistic people. (None of those trench-coat wearing posers) There is plenty of adventure, but not blood and gore. The animation is smooth, detailed, and cinematically composed - not a lot of flat shots. The backgrounds are wonderful. The voice acting in the dubbed English version is first rate, particularly the two leads, Pazo (James Van der Beek) and Sheeta (Anna Paquin). And frankly, after hearing Van der Beek, I could not stand the high, thin voice of the original Japanese actor. The sound engineering is good, too. The voices are clear. Use your studio sound, if you've got it. One aspect that I particularly enjoyed is that much of the back story is left unexplained. Laputa was once inhabited, and is now abandoned. Why? We never know. We know as much as we need to know, and then we just have to accept the rest, which is easy to do because the invented world is so fully realized. Indeed, it is fair to say that the world is more fully realized than most of the minor characters, who are for the most part one-dimensional stock characters (e.g., gruff general, silly sidekick, kooky old miner, etc.) . Some reviewers have complained that the main characters and the villain lack some depth, and they are right; but so what? This is great entertainment, not high art. Highly recommended for people aged 6 to 60 who would love a clean, exciting, imaginative adventure. "Excellent movie - bad translation"I had the good and bad fortune to see the premiere of the English dubbed version of this movie with friend of mine at a Science Fiction conference a long time ago. Good because he had an excellent grasp of the Japanese language and had seen the Japanese version; bad because he kept yelling at the screen "That's not what they said!". Not knowing much Japanese, I really couldn't tell if he was right or wrong, but it seemed that the movie didn't quite work the same way as it did when I watched it in Japanese. I owned a copy of the Japanese version of this movie and so I watched it again - there is definitely something different betwen the two. The original's just a bit longer (some of the more violent bits have been cut) and the voice acting is a whole lot better. Why is it that we always use adults for children's voices? Overall, the Americanized version just seems a bit blander. If you possibly can, try to see a copy of this movie in its original language. |
