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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 |
 "One Of The Ultimate Movies Of All Time"With all the charm and endearment of the best Disney movies, all the adventure and grandeur of "Star Wars", all the fantasy and richly imagined worlds of "Lord Of The Rings", and all the magic and tenderness of "E.T." or "Ghost", you have a thrilling, mysterious, comedically-flourished and deeply moving masterpiece of a movie in "Castle In The Sky", one of the pinnacles of cinema achievement. Full of immensely memorable characters, awesome concepts, and the kind of fantasy that not only substitutes for 'reality' but transcends it. If I were ever to try to compile a list of my all-time top ten (or even top twenty) movies ever made, it would be a next-to-impossible task given the high number of greats I've seen over the years, but "Castle" would be as ferociously strong a contender as any movie of any genre ever made. Put out by Japan's Studio Ghibli and masterminded by the genius Hayao Miyazaki (also the director of "Kiki's Delivery Service", "Spirited Away", and "Princess Mononokee", among other classics) in 1986, with beautiful animation that still today ranks as among the most breath-taking ever produced, Castle, like Spirited Away, occupies a midway point between traditional western animation (Disney and its peers) and gentler Japanese fare like "Kiki's Delivery Service" on the one hand, and older-themed anime like "Princess Mononoke" and "Haibane Renmei" on the other hand, that is more complex and often darker than the Disney-types. This is not to imply any superiority of any of the three types over the others, just noting the differences. (There is also, in my thinking, a fourth level of animation, significantly older-themed than "Mononoke" and such, which because of high violence, sexuality, and/or intense and complicated dramatic themes, isn't for the wee ones, but has also produced some tremendous motion pictures. "The Animatrix" and "Blood: The Last Vampire" are just 2 examples of this type). "Castle In The Sky" is still fully fine for children, but for the youngest ones a grown-up should perhaps watch it with them the first time just in case; besides which, this is not a "kids" movie if that designation would suggest that only young kids would like it; it's as universally suited to any age group as "Star Wars" or a day at the beach. Now with Mononoke or something, if your kid wants to watch it and is only five or six, I'd recommend you watch it first (you know your own kids better than whoever sticks the age labels on videos and DVDs anyway) and then decide if they're ready for it, and then definately watch it with them the first time. Back to "Castle In The Sky" - its frequent darkness and frightening moments actually enable it to achieve higher heights of brightness and spirituality than most other animated features (or live-actions for that matter),the contrasting elements each making the other more potent. As much of its darker elements relate closer to the real world with which we're most familiar (world cynicism, government trickery, military overzealousness, etc.) while many of its fantastical highlights involve more benevolent realms and races that are not only more powerful than man but kinder, gentler and more knowing as well, "Castle In The Sky" achieves one of Fantasy Entertainment's highest aims in showing not only how different things or worlds Might be, but how they (this world included) Should and Could be. And of course, there are thrilling chases, dazzling sights, strange architectures, and the beauty of the fast-forming friendship and slowly-dawning romance between the movie's young lead characters, Pazu and Sheeta. All this, and full of more surprises than I'd dream of giving away here. Highest possible recommendation for movie-lovers of all stripes.  "Hmmm ..."I did not particularly like this movie. It didn't have very much excitment until the end, by which time I wasn't really paying attention. What else is there to say?  "A Good Movie"This movie mainly focuses on all the characters' never-ending dream to find the city in the sky. The flying machines didn't really appeal to me, but I found the characters to be entertaining, and the animation to, of course, be beautiful. If you have seen other movies by Hayao Miyazaki, you will notice similarities in the way he draws his characters. For example, at one point in this movie, Sheeta looks exactly like Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. I would recommend Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service over Castle in the Sky, but it's more likely that boys will enjoy this movie more then Kiki's Delivery Service, since a boy is one of the main characters in this movie, and there are so many gizmos and gadgets that make up the flying machines and such. Overall, I would say Hayao Miyazaki is a very talented artist/director, and needs to continue producing such great movies! "The Greatest animated film I have ever seen"Castle in the Sky is an animated masterpiece that captivated me from the very beginnning. It has a remarkable introduction. We see a vast, very detailed aircraft hovering hundreds of miles in the air at night. We then see a pretty little girl with a red band in her brown hair, wearing a dark blue dress. She's looking gloomily through a window. Suddenly, Air pirates on jet ski-like aircrafts come flying in towards Goliath (which is the name of the aircraft the girl is in). They land on Goliath, break into the ship, and run across the long halls with their large guns. They're being led by an old yet engertic woman whose name we later find out is Dola. The green clothed Japanese soldiers of the aircraft Goliath soon have a gun fighting war with the feisty pirates. Meanwhile, Sheeta (the name of the little girl) is still sitting in the chair, wondering what is happening outside of the room. She turns and stares at the evil man with her in the room whose name we later find out is Muska. Muska quickly shuts the door of the room, locks it, walks over to a square telephonic device lying on a table and then says strongly with his back turned to Sheeta, "A Beautiful Piece of Work"This is perhaps my favorite of the Miyazaki films that I have seen. Smooth pacing, excellent plot, brilliant dialogue and astounding visual and literary symbolism. The animation is increadible, given the film capabilities for the time it came out, and is a real treat for the eyes. Hisaishi-san's music is beautiful, as always. Need something for your kids can watch that isn't mindless drivel? Need something for you to watch that isn't mindless drivel? Get your hands on Castle In The Sky: Laputa. It won't be a waste of money. Notes Horrible English dubbing, even as anime dubbings go. The music in the English dubbing is a rescoring done by Hisaishi-san. Great basis for family discussion. |
