View Larger Image |
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 |
 "A Beautiful Film, for the Hardcore Anime Fans or Not."Okay, I am not a hardcore anime fan. If you are, you may just want to skip the rest of this paragraph if you do not wish to be offended. I've read a lot of hateful reviews that have slammed Disney because they did not create the movie exactly like the original Japanese version, they re-vamped the music score, yadda yadda. Well, I don't care about any of that. In fact, I can only stand to listen to the Japanese version for about 15 minutes. I think the original has too many spots where there is no music for way too long. I don't even like the Japanese voices. But I LOVE this movie! Miyazaki's work is beautiful, colorful, and lovingly alive in a way that American animated films for some reason cannot achieve. I think the English voice actors are very fitting and I think that all the extra added-in lines everyone is griping about make it much more entertaining and certainly funnier. I laugh every time I watch it and I love watching it over and over and over. No matter how many times I've watched it, I still feel the awe and presence of the world in which "Castle" is set; the rich simplicity of the Mining Town where Pazu lives, the silliness and oddity of the Tiger Moth, the wonder and mystery of Laputa, and the dread of Muska and his power-hungry ambitions (great bad guy, perfect voice-actor in Mark Hamilton). The story simply flows. Unlike a lot of American films, "Castle" doesn't tell you everything by giving lengthly explanations about the how's and why's. It lets you come to your own conclusions, make up your own assumptions. I have only seen three of Miyazaki's films so far and love all of them. This is my favorite, and probably always will be. I can't wait to watch the rest of his films when they are released here in the states. So my advice, if you're an average anime fan like me, is to ignore the flaming reviews and just sit back, relaxe, and enjoy this excellent movie. "Castle in the Sky...."Is it just me, or do those very words, without even knowing what they refer to, contain a whimsical, imagination-inspiring power to them? "Castle in the Sky" is by Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, who I've come to believe is one of the most masterful storytellers alive today, and maybe of all time. It begins with a young girl, Sheeta, drifting down from the sky into the arms of a young miner named Pazu. From there begins an incredible adventure as these two search for answers to the girl's origins while running from both air pirates as well as mysterious agents. I don't intend to reveal much of the plot here, but suffice it to say, this movie reignited the feelings I used to have as a child when watching such classics as "The Wizard of Oz" and the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (which I also just recently purchased on DVD. The movie was created several years ago, but was recently brought to America, with a wonderful redubbing into English, thanks to Disney Studios. If you're looking for visuals like the mind-blowing, computer simulations in recent Disney hits such as "Finding Nemo", this isn't it. However, if you're a fan of traditional cel animation, this film may be one of the best ever produced. Miyazaki's attention to detail, his ability to bring these two dimensional characters to life, is awe-inspiring. For me, the greatest thing about this movie is that it's reminded me of the kind of fictional magic I hope to create myself one day, and makes me wonder if it's too late in my life for me to become an animator. The bad thing about seeing a movie like this, is that I know that I could never produce anything nearly as beautiful. Fortunately for me, if I ever get the opportunity, I'm just stubborn, determined, and delusional enough to give it a shot anyway.  "Great"Though not as good as Spirited Away (What movie is, anyway?), Castle In the Sky was still a very good movie that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to any Japanese animation lover. A good storyline, and memorable charecters. Younger kids might be a little disturbed by some parts, but younger kids would probably get bored of a two hour movie before those parts, anyway. By the way, have any other Castle In the Sky viewers noticed that close to the end, the girl (I forget her name) looks EXACTLY like KiKi from KiKi's Delivery Service? "SO MUCH MISSING IN THE U.S. RELEASE!!!!!!!!!"disney has just not been honest in releasing "laputa: castle in the sky" and other studio ghibli all time greats on dvds. there's so much missing in the u.s. release from the one they have released in japan. now we all know what disney did to its english track. even the rescore sounds terrible at places....but at least the only commendable job disney did to this release was including the original japanese track. so anyway, the film can be watched in all its glory, as it was meant to be. the problem however, i feel is with the poorly done extras. storyboard viewing is available but no angle feature has been given, so you cant switch between the boards and the film. and one extra disc just for storyboards doesnt make much sense. it would have been better if they had included it on the main disc alongwith the film.(even a lesser known company central park media did a great job with "grave of the fireflies"!!!!!) japanese release even includes an alternate opening and closing for the film. why isnt it here?? when buena vista can release it in japan, why cant they do so in u.s. and rest of the world? is john lasseter's introduction that important?? we all know how great these movies are!! come on mr lasseter, its people around the world who have voted for these movies on imdb.com. we also know that FIVE(!!!) films from studio ghibli are among top 10 (laputa being no.6) in the list of greatest animated films ever made...and NONE from disney (obviously "toy stories" and "monsters" are from pixar!!!!). that says it all and it is quite obvious how much people love studio ghibli and hayao miyazaki. so mr lasseter, i'm terribly sorry but your introduction makes no sense. it would still have, had you said something on laputa's influence (or was it a blatant rehash????) on disney's "atlantis"!! its about time disney learnt some lessons from his previous mistakes and gave the future releases the treatment and respect they deserve. i hope the dvds of upcoming hayao miyazaki gems like "my neighbor totoro", "nausicaa" and "porco rosso" live up to everyone's expectations. hope they are on par with their japanese counterparts....and hope its worth all the endless wait since disney and buena vista have postponed their release indefinitely even after announcing their release dates!! how pathetic! "A Complete and Groundbreaking Anime"Hayao Miyazaki's first full-fledged "breakthrough" film "Castle in the Sky" is Magical Epic that would display many of the recurrent themes in future reknowned Miyazaki films. It's very successful not only as a rangefinder, but as a movie as a whole. It depicts beautiful panoramas (The setting is reminiscent of industrial-era Europe), memorable characters, and a good plot that holds itself together. Miyazaki doesn't bother burdening himself and the audience with an unplausible explination of the events at the end of the film, but rather let's it flow out wonderfully, presenting a good, positive message.The animation is rich and pleasing and it fits the action and themes perfectly. Miyasaki has surpassed this effort with some of his newer films, still using this film as a sort of "platform". Despite it nearing it's 20th year, it is still a fresh and enjoyable film for any age group, and a strong effort by one of Anime's most prolific artists. |
