Castle in the Sky
|
Our Price: $31.54 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $13.75 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Castle in the Sky
Movie Review: Fantastic film on DVD...but be careful of the audio options.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd seen Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki's successful U.S. breakthrough, in the theatres in a dubbed versions and was supremely impressed and satisfied by the job Miramax did to adapting the film, with Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver and Gillian Anderson delivering top-notch voice acting for the English version that I didn't miss the Japanese version. So when Disney finally released the Miyazaki catalogue on DVD here, my expectations for Laputa: Castle in the Sky -- my favourite Miyazaki film -- were staggering.This DVD turned out to be a rare bird indeed. The English adaptation is abysmal. James Van Der Beek, as the crucial main character Pazu, gives one of the worst animation voice performances I've ever heard. He sounds like a person reading lines while trying to loop a movie. Anna Paquin fares marginally better as Sheeta, and the talented Mandy Patinkin is wasted in a tiny role. Overall, the direction on the English dubbed version is pretty bad, with the English-language actors filling in unnecessary dialogue that all but ruins what had been quieter, silent moments of pure action. The tremendous first five minutes of the film are just ruined by unnecessary actor ad libs, which intrude upon the pure-action storytelling of the original. And somehow Disney felt the need to re-arrange and remix the score and basically committed seppuku to the dangerous, high-adventure tone of the opening scene.
But wait...for all the butcheries committed to the film in the English dubbed version, Disney deserves praise for putting options for the full, untampered Japanese sound mix into the DVD audio options. When I discovered these options, my criticisms became minimal, as I was able to enjoy Miyazaki's original, superior vision of how the sound mix and dialogue should be. Having the guts and the respect to make available the original tracks despite its high-budget (albeit botched) English version is really a laudable move on Disney's part, and quite rare in translating a film for foreign markets. Kudos for respecting the original vision.
My recommendation? Watch the film with the original Japanese sound mix and English subtitles. The subtitling option on this edition is far better than the subtitles on the Taiwanese import copy of the film I had, which weren't even in sync with the voices.
With technical aspects out of the way, the film really is a classic. With the best story progression, characters, artwork and thematic elements in the Miyazaki oeuvre, not to mention a celestial film score which is the jewel in Joe Hisaishi's crown, Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a must-own. I still wish they could have done a better job on the dubbed English version -- the English version of Princess Mononoke does the original proud and is a great option to have. Nevertheless, the original sound is there for you to enjoy, and you can pick the English version if you so incline. See if you agree with me whether it's better or worse. This is definitely a good edition of the film to get.
Movie Review: Lives up to very high expectations
Summary: 5 Stars
A few years ago a friend recommended "My Neighbor Totoro" and it was the perfect movie for my boys aged 3 and 5. Vulgarity inflation is the trend for kids' entertainment as well as adults', and there seems little to chose from between the extremes of violent, frantic action and mawkish, cutesy critters. Movies like Totoro seemed so rare, and I eagerly sought out other Miyazaki's available in NTSC/Region 1, but none were nearly as good. The more I heard about "Castle in the Sky," the more I hoped it would recreate the magic of our first viewing of Totoro.Yesterday, the now 5- and 7-year-olds sat down for Castle in the Sky (Laputa), and it immediately drew us in. At 2 hours, it's a bit of an attention commitment for kids, but the story, characterizations, beautiful art design, quick pacing and tasteful score combined to make it our prized DVD (if put to a vote--it's not exactly Vertigo or the Seven Samurai).
The main character is the boy Pazu, and while the actor's voice does sound a little mature, it makes sense for the role, which is sometimes heroic to a fault. Aside from his gung-ho impulses, he's a very likeable. The girl Sheeta is given a traditional role (to prove their mettle, Pazu has to fix an engine; Sheeta has to wash dishes and cook), but the matriarch pirate makes up for implicit girly-girl messages. There's too much fun going on to worry about gender politics, though.
The art direction places the movie in a turn-of-the-century alpine area, where cars are rare but fanciful aircraft are commonplace. A magical substance called ethereum is introduced early, and it makes for pretty lighting scenes. Aside from that, it confuses what could have been a more straightforward and engaging plot; the movie is murky about why the pirates want Sheeta's crystal, or what ethereum has to do with the essence of Laputa.
At the risk of sounding like a prude, another technology that abounds is guns. Reassuringly, the good guys (bear with me) use smoke-grenade launchers and the bad guys use live rounds (but luckily their marksmanship is similar to Star Wars' stormtroopers). There's little glory in the weapons themselves though, so kids aren't likely to want to a lightsaber-equivalent to clobber each other with.
SPOILER: Explosions abound, and there's a lot of implied death of anonymous soldiers (they get dropped from heights), and the explicit destruction of a friendly robot. I wouldn't have let them watch this 2 years ago.
END SPOILER
The score is very good; it's varied melodically and instrumentally, and the main themes are memorable. My only complaint is that it's mixed higher than the voices or soundfx, so the loudest part of the movie is always the music.
In terms of frames-per-second, this movie doesn't compare with the typical Disney release, but in every other respect that makes movies worthwhile, Castle in the Sky is the best time we've had in front of the TV so far this year.
Movie Review: It's about time Disney...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is easily one of Miyazaki's greatest movies( but he never makes a bad one!). I have the R2(Japanese) version with subs, 2.0 DD, and about 83% progressive, but this version will have DD 5.1 Japanese and English, and be 100% progressive! It will also have a redone soundtrack by it's original composer Joe Hisaishi(which translates to Quincy Jones in American, who is also a great composer!), redone dub with Anna Paquin, James Van Derbeek, and other Hollywood celebs, it will come with a second disc(no there isn't a box or special edition, so preorder now!) that will have storyboard to movie comparison, trailers, and some more stuff! The only thing bad is that Disney will probably put their own movie trailers on the second disc... Now that that's out the way, for my review: THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES OF THE 80's, NO MAKE THAT OF ALL TIME!! It starts out with a bang, Mama and her gang overrun a blimp for a necklace that can make things levitate that a little girl named Sheeta has been kidnapped for. They bust into a room and the girl climbs out the window to get away but falls into the sky and falls. We see Laputa engraved on a stone and then see probably the greatest intro to any movie...EVER!! It shows the story of flying castles and what became of this. A young boy spots Sheeta falling and catches her just in time. Thus, the beginning to a great story with amazing visuals, interesting characters, funny scenes, and great character development. This movie or any Ghibli movie will turn non-believers into frothing at the mouth anime fans like you and me! So far Disney has released 1 movie since they licensed 11 Ghibli movies in 1996! They plan to release Castle in the Sky (Laputa), Kiki's Delivery Service, and Spirited Away this year. But they stil have to release:
Porco Rosso(touching movie about a human turned Pig to isolate himself from a discriminating world...They should release this next year)
Pom Poko(Racoons fighting to save Western Tokyo from developers trying to bulid over their land!)
Only Yesterday(A tale of an older woman escaping the complexity of city life to the country and reminiscing about childhood...)
My Neighbors the Yamada's(A comedy about Japanese culture, no hand drawings in here! Completely CG!!)
Whisper of the Heart(Probably the most touching love story ever produced)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind(I haven't seen this yet but people say it's his greatest work...I NEED THIS NOW DISNEY!!)
Totoro(they are going to re-re-re-release this with 5.1, dual language, subbed, anamorphic...I have this already but I need the 5.1!)
Well that's about all the time I have! Be sure to buy this piece of animated history, something Disney could never make!!
Movie Review: Creative Animation Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Injections of new ideas and thoughts are typically a good thing. In the case of "Castle in the Sky," the 1986 Hiyao Miyazaki film, the approach to animation is a great thing. The world created by Miyazaki is surrealistic and futuristic. The landscapes are immense and provide an other world feel though the flora and fauna are that of Earth. While the central characters are very young, the theme and story rival some of the best science fiction and fantasy live action movies produced in The United States. Animation provides a media that allows limitless creation bounded only by the imagination of the artist.Sheeta, voiced by Anna Paquin, is being chased by a variety of people, including what appear to be government types, the military, and pirates. At first it's difficult to understand who is a good guy and who is a bad guy, which mirrors Sheeta's own confusion in separating the two. Sheeta soon meets up with Pazu (voiced by James Van Der Beek) who dreams of visiting far off lands. When Pazu discovers that Sheeta has a connection to the mythical floating castle Laputa Pazu resolves to help Sheeta, though he has yet to discover where assisting Sheeta might take him.
Sheeta finds herself continually chased throughout the film by various persons with different agendas. Most are after the treasure of Laputa, but some are after power. Sheeta herself is just the girl next door who also happens to be a princess and whose only goal is to grow up without people chasing her around. Along the way she demonstrates her love for nature and the desire to protect beautiful things.
What is amazing in this film is the technology. There are a host of flying machines that reminded me of Jules Verne's "Master of the World." The castle itself is a technological marvel of an advanced civilization with its own set of interesting features. Military armament is sophisticated and powerful, and yet can appear graceful. Contrasting with the advanced technology is the wide-spread use of steam power and the relatively lower technology evident for civilians.
The characters are often over the top, and include Cloris Leachman, Mandy Patinkin and Mark Hamill. While they are often caricatures, the combination of humor and seriousness tends to be a trait of Japanese animation.
This movie is generally suitable for most of the family, but the violence at some points may be unsuitable for the pre-school members of the family. If you enjoy creativity in your animation, and enjoy a story with a bit of science fiction and fantasy, kick back with a bowl of popcorn and enjoy this one.
Movie Review: A great animated family film
Summary: 5 Stars
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.