Castle in the Sky
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Movie Reviews of Castle in the Sky
Movie Review: It's been a long time coming.
Summary: 5 Stars
The wonderful thing about this movie is the way in which Miyazaki likes to present his underlying message; that technology is seductive, overwhelming, and may be the key to dominating others, but the user/abuser eventually isolates himself from those whom he would rule and/or fear. The isolation is complete, separating the "powerful" from others as well as nature. The poem that Sheeta recites to Muska is the reason why the initial inhabitants left Laputa: We need roots in the Earth;
Let's live with the wind;
With seeds, make fat the winter;
With the birds, let's sing of spring.
To couch the theme of this poem in the metaphor of the search for a floating mythical island of power demonstrates the depth of Miyazaki's talent and abilities in blending a moral message with his love for flight, talent for timing, storytelling prowess, and his immense respect for ecology and nature.
The other wonderful thing about Miyazaki's/Studio Ghibli's films is that it isn't aimed at any market; it is aimed at both adults and children despite the fact that it is anime, and as a result, is much more honest about presenting its themes without resorting to sugar-coating or talking down to children. It is a very watchable film - not cartoon - despite being a fantasy, despite being anime, and despite Disney's efforts to process it through its marketing machinery.
It's appalling that the release of this movie as well as Miyazaki's others such as Nausicaa, Porco Rosso, Omohide Poro Poro (Only Yesterday), and others has been held up in this country for as long as they have simply because Disney or Buena Vista owns the distribution rights. The international release year was way back in 1986, when I was in 6th grade. I enjoyed it immensely then, I enjoy watching it with even more pleasure now. I find it ridiculous that Disney would request the rescoring of the movie simply for marketing purposes and to sell more DVDs. Nonetheless, the belated release of this movie in this country more than overshadows the distateful actions of corporate narrow-mindedness.
Movie Review: A Beautiful Film, for the Hardcore Anime Fans or Not.
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Laputa - Land of dreams
Summary: 5 Stars
"Castle in the Sky", or "Laputa" in Japan, is not as well known to American audiences. However, it is charming for its message of courage in the face of an incoming apocalypse.
It begins with an orphaned miner boy, named Pazu, finding a girl falling from the sky to a mine. The girl's name is Sheeta. She possesses a necklace capable of an great amount of destructive power if used in the proper way. However, Sheeta sure as heck doesn't want this necklace, and Pazu's ready to help save her from the rich mogul and the armies who are in pursuit of her.
While this is a big action film, with armies, airships and laser-shooting robots, the large crux of "Castle in the Sky" focuses on Pazu and Sheeta's life working on an airship housing Dola's band of thieves. Dola brings them on board and gives them work, and helps them find the mythical floating island of Laputa, with tons of treasure. So while part of the film focuses on the greedy armies of men, and one particular mogul who wants world domination, "Castle in the Sky" is also about the wealth of opportunities available for even lowly teenagers, even in the midst of an economic recession.
While Muska is dependent on Sheeta for the destruction of all who oppose him, Sheeta and Pazu see that the world could be completely different. Whereas Muska is heavily dependent on Sheet for her destructive power, Pazu manages to help Sheeta proliferate these weapons and save the world. While proliferation of dangerous weapons takes far more time and effort than within the time frame of this film, "Castle in the Sky" is a feel-good film that expresses Miyazaki's own beliefs in the destruction of weapons for the good of mankind.
Sure, this isn't as complex as "Princess Mononoke," which features a god of nature nearly destroying the entire planet. However, it is an exciting movie that children will enjoy, as long as they aren't too scared of big explosions and fires.
Movie Review: It's finally here
Summary: 5 Stars
To start, I would just like to say that this movie was delayed not through fault of Disney, but by Studio Ghibli. The agreement between Disney and Ghibli stated that Disney could not release any of Miyazaki's films that hadn't already been released by Buena Vista in Japan. Specifically, Disney had to wait a certain time frame after the releasal of Miyazaki's films before releasing them in America. This prevented people from importing movies from American to Japan, thus losing Studio Ghibli a chuck of local royalties. And since Laputa: Castle in the Sky wasn't released until October of 2002, Disney could only release Castle in the Sky over here now.That being said, I'm glad this movie is finally being released here stateside. This movie certainly ranks among my top favorite Miyazaki films (I'd probably place it 2nd, behind Nausicaa [another movie I'm waiting for Disney to release], with Princess Mononoke coming in 3rd). This story has such a humanity to it, that it's hard not to get swept away in it's story. Perhaps that is the true beauty of this movie, it never tries to be more than it is. Just as all of Miyazaki's film, this movie is meant to spark your imagination and let your spirit soar, much like the wings that carry our characters to the Castle in the Sky.
With animation, music, and characterization rarely seen this side of the Pacific, Castle in the Sky is not a film to be missed. My only hope (like many others) is that Disney included the Original Japanese Soundtrack and voice acting just as they did for Princess Mononoke. As much as I admire and enjoy Joe Hisashi's sound tracks, I don't like the fact that he went in and added more music just to make the soundtrack more accessibile to Americans. However, that does not detract from the wonderous adventure of this story.
This movie has been in the waiting for almost 4 years, and I'm glad that it's finally getting the treatment stateside that it deserves.
Movie Review: The old good vs. evil in a new exciting setting
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is based on the Disney version of the movie, voiced by James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Cloris Leachman, Mark Hamill and others. The basic premise is extremely simple - it's the old good vs. evil, science vs. nature scenario, but the animation and imagination is so cool that it looks much more complicated than that.
In case you were wondering, this is not based on the book "Castle in the Air" by Diana Wynne Jones. "Castle in the Air" is the sequel to "Howl's Moving Castle", which was also done in anime by the master Miyazaki. "Castle in the Sky" has roots in the story of "Gulliver's Travels" where Swift wrote about a flying city named Laputa, upon which this film is based.
Sheeta is a young girl, now an orphan, who was given an amulet by her mother before she died. It seems that lots of people are after the amulet, and after Sheeta is taken aboard an airship by creepy Government agents, the ship is attacked by a family of pirates. During the fracas, Sheeta falls from the airship, and it becomes apparent that the amulet is much more than a nice piece of bling-bling. She is rescued by a young boy named Pazu, who is also an orphan and works as an assistant to a mining engineer.
Both the pirates and the army are going all-out to get their greedy hands on Sheeta, and we learn that she is a vital link to finding the mythical floating city of Laputa, which is said to be packed with both treasure and advanced technology, securely hidden within a huge storm cloud.
The main characters, other than Sheeta and the heroic Pazu are Colonel Muska, a secret agent with huge ambition, Dola, domineering matriarch of the Pirate clan, and the General, leader of the armed forces.
Although more than two hours long, this action-packed family movie is never boring, but it does contain some amount of violence.
Amanda Richards, October 8, 2006