Rating: 
Summary: Where is my Castle on a Cloud?
Review: I saw the theatrical trailer for this movie about 10 years ago on a Kiki tape. Its about time that I finally got to see it. I know many of you in Japan or Europe have seen this movie before, but Americans like me are just discovering it for the first time. Thank you Japan for your wonderful masterpiece. :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Such a treatment...
Review: When I started watching the long-awaited English version of The Castle in the Sky, I noticed that the new soundtrack added to the original was too much, which sometimes even ruined Miyazaki's intention. But I concluded myself afterwards that maybe it's my cultural backgroud or something that preferred simplicity while the Amerecan people needed something gorgeous so that's the way they liked it. And as I continued to watch, I realized that it's very hard at times to catch up with the dialog on the screen--our lovely characters talk too much and really fast in English-- but I thought it was my poor English that prevented me from catching up.When I read the reviews posted here, however, I recognized that I was not the only one who felt that way; it seems that every movie-lover knows the proper way to treat such a delicate masterpiece as Miyazaki's, no matter what their nationality is, and I'm glad to know that; the new soundtrack IS inappropriate, and the translation IS poor indeed. Disney should have deveoted the same amount of effort to this great art work, The Castle in the Sky, as they did to Spirited Away. I'm sad to substract one star just because of such a treatment to our cultural treasure.
Rating:
Summary: castle in the sky
Review: the first time i saw castle in the sky i was just a kid.
it was the first japanese animated film i had ever seen and i loved it.
now im 26 years old i still think it's one of the best animated film's i have seen.
i recomend you buy it and see for yourself how good it is
Rating:
Summary: Clever Disney
Review: I think why Disney choose to release Castle in the Sky as a DVD (not a major theater release like Spirited Away) after years of owning the rights of the film is quite obvious. Disney's two major features in the last few years, 'Atlantis' and 'Treasure Planet', both pales in comparison to Castle in the Sky, even though they have smiliar story lines, not to mention suspected plagarism on Disney's part. (Studio Ghibli can't sure Disney since Disney now own the rights) Some may complain about the animation quality as not up to par with Miyazaki's other works, but considering this was originally a 1986 release, it is still hundreds of times better than what a lot of anime series that are recently released. And remember that back in the days, there are not CG or computer effects. Watching it just makes you aprreciate the craft of the animators way more. Miyazaki's movies tend to have smilar themes, but each story is masterfully told in its own unique ways. In Castle in the Sky, the theme of the love for the mother earth is told in an epic scale... a kind of 'Indiana Jones' meets 'Star Wars' meets 'Princess Mononoke'. It is mostly back-to-back action, but paced with beautifully planned, quieter scenes where you just stare at the beautiful imageries in awe. The soundtrack is an added bonus as Joe Hisashi has done an amazing job of enhancing the mood of each scene. The reason I did not give a 5 star though is that I felt Disney's casting for the English voice-acting is poorly done. The 2 main characters' voices are just not up to par with the original Japanese casting. Another note is that the soundtrack score is also altered in the English version. I personally prefers the less hollywood style score in the orginal Jap. veriosn. So I highly recommend that you watch it with the original Japanese soundtrack (thank god it's incluided in this DVD) with English subtitle.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable, but not much more than that
Review: I believe this is the first Miyazaki film that I've seen. I have seen his praises sung on message boards and while I own Princess Mononoke, I still have not seen it. I knew that his latest two films (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) are considered two of his best; but that Castle in the Sky was also highly regarded. I was a little surprised at how much Castle in the Sky was directed towards children. This is not a bad thing, but just something that surprised me. This was a fun little movie, but not one that struck me as very memorable. Considering the movie was made in 1986, the animation is surprisingly good. The new voice acting (Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Cloris Leechman) is adequate, though Van Der Beek got on my nerves fairly quickly (the voice sounded too old for the character). After the first half hour, I was able to get into the movie a little bit more, but something felt lacking throughout the movie. I still can't put my finger on it, but something about the movie was keeping me from enjoying it as much as I expected to. Not a bad movie, by any means, but one that is also not going to be one of my favorites. I have no need to buy this one. It belongs in a collection of Miyazaki's work as this is a nice two disc set, but it wasn't great enough for me to want to own.
Rating: 
Summary: English-dubbed Original rates 5 stars! Best Anime ever!
Review: Disney sure screwed up this release of the wonderful "Laputa - Castle in the Sky". The first mistake they made was choosing to use an adult's voice instead of a child's voice for the little boy, Pazu. I simply could not believe my ears! And this guy who does the voice-over couldn't even pronounce the little girl's name correctly. Disney, it's "Sheeta" not "Sheda". The next error was handing over the film to some arrogant composer who decided to make sure his music took center stage (Don't they all, when will this madness stop? How much longer will we have to strain our ears to hear dialog because the music is too darn loud!?). There are scenes in the original, such as when Pazu is playing the bugle on the rooftop and Sheeta wakes up, that are completely ruined because the mood is broken by the musical score that insists on rambling on in the background when there should've been silence except for the sound of the bugle. What a botched-up mess this soundtrack is! Last year I purchased the original Japanese version dubbed in English and it immediately climbed up the ladder past all of my Disney favorites to become my #1 favorite animated film.
Rating:
Summary: Lives up to very high expectations
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Underrated Masterpiece
Review: Film Rating: 4.5 stars
Video Transfer: 3 stars
Japanese Presentation (audio transfer & literal subtitle): 3 stars
English Presentation (audio transfer & dubbing): 2 stars
Supplementary Features: 3 stars Castle in the Sky is one of Miyazaki's first feature films, following Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds and The Castle of Cagliostro. It is certainly his most ambitious film to date, and would remain so until Princess Mononoke released 11 years later. It clocks in at meaty 125 minutes running time, which should be considered an "epic" for animated features. While the story is occasionally preachy and predictable, it has all the ingredients of a great epic film. Amazingly imaginative set design (very detailed and original cities and gizmos), sumptuous color and framing, beautiful and haunting music score (easily one of composer Jo Hisaishi's best efforts), great action and drama, and Miyazaki's signature well developed characters. If you like any Hiyazaki's films, you owe yourself to sit down and watch this film. Then again, all of Miyazaki films are a must see! Disney has done a good job with this DVD, with superior video presentation than the Japanese DVD. The Japanese soundtrack (in Dolby Digital 2.0 Pro-Logic) is clean and free of distortions. The English dubbed soundtrack, which triggers the English credit and title sequences via DVD's multi-angle feature, features newly re-scored soundtrack by Jo Hisaishi. It is remixed to 5.1-channel Dolby Digital, with good deal of bass and more aggressive use of surround channels. While it is useful for watching the film with younger audience, it is ultimately inferior to the Japanese presentation. For the most part, voice acting is pretty decent -- done by many famous actors instead of professional voice actors (e.g., Mark Hamill, Mandy Patinkin, Anna Paquin). But it is not faithful to the original script. If you are a fan, stick with the Japanese soundtrack. Included supplements are Japanese trailer and teasers for the film, introduction by Toy Story director John Lasseter, dubbing session behind-the-scene featurette, and best of all, entire storyboard presented on the second DVD with soundtrack.
Rating: 
Summary: A good film, but still a bit disappointing
Review: First of all, I want to say that I am a very big fan of Miyazaki's work. I've seen Nausicaa, Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle of Cagliostro, and Princess Mononoke, and been very impressed by all of them. I guess there had to be one that fell a little flat, and this is it, at least for me. That's not to say it's a bad movie. It's a bit old, and the animation and audio aren't as clean as newer releases, but this isn't something I can fairly hold against a film made over 15 years ago. No, my problem with Laputa is that the characters just aren't as developed or likable as in most of Miyazaki's films. Sheeta, unlike such heroines as Nausicaa, Kiki, or Chihiro, just doesn't seem to go through any personal growth or changes. The villain in this film is simply power-hungry without apparent motive. Pazu is likable for his eagerness, and the air pirates are interesting, but they just couldn't carry the entire movie for me. Also, the ending felt vaguely unsatisfying; it didn't seem as though much was really resolved. Also, I was watching the subtitled version, and the timing on the subtitles is occasionally fairly bad. This seems to happen mostly with minor dialogue. It isn't really a big problem for someone who understands some basic Japanese, but it's still very distracting at times. All in all, I have to reiterate that this is not a bad film by any means. It just didn't click with me on the level Miyazaki's other films have. I recommend fans of his work rent this one before buying.
Rating:
Summary: Miyazakayyyyyyyyyyyy
Review: I don't know why the guy with the title said it's about time Disney.
This movie has been out for years and years and years.
The animation is pretty good for its ime and the story is good as usual as in all of Miyazakis movies.
But I just wish Disney would put some new voices in here. And also they use almost the same sound for everything.
Besides that this is a pretty good movie.
I am not going to see this is a must see but it is pretty good.
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