Castle in the Sky

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic High-Flying Adventure
Review: The third feature film of acclaimed writer/director Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away), Castle in the Sky showcases his talents for creating great adventures yarns with substance as well as style.

Set in an alternate 1920's earth, where airships rule the skies and entire continents can fly, Castle in the Sky is the story of two orphans who meet by chance. A young girl, Sheeta (Anna Paquin), floats literally from the sky after narrowly escaping capture from a band of pirates, wearing a mysterious glowing necklace. She is caught by Pazu (James Van Der Beek), a brave and resourceful young assistant engineer, who notices that the crystal she wears has fantastic magical properties. It is this crystal that several suspicious parties are trying desperately to get their hands on, including the Dola Pirate Gang, and the Army, led by the nefarious Colonel Muska (Mark Hammil). It soon becomes clear that the real prize in this race is the ancient, supposedly mythical, floating island of Laputa.

What follows is a grand chase towards the Caste in the Sky, with captures, narrow escapes, air battles, and more. Miyazaki's love of flight is more than apparent at the way the action soars, moving easily from land to air, and the pace of the movie, though the film runs over two hours, only lets up when and for as long as it needs to. Miyazaki showed in both The Castle of Cagliostro and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind that he has a talent for making rousing adventure movies, and, though Castle has some of the ecological messages found in Nausicaa (and later, in Princess Mononoke), they always take a backseat to the events that drive the movie.

The characters here are a varied, strange, and incredibly fun lot. The Dola Pirates are always entertaining when their banter flys, Mark Hammil has a blast as the scheming villian, and Pazu and Sheeta are two of the cutest leads you could ask for. They're also a refreshing taste from the "ordinary" in the anime genre. Sheeta is more than capable of handling herself, and Pazu is a cheerful idealist, a nice break from the surly teenage leads that overpopulate anime. In addition, their relationship is wonderfully done; it's the simplest, most pure form of love imaginable, that neither tries to be romantic or plutonic, but is just shown as it is. There is never a single kiss on screen, but the audience knows, through the body language and the words in their moments together that these two will be together one way or another for life.

And even though this is one of Miyazaki's earlier films, the animation is still fairly impressive. Of course, it looks a little dated next to the likes of Spirited Away, but it still looks and feels like a wonder. The character designs are Miyazaki's usual simplistic but expressionistic fare, and the vehicles that populate the world are imaginative and plausible, and the architecture has a surprising amount of variety.

The real treasure on this DVD release is the completely redone musical score on the English Language version of the film. Back in the mid-'80's, Studio Ghibli was not nearly the powerhouse it is today, and consequently, composer Joe Hisaishi was at times forced to put his rather sparse score on sythesizers and such. However, the new score contains everything from the original release, and a heck of a lot more, all done in beatiful orchestral renditions. And as for actual quality of music, the score for Castle in the Sky easily holds its own against Mononoke in terms of quality and power.

Of course, you have to watch the english dub of the movie to hear this, but having said that, it's not a bad job, arguably superior to Mononoke and Kiki's Delivery Service in terms of the actor's performances. Cloris Leachman is hilarious as Dola, Paquin does a fine job of Sheeta, and even Van Der Beek manages to be only marginally annoying. And really, how can you not like Mark Hammill?

Overall, Castle in the Sky is one of Miyazaki's best films, showcasing some of the most imagination, colorful characters, and dazzling adventure, it also carries some fairly powerful emotions. It also looks great, even after eighteen years, and is simply a great deal of fun to watch.

Rating:
Summary: Another charming story
Review: More than anything else, this is a delightful, gentle story, beautifully animated. It's exciting, but without [much] violence or dark edge that might upset younger viewers. Also, like at least two of Miyazaki's other animations, it centers on a resolute little girl separated from her family.

That recurring character must have some personal meaning for Miyazaki, but I'm not sure what. Even though the girl appears in several of his films, she doesn't really repeat herself; she really is new each time. Miyazaki also has some fascination with flight in general and airships in particular. They appeared in "Kiki's Delivery Service" and have a central place in this movie. I admit, they're quite amazing: majestic, wallowing dinosaurs from the early age of human flight. Maybe that's enough.

The only thing that left me puzzled was the floating island of Laputa itself. The sky-city with that name appears in "Gulliver's Travels." The former lords of Miyazaki's Laputa risked becoming tyrants by strength of their weaponry. Gulliver's Laputa was also known to crush, literally crush rebellion among its vassal territories. Any other connection between the two Laputas escaped me, though.

This is another cute movie from Miyazaki. It doesn't get by on just cuteness, though. It's not especially deep, but adults shouldn't be bored watching it with their kids. Or, like me, watching it without them.

Rating:
Summary: THIS MOVIE [...] BIG TIME!!!
Review: THIS MOVIE IS NOT REALLY GOOD. THE ENG DUB [...] AND THE MOVIE IS JUST PLAIN OLD BORING. ITS CHILDISH SILLY AGGG I CAN'T STAND THIS MOVIE.

Rating:
Summary: Anyone who love Japanese anime, must see!
Review: Laputa is great for both Children and Adult.
Miyazaki tells "a story that involves discoveries and wonderful encounters...a story that carries a message of hope."
The production of Laputa also led to the establishment of Studio Ghibli in 1985.
I highly recommend everyone to see this movie. My favorite scene is when Sheeta said to Muska "people can't live away from the ground."

But my favorite Miyazaki movie is "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind". Many people are saying that Nausicaa is similer to "The Lord of the Rings". I don't agree at all (Hey, I love The Lord of the Rings too by the way! Did everyone like Return of the King? I thought that was the best out of 3 movies). Nausicaa has storonger message for environmental disruption more than fellowship.
For this movie, Nausicaa, I recommend you to see movie first. Then you should read books because books go much deeper than movie. Nausicaa tries to stop other warring nations from destroying themselves and from destroying the only means by which their world can be saved from the spread of polluted wastelands.
Plus please read books over and over again. You won't get message right away. It's pretty complecated.

As an additional info., "My Neighbor Totoro", "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Princess Mononoke" are something which you should consider to just enjoy adventure action and fantasy world. "Princess Mononoke" is similer to Nausicaa and Laputa but this movie is based on Japan land. And remember, this movie is pretty violent for children.
I heard from many people didn't like "Spirited Away".
I love Miyazaki movie and normaly, I can get Miyazaki message from the movie easily but for this one, I couldn't get much message right away. So! I personally suggest to watch more than once. I realized later, it had meaning everywhere how much we pollute our planet and make us think there is something we can do for it. You won't realize that if you don't pay attention enough (just like what I did ^_^).

At last, Miyazaki says the following, "We are not trying to solve the global problems. There can not be a happy ending to the fight between the Raging Gods and humans. However, even in the middle of hatred and killings, there are things worth living for. A wonderful meeting, or a beautiful thing can exist."

Rating:
Summary: my favorite miyazaki film
Review: Everyone has their favorite miyazaki work, and this one is mine (along with kiki's delivery). There is a bit of sadness to this film about the kinds of evil that humans do that is all too real. It really isn't violent compared to the jaded brutality of videogames, movies, and the evening news that kids are exposed to nowadays. If anything, the movie clearly delineates that people who use violence and cruelty as their methods are evil and unworthy of emulation. Unfortunately, a lot of anime and movies (i suppose history textbooks as well) glorify power and materialism above all else, but then I'm just rambling now ... [leaps off soapbox]

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful film by Miyazaki
Review: Miyazaki's "Warriors of the Wind" was one my first anime film experiences; it was amazing. Watching Castle in the Sky rekindled that experience. Miyaziki's style and rich, breathtaking animations draw you in to the world of Laputa, this movie is simply stunning.

Castle in the Sky is also a great adventure story that will appeal to anyone who likes a good movie, kids will love this one. This is the type of cell animation that Disney should be making today.

Rating:
Summary: perfect
Review: The castle in the sky was perfect. There's a touch of wittyness. It is funny about what happened to the bad guys. I like the pictures a lot. The boy and the girl are so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Rating:
Summary: Flying Anime Adventure...
Review: Castle in the Sky is a film about adventure, coming of age, love, greed, power, and much more. This mixture of sub plots brings about a marvelous tale about a young girl's escape from greedy pirates and corrupt authority with the help of a young boy and his dreams. As the story unfolds more magical and fantastic details are disclosed through the amazing ventures of the two youngsters who are forced to take up a struggle against evil. This is a surprisingly good story that offers several lessons for those who seek wisdom and provides an escape for those who need to leave the boredom of reality.

Rating:
Summary: Great Film, but the disc...
Review: Ok, great film, wonderful animation, Miyazaki is God, we all know this(or at least I hope we do.) I'd give the movie itself about 3 1/2 to 4 stars. However I give this DVD 2 stars because it was clearly just thrown together at the last minute .. Let's start with...

THE ENGLISH DUB
I wasn't so much offended by Sheeta's British accent like most because I know it wasn't fake. Anna Paquin(Fly Away Home) played her English voice. Although her line delieveries were questionable it wasn't that bad and it made you believe that she was from far away. Pazu being played by James Van Der Beek didn't bother me either because I was surprised at how good he portrayed Pazu's youthfulness and spunk. Infact, none of the voices bothered me except maybe the Pirates. The problem wasn't so much the voices, it was the way they talked. They had an endless amount of additional dilogue that wasn't in the Japanes version and they sounded kind of gay. I'm no homophobic but isn't it bad enough that they have to wear pink pants?

THE AUDIO MIX
The Japanese and French audio mixes were fine. The English mix however was awful. Disney went through all of this trouble to update the sound effects and you can barely hear them. If fact, in some of the scenes it was if there were no sound effects at all. Let's kick the SFX up a noch guys!! Also may I mention that Disney got the original music composer to come in and update the music. It sounds great and not much was changed accept now there are is no synth music and there is more music than before. The only problem is that like I mentioned, it's too loud compared to the sound effects and the diologue is too loud too. I really wish they would do a second pressing and fix this. Hey, they did it with Macross Plus and Evangelion vol. 1.

THE MENU
The menu features transision that go a bit too long. There is hope though, just hit the skip forward button and it goes straight to the menu you just chose.

FINALLY, THE EXTRAS
This being the great film it is, I was expecting a bit more from the extras. Most of the extras are on Disc One which makes no sense since all Disc Two offers you the movie storyboarded with English or Japanese audio. And of course they for some reason took out the ability to switch from the actual film to the storyboards like they had on the Japanese DVD. Other extras include the original trailers(always cool) and a yet another five minute, uninformative featurette.(Is there a reason they didn't interview Anna Paquin)

Overall the DVD is quite a dissappointment, but the film is one anyone with an open mind can enjoy. Recomended.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Movie, But Not His Best
Review: This movie is better than the vast majority of anime films made, but by Miyazaki's brilliant standard it's one of his lesser works. Science fiction either is science or fantasy. To do both simultaniously leads to a weak logical framework filled with details that don't really work.

Basically this is a story about an (sky) aircraft carrier floating aimlessly in a 19th century (sky) sailing-ship world. Well, that doesn't correspond to either the past or the future.. It's an impossible mix of old and new.. I know I'm nitpicking, but there are a dozen similar flaws.

Other plot points and themes, - evil villain - beautiful nature etc. were done already by Miyazaki elsewhere. The boy is a minor peasant-nuisance that overcomes his snooty adversary - see Castle of Caliostro..

The work feels tired here under the shadow of his other masterworks. This is not to say I disliked the film. All the characters are warm and very likeable - you have to love Miyazaki for that. He's probably the greatest master of his chosen artform in history, but some of his other works come together better. This one feels like a tweener to keep the studio running between great ideas.