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A DVD Review of...
  
Images (C) Studio Ghibli, 1986 |
Genre: Drama/Animated
Cast: Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Mark Hamill, Mandy Patinkin, Cloris Leachman
Synopsis: From legenary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, and previously released under the title "Laputa" in 1986. Sheeta is a young girl with a very special stone. The stone makes her the objective of government agents and pirates who the power that the stone will give them. Sheeta escapes and is befriended by Pazu, a boy from a mining town who is aware of Sheeta's Levistone only as a jewel with mysterious powers, and not as a key to the treasures held in the legendary Laputa - an ancient city in the sky..
Film Review: Last year Disney released the lacklustre "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" animated adventure which was
then immediately accused of ripping off ideas from the early 90's Japanese TV animated series "Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water". Funnily enough when 'Nadia' came out, it was accused of the same thing - stealing from this work from genius animator Hayao Miyazaki and now Disney is re-releasing 'Castle' in a whole new spruced up DVD format. How's that for irony.
Seriously though there are some elements here which "Atlantis" viewers will recognise, most notably a glowing crystal necklace, the search for a lost city, and giant Jules Verne-esque machines (in this case airships).
However 'Castle' is far superior in practically every way to "Atlantis" - this is a truly epic animated fantasy, certainly on a scale bigger than I expected - and yet like all Miyazaki films, its the young boy-girl relationship and characters at the centre that give warmth and heart to this majestic fable. As always Miyazaki comes up with a visually rich world in which entire cities hover in the clouds, air pirates attack passenger zeppelins, and the military is a scurilously bad element out for its own gain. Whilst the supporting characters aren't very memorable, and the sequences don't strike one as powerfully as say "Spirited Away", overall its an even bigger scale project and clocks in at a very full and satisfying two hours.
Disney has spruced up some elements for this cut. For example Jo Hisaishi's score has been redone and now sounds like work which could rival that of any current Disney animated movie - its a whole other character in itself and does wonders. Of the voices both Cloris Leachman and Anna Paquin give us solid work, Mark Hamill delivers his usual finesse behind the mic, though surprisingly its James Van Der Beek who holds our attention best with some strong voice talent on offer. Its been over fifteen years since this film was released and yet today it still holds up beautifully strong. This is animation on a "Star Wars" scale, a film adults and kids will equally enjoy and an utterly entertaining and unforgettable creation. - Garth Franklin
"Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky"
DVD Details In Brief (Region 1)
Rating: PG
Runtime: 125mins
Versions: 16:9 Enhanced Widescreen, 4:3 Letterboxed
Aspect Ratio: 2.0: 1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Language & Sub-Titles: English, Japanese, French
Documentaries: Intro by John Lasseter, Featurette
Other: Trailers, Storyboard/Film Comparisons
Region 1 vs. Region 4: No R4 Available |
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DVD Review: Another release in the first wave of Disney's two-disc edition re-releases of Miyazaki's animation
classics, and whilst not as special on first sight as "Spirited Away", the previously titled "Laputa" now looks better
than ever with some whole new elements to it. The transfer is solid, though not great - whilst the colours and blacks were nice and rich and there's practically no grain, there is some overt edge enhancement which gets quite annoying. The audio dub is also interesting - whilst the English score doesn't make much use of surround it still has a nice balance of score and effects with the dialogue nice and clear. The Japanese track on the other hand does sound a little 'tinny' at times and the old score doesn't shine through so well.
Even though this is two discs, there's only a handful of extras which makes it surprising they're not squeezed onto one.
Once again we get an intro by John Lasseter who describes this as one of his absolute fave. There's also a five-minute piece on the voice talent with interviews of Van Der Beek, Hamill, Leachman, etc all talking about being involved in the project (their comments on making 'grunting' noises are a hoot). The second disc is devoted entirely too the 'Storyboard' section which is the ENTIRE film in storyboard slideshow format and final audio. Capping off the set is the original Japanese trailers for the movie. Certainly not as classy or stocked a set as "Spirited Away", nevertheless the film's quality is better than most Disney animated epics and this whole collection is definitely worth getting. - Garth Franklin
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