Starring: Mayumi Tanaka, James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Walt Disney Video Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 15, 2003 Running Time: 124 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1986
Product Description: Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 04/15/2003 Run time: 125 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com: Inspired by "Gulliver's Travels," the fantasy-adventure Castle in the Sky (1986) was Hayao Miyazaki's third feature, and helped to establish his reputation as a visionary in both Japan and America. The orphan Sheeta inherited a mysterious crystal that links her to the legendary sky-kingdom of Laputa. With the help of resourceful Pazu and a rollicking band of sky pirates, she makes her way to the ruins of the once-great civilization. Sheeta and Pazu must outwit the evil Muska, who plans to use Laputa's science to make himself ruler of the world. Castle echoes elements in Myazaki's earlier Nausicaä, and anticipates imagery in his later films, from My Neighbor Totoro to Spirited Away. Disney's new English dub, which features Anna Paquin (Sheeta), James Van Der Beek (Pazu), and Cloris Leachman (pirate matriarch Dola), is lively and close in tone to the original Japanese, if a bit talkier. The exciting flying sequences, appealing characters, and fantastic vision of a steam-powered future Jules Verne might have imagined make Castle in the Sky a must-have for fans of Japanese and Western animation. (Unrated: suitable for ages 10 and older: violence) --Charles Solomon
One of my favorite movies!!! When I first saw 'Castle in the Sky' I was cleaning my kitchen and my brothers had put it on to watch. I had remembered catching a glimpes of the movie before when my brother was watching it but I hadn't been much intrested. Bored from doing my kitchen I stopped cleaning to watch and was quickly blown away. Eventually I had completly stopped working and stood there gawking at the movie for the rest of the film. 'Castle In The Sky' is a wonderful endearing Movie by Hayao Miyazaki. There is a tiny bit of violence in it but besides that this film I would say is for six and up, depending on how sensitive your child is. The character development in this movie is wonderful, mostly because that is Miyazaki's specialty but it really is a joy to watch the characters grow and get to know one another. One of the best parts about the movie is Sheeta and Pazu are so wonderfully untainted. Before the movie there is a man (whose name escapes me) who talks about 'Castle in the Sky' and Hayao Miyazaki and that in itself is the best review given. I love this movie to the extremes and would freely recommend it to anyone.
Also I myself have only seen the dubbed version of this movie but some people who had seen both were complaining about Pazu's voice for the dubbed version. At fisrt I admit I thought it was a little off for a young boy, but now it's one of my favorite things about watching the movie. So I would say to all that have seen the dubbed version and don't like it; don't judge to quickly watch it again and you just might love it, and to those who haven't seen it, don't be put off by what others say.
An anime film perfect for lovers of adventure stories. Laputa: 8/10
Laputa is a lot like a much loved TV series from years gone by called Nadia, which isn't too shocking when you consider that the director of Laputa came up with the concept of the Nadia story.
If you don't know how the story of Nadia goes: Nadia is about a girl with a mysterious pendant who is chased by pirates and a secret organization because of the pendants power, which is somehow connected the lost land of Atlantis. She spends most of her time running with a boy, who happens to be an inventor, in an attempt to evade her pursuers.
If you replace the names in the above with Laputa names, you'd have the same plot description. When it come down to it, I like Nadia more because of the added character development and more likeable characters. If they were both TV series and Laputa had had more time given to it, there probably wouldn't be much in it, though.
The first half of the film wasn't amazing. A girl falls from the sky, gets found by a boy, the two bond waaaaaay to quickly and end up running away together, the girl gets captured and the boy saves her - that pretty much sums it up. It was predictable and I wasn't able to connect with the characters because of the lack of development since the focus had been almost fully on running away from people.
The second half was better. The duo joined a pirate ship and, for a short period, the focus switched to the smaller picture. Then, everyone finally reached the castle in the sky; the goal of the journey. This reminded me the themes of adventure and exploration in Grandia, where a young adventurer sets off on a journey in order to reach Alent - a place of legend that no-one knows if real. It wasn't exactly exciting when the story reached the castle in the sky in Laputa because it hadn't taken much time or effort for the main characters to reach it (at least not when compared to longer stories), but it did make me feel kind of nostalgic and also allowed me to get into the story more.
...anyway, moving on, the story became much more interesting and difficult to predict. There was still the same running away and chasing that had gone before, but the new and unknown setting made it come across in a different light. Where as I'd been able to take breaks before the castle section of the story because of a lack of interest, my eyes were now glued to the screen. And, while some of what occurred at the end was a tad too convenient (the placement of a ship, for example), the end did leave me satisfied. It would've been nice if an epilogue had been added in after the credits, though...
To sum it up, Laputa is a classic worthy of its praise. I wouldn't go as far as to call it perfect due to me being unable to connect with the main two characters because of a lack of time spent on development, and the first half was a little on the boring side at times. However, it's hard to deny that Laputa is a charming film that has aged well, both in terms of the visuals and story. If you're a fan of adventure stories, look this up.
Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky All of Miyazaki's films are wonderful. This one is unusual in that it has a main male character as well as the usual Miyazaki female protagonist (Princess Mononoke is another, but this one is more accessible for slightly younger viewers). It has great steampunk elements, a marvelous train chase, the fantastic castle in the clouds, and through it all, Miyazaki's incredible tenderness for his characters, whether it's the pirate leader, the old prospector in the mines, or the robots that used to serve the city in the clouds.
Great Adventure This is one of my favorite Miyazaki-san films, the history is epic in a way, the search of an ancient civilization lost in time, wilder of great power, the action scenes are quite elaborated, the music is magical. I strongly recommend to see it in Japanese with subtitles, the stereo track is solid. For a movie with more than 20 years old the DVD transfer is good, the colors are a little washout, but maybe this is the intention at the beginning of the film. Perhaps in the future we will see a remastered, more elaborated Blu-ray version. And if you are a true fan you might want to go to japan an take a picture of the life size robot in the Ghibli Museum!
MASTERPIECE!! and DO NOT watch in DUBBED! This is one of Miyazaki's greatest masterpiece. To get the feeling of this masterpiece, you MUST... I repeat... YOU MUST WATCH it in original voices in subtitled (if you know Japanese, then no need of subtitle). DUBBED is terrible. Seems like Disney just picked someone from the street and do the voice acting.
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