Castle in the Sky (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

"Castle in the Sky" is another Studio Ghibli film by Hayao Miyazaki. The directors name alone is a mark of quality. It's been classified as an anime' film. The word `anime'' has become a generic name for any Japanese animation. Under this condition, I'd rather not use the term. Studio Ghibli's work varies as much as that of any major studio.The movie begins with a magnificent airship coming under attack by aerial bandits, the Dola Gang. Their objective is a girl held in the custody by government agents. We know they're government agents because they wear suits and sunglasses at night indoors. The girl, Sheeta, escapes from both groups only to fall off the airship into the night.She loses consciousness. The crystal in her necklace begins to glow. Instead of crashing to her death, she floats down right into the arms of a most capable boy named Potsu.Potsu is an apprentice mechanic working for a broken down silver mine. Orphaned, he is the son of a discredited airman. Potsu's father claimed to have discovered the legendary floating island of Laputa. Laputa is real and Sheeta is the key to finding it. That's why she is being pursued by both the government and the Dola Gang. Laputa is reputed to be a place of great wealth and terrible power.This movie is a grand adventure in the traditions of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The action is fast paced. The look and feel is the early twentieth century. There is an incredible array of flying machines and airships none of which could fly in reality but they are cool nonetheless.Casting Cloris Leachman as the voice of Ma Dola was a stroke of genius.This film had a look I thought familiar but not from Studio Ghibli. On my third watching I made the connection. The artwork has been heavily influenced by Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons of the 1940's. I also detect a hint of Herve's Tin-Tin.This cartoon would work as an action film. If I were Steven Spielberg, I'd raid Studio Ghibli for their story boards.

The floating city, Laputa, was just a legend, a dream of explorers. But Pazu, given voice by James Van Der Beek, has a goal. His goal was to find Laputa like his father did before him. And then one day a girl, voiced by Anna Paquin, fell out of the sky. And things went weird.The story is based on the Laputa of Gulliver's Travels, a flying city of thinkers and scientists, the city in this story has been waiting for the return of its people and rulers for 700 years. A city of wealth, advanced science and powerful weapons, it could be dangerous in the wrong hands. In fact it could be dangerous in anybody's hands!The movie has a touch of magic and science fiction, with air pirates, military governments, robotic gardeners filling the scenes with action, adventure, battles and wonder. The setting seems to be a version of our Earth but with many changes. The landscape seems worn, mined out, the towns and cities, of the nonfloating type, look dirty and in great need of repair. There is an underlining message about the environment as well as the need for balance with the Earth but that never gets in the way of the plain old story telling that makes it a delight to watch.Fans of Nausicaa will notice the animals in Laputa's garden as being related to Teto and will also notice how many of the uniforms and aircraft designs seem to suggest a link between this film to that one. The robots seem very retro, somehow warm and cold at the same time. Fans of Last Exile, the TV series, may also enjoy this film, as fans of this film may wish to buy the first disc of Last Exile to check it out.Extras are cool, allowing us to meet the English voice caste, including Mandy Patinkin, Cloris Leachman and Mark Hamill. A must for any DVD library.

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