(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)"Castle in the Sky" is a masterpiece of one of Japan's finest filmakers. There is a simple artistry to Miyazaki's stories. This is a children's film, but it is in the tradition of children's stories that appeal to all ages. A rare, pure fantasy, the film has the same magic as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and other early Disney films.I first saw this movie when it was released in US theaters as "Laputa the Floating Island." The mythical floating island of Laputa is taken from Swift's "Gulliver's Travels." Like Swift, Miyazaki cloaks a political statement with a fantasy, giving deeper meaning to his story. Environmentalism has always been central to his films, and "Castle in the Sky" is no exception.
Visual, the film is a literal flight of fancy. Much of the film takes place in the air. Air pirates travel in unwieldy flying machines. Giant dirigibles sail the skies. Travel by kite is an acceptable option. The animation is of the highest quality, as is the sound and acting.
The story may seem familiar to followers of animation. Miyazaki also work briefly on the script of "Nadia: Secret of Blue Water" using some of the same concepts. The story was also adapted by Disney as their film "Atlantis," sending the characters underground instead of up to the sky. However, "Castle in the Sky" is the story in it's original, best form.
I cannot recommend this film enough.
Also disclaimer: This review contains complaints galore so if you're not in the mood, it's best you pass this one by.
I love Studio Ghibli movies. There's a magical element of adventure and heart that are hard to find elsewhere. And Laputa is by far my favorite movie of all Ghibli movies I've seen (seen most of them). I think the English release unfortunately killed it. Note: The 2003 and the newer 2010 DVD versions both point to the same reviews. This review is based on the 2003 Disney American DVD release. It appears that the 2010 version reverts back to the original Japanese soundtrack, extra filler dialogue not present in the Japanese version have been removed. That said, the main points in the review the choice of voice actors and change in dialogue still apply. Also, below the title on the Amazon page, you'll see the list of actors as: Barbara Goodson (Actor), James Van Der Beek (Actor) this is completely confusing as Barbara Goodson is not in the Disney version (read about that in the updated section of this review at the end). I wish Amazon wouldn't blindly combine different versions of this movie onto one page with shared reviews...
I won't focus on the story since many others have done so (it's amazing) but more on the audio, the dub and the translation. First is the dub. It's atrocious. It's horrid. It's painfully subpar. And I cannot help but be overwhelmed with utter frustration that I must accept this as the final product. It's been released. It's done. There's not a do-over. We're unfortunately stuck with this.
I'm a native Japanese speaker so I can tell how well things get translated... in this case, the dub's translation in itself is acceptable for the most part but there are many parts of the movie where the dialog has changed altogether (more on that later). There are also plenty of extra filler dialog added for reasons I can't quite figure out. Example when Dola and her sons are driving away from Pazu's townfolks after the fight involving Pazu's boss, Dola comments to the sons "I don't think they like you boys much!" This is harmless, but nonetheless, added in. One of Miyazaki's terms for releasing his movies abroad was that there would be no altercation to the movie... they seemed to have focused solely on preserving the video portion and completely slipped on the audio. There are scenes where the translation is changed altogether. When Pazu and Sheeta run and aboard the coal locomotive, the operator asks in English with his Micky Mouse voice (awful), "heeeey Pazu, who's your friend there?" In the original version, the train operator instead teases Pazu in his appropriately raspy, weathered voice, "Pazu, slacking off from work and out on a date?" to which Pazu urgently responds "No! We're being chased by pirates!"
The real downfall is the choice of actors! James Van Der Beek's performance is just awful. The original Pazu has a really strong, brave voice (albeit a kid's voice) a very admirable performance by the female voice actress, Mayumi Tanaka. Van Der Beek instead has a soft, whimpy, clumsy voice which sounds like Pazu just fumbles his way throughout the entire movie and this is really the total opposite of the character Pazu is supposed to be. I also agree with many others that Van Der Beek sounds too old as Pazu. Bottom line, it's a miscast. Anna Paquin IMO might have been acceptable but the more I listened to her, the more I started getting annoyed with Paquin's performance and the inaccuracy to portray Sheeta's character correctly. There were just too many grunts (i.e., trying to get on the coal locomotive) that only made the Sheeta character appear weak and, well, for lack of a better word, too "girly". When Sheeta first meets Pazu, she explains how she lost her parents and had to take care of herself... Sheeta is a *strong* girl and her behavior and actions show this throughout the movie an example is when she agrees to be detained by Muska in exchange for Pazu's freedom. And then there are numerous occasions with the emotional raising of voice that made Sheeta appear bratty, which is far from her character. I think Disney totally missed these points with their interpretation of the two main characters. It seems to me that Disney looked at the two main characters as just little kids. To Miyazaki, they are brave and courageous youngsters that defy fear, endure pain, and display honorable characteristics well beyond their years of being just kids. Back to Paquin I completely wrote her off after the tower scene where Pazu attempts to rescue Sheeta. As the loyal robot falls to its death with its arm reaching out to Sheeta, Sheeta desperately grabs its fintertips, then turns around and in Japanese screams out to Pazu with all her soul, "PAH-ZOOOO!!!!!", yet in the same scene, Anna Paquin bleeps out to Pazu in this weak, dead voice, "he-lp". This to me was criminal. It completely destroyed the intensity and the mood of the scene. Switch back and forth from English to Japanese and you'll see what I mean.
Towards the climax, it gets worse. Muska's chasing Sheeta into the throne room and Sheeta falls pretending to be shot. Muska comments: "How appropriate we end up in the throne room. Now get over here!" Sheeta gets up and immediately responds in an emotionless tone of voice that's so disjointed from where Muska left off... she's (Paquin's) so emotionless and lifeless, it sounds as though she's staring at a wall while reciting the line. In the original, Sheeta gets up and challenges Muska in a stern and convicting voice, "You call this a throne room?! This is a grave. Yours and mine..."
And in what are probably Sheeta's most important lines in the movie, the dialog has changed. Sheeta quotes a song in the Valley of Gondoa to explain to Muska that now she understands why Laputa was destroyed in the first place. 'We need roots in the Earth; Let's live with the wind; With seeds, let's pass the winter; With the birds, let's sing of spring.' The message here is that humans weren't meant to exist as some select god-like royalties in the clouds. After quoting the song Sheeta proclaims in the English version: "No matter how many weapons you have, no matter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live without love."
WHAT?!?!
Here's the original: "No matter how many terrifying weapons you have or how many poor robots you control, [we/humans] cannot live separated from the ground!" ("ground" as in earth, what is natural) Now where does the English translation's theme about not being able to live without love fit in?! Not only does it make any sense, it's just plain cheesy. Just baffling why they might change this.
Since the dub is so bad, I'd like to just suggest viewers read the sub. However the quality of subtitles has much to be desired. Staccato translations with truncated sentences galore...the details of the original dialog is easy to get lost.
It's really too bad because I thought the dub for Spirited Away was truly excellent. I just wish Disney gave it as much attention to Laputa in that regard.
Finally, I do not like the re-recorded sountrack. It's way too overpowering and for those that appreciate the original version, it's a distraction. Speaking of distraction, call it Hollywood-izing, there are parts of the movie where music has been added in whereas in the Japanese original remains music-less. Start from the very beginning of the movie where you see Muska's airship. The original version has no music. The added music is just too much. Pazu's daily trumpet solo has been replaced by a guitar added duet... it's a solo! Sometimes less is more and in this case, they shouldn't have added the extra music. And as another reviewer pointed out, the music is loud yet the sound effects seems muffled. The gunshots and explosions are lacking the intensity and fidelity. I could only guess that it was Disney's attempt to de-violence the movie since kids are after all the target audience??
Sorry I'm doing nothing but complaining... but because I regard the original Japanese release to be near perfection and I love this movie, I just can't help but to cringe, for all the reasons stated above, when I see the Disney version released for the American audience. Even though I commented that the subs are not great, I still think as long as you're watching this spectacular movie, your best bet is to watch it with the original Japanese soundtrack with subtitles (there are two Eng subs, English 1 is dubtitles, pick English 2).
My main concern with this the English release is that what's lost (or altered) in translation might end up taking too much away from the movie. I'd give it 1 star for the American release; the original movie in itself is undoubtedly 5 stars. I settled for 3.
[Update 11/2012]: I recently came across another English-language dub which apparently turned out to be the "JAL" dub, created before the Disney version, released for viewing during int'l flights back in the day. All the voice actors are different than Disney's. Pazu is played by Barbara Goodson, who sounds much more like Mayumi Tanaka, with a little bit of the pre-teen rasp in the throat. Not perfect but better than the Disney Pazu. I found Sheeta to be better and thankfully, her "love" line in the Disney version is not there; instead she proclaims "... All men must depend on Mother Earth!"... it's okay, but absolutely better than "The world cannot live without love!"
I also liked the JAL Muska better b/c his voice was more subdued, monotone, and stoic, which is like the Japanese-version Muska. Mark Hamill has certainly established himself has a veteran actor in many anime and video games but for Laputa, I thought he had a tendency to overact and raise his voice and tone where the Japanese Muska is quite controlled and monotone in a cold, calculating way. Neither are perfect so I'm not going to worry too much about this one.
If watching in English language, check out the JAL version and see which one you prefer.Laputa, Castle in the Sky, is the most creative, ambitious, and adventurous Miyazaki film I have ever seen. I like Miyazaki's work very much for its grandeur, originality, and imagination. Sadly to say that Disney has lost its creative edge. It has been copying stories all over the world. Disney promised to release the Castle in the Sky video in 1999 but they failed to keep their promise. (Disney, please include the original Japanese soundtrack on the US release because I don't like the English voice actor behind Pasu.)
After 16 years since Castle in the Sky was first released in the theatres, I still consider it the creme da la creme of all anime movies. Certainly Laputa's art direction cannot compare to today's S/B CGI and S/B 3D animation. However, the story is much more fascinating and breathtaking than KiKi Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and even Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke is a graphically stunning piece of art but Castle in the Sky is a wonderful story of courage and determination. While there are a few graphically violent scenes in Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky is packed with action without graphic violence.
I considered myself fortunate to be able to see it on the big screen (the original English version.) Castle in the Sky is a grand movie that deserves the big screen. I love the soundtrack of the movie very much. It is very uplifting and motivating. The title song, Carrying You, communicates the same kind of warmheartedness that permeates throughout all of Miyazaki's films.
Read Best Reviews of Castle in the Sky Here
I first saw Castle in the Sky in the original Japanese while living in Japan in the early 90s. I was instantly captivated. The characters were engaging and immediately likeable, the cliffhanging action was fantastic, the plot was original and rather gripping, and the music was just absolutely gorgeous. If I were rating the original film (titled "Tenku no Shiro: Laputa"), I would readily give it five stars. Miyazaki is easily one of the most original and watchable animators in the business.That said, this is an atrocious rendition for American audiences.
Overall, the voicecasting isn't too shabby. However, the actor playing the main character the adventurous boy Pazu is just plain awful. Not only does he sound more like a 28 year old than a 13 year old, but he has two voice settings: loud and soft, and absolutely no nuance in between. Listening to him is a rather teeth-grinding experience.
The translation of the dialogue from the original Japanese is pretty wretched. A lot of the original meaning was simply discarded and replaced by Disney. The lines of the air-pirate sidekicks were completely altered and not for the better. By the end of the movie, their constant stream of inane babble will have you wishing someone would just jettison the entire airship crew at high altitude. Overall, the dialogue of most of the supporting characters shows extremely poor scriptwriting.
For some odd reason, Disney decided to mute most of the sound effects in this movie. The ominous whirr of massive propellers, the sudden crash of explosive shells, the crisp sound of gun shots. All of it was toned down and muted-out by Disney. This detracts significantly from the excitement of the chases, the thrill of flying, and the incredible cliffhanging moments that made the original movie so much fun. Imagine the most recent summer action movie with the sound effects turned off and you'll get a pretty accurate picture of what Disney has done to Castle in the Sky. This is truly unfortunate since the original movie had some great sound-effects work.
The worst crime of all however, is what Disney has done to the soundtrack. The original Japanese film had one of the most spectacular, haunting and beautiful soundtracks I've heard in any movie.
Disney completely removed this soundtrack and replaced it with their own rendition.
Hints of the old score come through at times, but it is heavily watered-down and sounds almost elevator-musicish. I almost cried when I heard it.
The end result is a movie that little resembles the original film. Dramatic moments of silence are filled in with pointless dialogue, the savage howl of the wind replaced with bland instrumentals, piercing gunshots are replaced with something sounding suspiciously like a child's cap-gun, wonderful dialogue is completely butchered. It leaves one with a sneaky suspicion that Disney deliberately vandalized the film to protect its monopoly on the American animation market by making Japanese films look as bad as possible.
It is quite possible I'll never forgive Disney for this disgrace of an adaptation.
On the other hand, the Japanese language option (with subtitles) retains the original film in all its glory. For that reason alone, this DVD is definitely worth buying.
But please, PLEASE, watch the Japanese version before subjecting yourself to the horrible English-language version. Even if you hate subtitles, this film is worth watching in Japanese. Everyone I've shown it to, both young and old, has been instantly captivated.
Like I said, if I were rating only the Japanese-language version, this review would have been five stars. But the English-language monstrosity thoroughly deserves a one-star rating. On balance, I can't give this DVD more than 3 stars for an American audience.
This is probably the biggest disappointment I've had with films since George Lucas inflicted Jar Jar Binks on millions of unsuspecting Star Wars fans. Consider yourself warned.
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More than four years ago I rented the VHS tape of Kiki's Delivery Service, and there was an ad for Castle in the Sky before it. It was listed as "coming soon."Since then, I've gotten the Japanese version of Castle in the Sky on DVD, and I love it. However, I'm still baffled by the fact that Disney has paid professional actors to voice the characters and gotten the film prepared for release in the US -even advertised it -and has since then just sat on it.
It's almost criminal to hold such great films as Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, and Pon Poko in your possession and not share them with the English speaking world.
If and when they see the error of their ways and make this film available, do yourself a favor and buy it. We need to let the media juggernauts know how much we love Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.
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