Sat 22 Sep 2007
I know that it’s been said 1,000 times before, but Hayao Miyazaki is a god among animators. It’s only a shame that American animators can’t even come close to this quality of film making. While not exactly on a par with other films like SPIRITED AWAY or PRINCESS MONONOKE, CASTLE IN THE SKY certainly holds its own as an Indiana Jones-type action/adventure that young and old alike can enjoy. The story revolves around Sheeta (voiced with a tender innocence by Anna Paquin,) a young girl with a mysterious past. After escaping from a family of pirates, led by Dola (voiced with great humor by Cloris Leachman of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN fame,) she meets up with Pazu (James Van Der Beek,) a miner whose father claims to have seen the flying island of Laputa (the same island mentioned in James Swift’s famous novel Gullivers Travels.) The two team up with the pirate family to find the island before the technology falls into the hands of the power-mad Muska (played by Mark Hamill, whose raspy voice immediately brought back memories of his days voicing the Joker on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.)
Again, this is not a film to be compared to SPIRITED AWAY, but it is still quite a lot of fun, and even though James Van Der Beek might be called a weak link in the chain, Miyazaki’s ability to tell a fascinating story with a good script, great characters and breathtaking animation more then make up for it.
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February 10th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Miyazaki’s movies never cease to amaze me, but for some reason this movie really sticks with me. I love the action, adventure, humor, and of course, the animation. The real star of the movie, though, is the music by Joe Hisaishi–it’s gorgeous, impeccably complimenting every frame. Interestingly, the Disney-produced English version has an extensive reworking of the score, provided by none other than Hisaishi himself. Purists objected to this from the start, but Miyazaki approved the results, and for good reason–his original score was a classic, but this newer recording improves on and in many ways adds to the film (even though there are a few sequences where the music comes across as too superfluous). As far as the dub goes, it’s Cloris Leachman and Mark Hamill’s show all the way–their performances as Dola and Muska are spot-on. Not that the remaining cast is subpar. The pirate trio of Mandy Patinkin, Andy Dick, and Mike McShane are hilarious, Jim Cummings does his usual gruff bad guy schtick as the General, Richard Dysart adds charm and subtlety to his role of Uncle Pom, and even all the incidental characters are excellently voiced. The leads are probably the only (minor) weak link of the dub–Anna Paquin and James van Der Beek don’t do bad jobs by any means (in fact they perform far better than what I’ve heard naysayers say), but at times they do sound slightly mature than their onscreen characters. (Since age isn’t a major issue in this film, however, it’s not really that distracting.) The English script occasionally goes overboard in inserting extra dialogue (although some of it is pricelessly funny), but on the whole, it’s a fun, zesty dub. I understand some purists prefer the Japanese version, but personally I see little point in comparing the two–each puts their own stamp on this masterpiece, and I like them both.