yourself this question: if you are a kid dreaming of an adventure so grand in scope and so magical, what would it be like? The answer would be to strap yourself in some seat and watch Laputa, because it's truly a childhood fantasy come true. Every minute of the movie is rich and engrossing ... from the train chase to the amazing air-flying sequences... and to the wonderous sight of the floating castle itself. Not to mention the excellent score by Joe Hisaishi! Everything you ever possibly want from an adventure movie is here.

English dub is good mostly , it simply pales in comparison to the original language version. The voices are better, the dialogue, everything. So I suggest seeing and hearing the movie the way it originally was.

Because it's a complete package: the animation is very well done, and the story is truly engaging and compelling.Most Japanese anime is imaginative, but decidedly dark or cynical or violent; and the animation itself is often jerky, stylized, and juvenile. None of these problems plague Castle in the Sky. It has imagination to burn, and the characters are well drawn, if slightly exaggerated versions of realistic people. None of those trench-coat wearing posers There is plenty of adventure, but not blood and gore. The animation is smooth, detailed, and cinematic ally composed - not a lot of flat shots. The backgrounds are wonderful.The voice acting in the dubbed English version is first rate, particularly the two leads, Pazo James Van der Beek and Sheeta Anna Paquin . The sound engineering is great, too. Use your studio sound, if you've got it.One aspect that I particularly enjoyed is that much of the back story is left unexplained. Laputa was once inhabited, and is now abandoned. Why? We never know. We know as much as we need to know, and then we just have to accept the rest, which is easy to do because the invented world is so fully realized. Indeed, it is fair to say that the world is more fully realized than most of the minor characters, who are for the most part one-dimensional stock characters e.g., gruff general, silly sidekick, kooky old miner, etc. Highly recommended for people aged 6 to 60!

expensive laser disc box-set.Unfortunately I feel that the release has been partly spoiled by Disney. The voice acting is OK but the dialogue doesn't have the same raw energy that the "streamline" dub or the original Japanese had, and I think James Van Der Beek sounds too old to play the lead. They have made some pointless alterations, such as changing the main character's name from "Pazu" to "Patzu", and added some dialogue. But worst of all I feel that they have ruined many scenes with intrusive music - the opening scene of the airships for example was originally silent but has been spoiled thanks to Disney's moronic requirement that there be music playing whenever anyone is not speaking, which I find annoying in many Disney films.This film still blows away most recent animated films, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The plot is simple yet captivating and the film shows a flair which is sadly missing from most modern mass-market, homogenized animation.

time well spent. If not quite the masterpiece that 'Spirited Away' is, this one comes pretty close.

a time when the word is so flippantly used an epic. The humanism and raw emotion coupled with 1930s-esque styled adventure movies provides a sheer hotpot of entertainment ripe for any occasion. The film more than entertains, yet doesn't bare the hallmarks of overrated, nonsensical, unnecessary fight scenes, opting for calmer, yet still thrilling, "chase" and "action" sequences. The plot is encapsulating, checking all the quotas for the Miyazakian masterpiece checklist. Miyazaki is a master of charting adolescent journeying. The emotional growth his characters go through is superbly done, as not to seem condescending or patronising, all the while being simple believable and simply magical.Reviews often delve into the content of the film, revealing spoilers, but merely look at the support for Miyazaki's films on this website alone!!! This doesn't arise from techno-nerds, neo-skaters and all the social sects of pubescent society wishing to carry the cool card by the knowledge of foreign anime. This film is simply stunning. An encapsulating roller-coaster of a journey, with genuine feelings and genuine people for cartoons . Miyazaki's ratings come from his attention to plot, first and foremost. This is why he's successful, because his movies carry a message but are engrossing and entertaining.This may not be the most helpful review as to the films plot line, but let it be known, once watched you will be addicted. If you've never seen a Miyazaki film before, this is a prime tester, with Nausicaa and Mononoke somewhat on the "heavy" side, and whilst Spirited Away is as close to perfection as cinema can be, it is a dish best served til later, to fully appreciate. Laputa is a film for any mood.Yet, the thing that always stands out for me, is the score. The final moments at the end of the film, when the theme Kimi o Nosete begins, is truly exquisite. Yes, it is 80s in its composition, yet coupled with the emotive nature of the film, never fails to jerk a nerve. Superb story-telling. Superb film.

is drawn in a more 'Lupinesque' anime style. Here there are a whole bunch of them: the pirates. They provide the comic element in the film, though quite why it needs a comic element I'm not sure. There was nothing funny about Nausicaa, and I think it was better off for it. Still. having said that, Dola, the pirate leader, is easily the most memorable character in the film even if she's basically a female Long John Silver. Don't be surprised if you're reminded of 'Treasure Planet' at times and is well voiced by Cloris Leachman in the American dub.The English voice cast acquit themselves well for the most part, actually. However something started going pear-shaped for me about this movie by about the halfway mark. I think the best way that I could describe it is that the characters get swallowed up by the vast scope of the story. I'll come back to that later.There is so much to admire about Laputa, and so many people obviously love it, that I almost feel mean for only giving it 8 out of 10, but for me the operative word here is 'admire'. It was more impressive than personally affecting, and at over two hours it just started to drag.The crucial thing for me was this: I really found that I didn't care much about any of the characters. Disney would have taken the care to develop the characters, make you really fall for them, rather than leave them as relatively two-dimensional pieces to be moved around while you gawked at the amazing vistas in the movie. Even that would have been tolerable if there was some hard SF in the story to make up for it, but it was basically a lot of gobledegook about Princesses and magic crystals. That's where Laputa falls down as far as I'm concerned, and that's what holds it back from being a potential 10 out of 10 movie. Having said that, it must be admitted that Miyazaki was leagues ahead of Disney in general in 1986, when you consider that their movie of the same year was the pretty dire 'Great Mouse Detective'.Laputa is a good film in some ways an amazing film, and you should definitely see it, but I do feel it's over-rated. I definitely prefer the earlier 'Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind'.BTW, if you manage to watch them in chronological order, watch for the fox-squirrel from Nausicaa popping up briefly in Laputa.

comes the rumor of a floating castle in the sky. And, of course, our intrepid heroes are bent on finding it and unlocking its secrets.The film has amazing animation, a unique style and is very engaging. While kids will enjoy it immensely, unlike some Miyazaki films, I really think that in some cases adults might like this even more than kids. Good stuff well worth a look.