Castle in the Sky [Blu-ray]

Overview

This animated fantasy adventure from Hayao Miyazaki centers on a young girl named Sheeta, who floats down from the sky into the arms of Pazu, a young miner. Sheeta possesses a pendant that allows her to fly, and she is being chased by agents and pirates who want to steal it. Sheeta and Pazu embark on an adventure that reveals Sheeta's noble heritage, as well as the secrets of Laputa, a fabled castle in the sky.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/21/2011
UPC:	4891670630422
Original Release:	1986
Source:	Ais
Language:	English
Sales rank:	40,215

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

James Van Der Beek	Pazu
Anna Paquin	Sheeta
Cloris Leachman	Dola
Mark Hamill	Muska
Mandy Patinkin	Louis
Andy Dick	Henri
John Hostetter	Boss
Richard Dysart	Uncle Pomme
Michael McShane	Charles
Jim Cummings	General
Mayumi Tanaka	Pazu [Japanese version]
Keiko Yokozawa	Sheeta [Japanese version]

Technical Credits

Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki	Director,Screenwriter
Isao Takahata	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Perhaps the finest early creation by Spirited Away's anime auteur Hayao Miyazaki, Castle in the Sky (1986) is a soaring mix of gentle fairy-tale enchantment and high-flying aerial adventure. Inspired as much by Jonathan Swift (who conceived of the idea of a "castle in the sky" in Gulliver's Travels) as by Miyazaki's avowed love of aircraft, the story concerns two young children, Sheeta, a tragically orphaned girl, and Pazu, a boy determined to journey to a legendary kingdom in the clouds that his father once discovered. With the help of a band of air pirates (led by one of Miyazaki's most memorable creations, the fiery Ma Dola), Sheeta and Pazu make it to the castle in the sky, but only to face the threat of Muska, a scheming government agent who wants control of the kingdom's ancient-but-lethal technology. Although considered a box office disappointment when first released to Japanese theaters, Castle in the Sky retains all the linchpins of a Miyazaki classic: strong child characters, fantastic gadgets, and a visionary's sense of wonder. In a continued championing of the director's work, Disney's DVD offers a new English dub of the movie, featuring performances by Anna Paquin (as Sheeta), James Van Der Beek (as Pazu), and Cloris Leachman (as Dola). Volk Lindsay

Director Miyazaki's animated films Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are immensely popular among the manga/anime set. This is the four-part print adaptation of his third children's film, from 1986, which Disney released on DVD in April. The story concerns Sheeta, a princess in exile from the lost aerial kingdom Laputa, and her orphaned inventor friend Pazu, as they're chased by various scary military types and assisted by air pirates as they try to rescue a magic levitation stone. Miyazaki's production design is gorgeous, and the full-color reproduction is nicely authentic-anime buffs will drool over the floating city, cleverly retro-looking airships, half-rusted giant robot soldiers, lush landscapes and sensitively handled lighting in every scene. As with Miyazaki's other stories, the plot provides one enormous spectacle after another, almost nonstop action with very little actual violence. But the adaptation is simply a series of images captured from the movie, and much is lost in translation (both from Japanese into English and from motion into still frames). The ornately orchestrated set pieces that are Miyazaki's hallmark are often static or baffling on the page. Devotees of the movie will enjoy the chance to pore over its details in a facsimile of the Japanese manga version (there's even a glossary for the original Japanese sound effects), but the uninitiated are likely to be perplexed. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly