Castle in the Sky – DVD Review

The Film:

It’s hard to have a conversation about traditional animated films without bringing up Hayao Miyazaki. Even now, when computers have made the process of making animated features significantly easier, Mayazaki and his Studio Ghibli decided to shy away from the new trend of CG and maintain the beauty of hand-drawn animation. With modern classics, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and most recently Ponyo, Studio Ghibli’s artistic direction proves time and time again that the magic of hand-drawn animation is something computers simply can’t capture.

On first impression, it seems to be a fairly simplistic story of trying to find a hidden utopia nestled in the sky. Upon a deeper look, many underlying messages also reveal themselves, as is true with all of Mayazaki’s films. Given this is one of Mayazaki’s earlier stories, many nuances of the high-caliber of storytelling are, however, missing. The story tends to carry only a few sub-textual messages, while the majority of the lessons to take away from this are practically spelled out.

The story is again, one of which that explores the innocence of children in an adult-controlled world. This one does differ from some of Miyazaki’s other works with fairly heavy political messages. We meet Sheeta, a girl in possession of a magical crystal, as she is being chased by the Dola gang, a gang of sky pirates. Accompanied by her new protector, Pazu, we follow the pair as they escape to the mythic Laputa, the fabled Castle in the Sky. It’s a long journey, one with many twists and enough visually-stunning imagery to fill a barn.

While the movie can drag at some points, I didn’t feel cheated when it was over. The action-adventure style of this movie gives way only to the classic, Golden-Age romance, blending into a whimsical adventure of both the mind and heart. Plus a little, albeit more practical, steam punk thrown in for good measure.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: This is one of a series of new remastered Ghibli films, and as such, has received improvements, both in the audio and visual aspects. The audio is noticeably improved over the 2003 release. My biggest issue, not really a complaint or complement, is the fact that the video wasn’t drastically improved. One of my issues with the previous release, as with this one, is watching it on a modern player. The 2003 version wasn’t as pretty as it could have been on up-scaling players, which the new version has corrected, for the most part. However, neither versions were cleaned up that well, as in the dust captured underneath the camera in the process can almost be distracting. But, much like film grain and the issues with aged film, it gives a feel of age more than complaint. Basically, if I had to complain about one thing with this entire re-release, the capture would be it. The first disc only includes the film, a few trailers (one of which is an odd Tinkerbell/anti-piracy message), and an introduction to the feature by John Lasseter.

The second disc has two options, Original Japanese Storyboards, which is the entire movie as laid out on storyboards, and The World of Ghibli, where the bonus content is neatly tucked away inside. Enter the Studio is a mix of old and new bonus content, detailing Laputa, story development, character design, scoring the film, voice acting, and even a few original Japanese trailers. It also has some little pieces about a few other Ghibli films. Enter the Lands has a few Easter eggs about a few of Miyazaki’s other films. Nothing huge, comparable to extra-long trailers in my opinion, but still a good little time-eater.

Final Thoughts: While not my favorite Miyazaki film, though it’s hard to say just one, the journey that Castle in the Sky takes the viewer on should be experienced by anyone.

The Film: Rating:

The DVD: Rating: