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| Source: Wikipedia |
Strap on your steampunk goggles for the ultimate rollicking yarn from Studio Ghibli, an adventure about a pigtailed princess and her magic rock and the enormous tree they send soaring into the mesosphere.
But seriously? It’s gold. Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese Disney, strikes again.
A girl drops into a mining-town monkey-boy’s life–shenanigans commence. Pirates pop up, a posse of ponces headed by a motherly shrew chasing after the ingenue’s sparkly plot token. Then the military rolls in with their anachronistic arsenal. The countryside explodes into mayhem and sweet, sweet prepubescent romance.
Expect the Miyazaki hallmarks. Flight sequences (more than usual), evil government, gray morality, funny background events, blatant environmentalist messages. Also, some of the finest hand-drawn animation in the business. Glass, water, clouds, and DESTRUCTION have seldom looked so good.
Even better, the Disney dub adds flavor to a quiet film. Bonus orchestral music by Joe Hisaishi. Funny throwaway lines. And a cavalcade of big-name voices.
To wit: Mark Hamill cavorts as the exposition-happy villain. Cloris Leachman squawks as a feisty old buccaneer lady. Anna Paquin, as the heroine, occasionally slips into her adorable native New Zealand accent. As far as dubs go, not bad.
Space left over? Story time. Miyazaki named the floating continent Laputa after a location in Gulliver’s Travels. Strangely, the great director neglected to recall that Jonathan Swift was a satirist–in Spanish, “la puta” translates neatly to “the whore.” The film might’ve proven difficult to market in Spanish-speaking countries.
Recommended for adventurous adolescents, picky snobby discerning otaku, and recovering acrophobes.
126 minutes.
A girl drops into a mining-town monkey-boy’s life–shenanigans commence. Pirates pop up, a posse of ponces headed by a motherly shrew chasing after the ingenue’s sparkly plot token. Then the military rolls in with their anachronistic arsenal. The countryside explodes into mayhem and sweet, sweet prepubescent romance.
Expect the Miyazaki hallmarks. Flight sequences (more than usual), evil government, gray morality, funny background events, blatant environmentalist messages. Also, some of the finest hand-drawn animation in the business. Glass, water, clouds, and DESTRUCTION have seldom looked so good.
Even better, the Disney dub adds flavor to a quiet film. Bonus orchestral music by Joe Hisaishi. Funny throwaway lines. And a cavalcade of big-name voices.
To wit: Mark Hamill cavorts as the exposition-happy villain. Cloris Leachman squawks as a feisty old buccaneer lady. Anna Paquin, as the heroine, occasionally slips into her adorable native New Zealand accent. As far as dubs go, not bad.
Space left over? Story time. Miyazaki named the floating continent Laputa after a location in Gulliver’s Travels. Strangely, the great director neglected to recall that Jonathan Swift was a satirist–in Spanish, “la puta” translates neatly to “the whore.” The film might’ve proven difficult to market in Spanish-speaking countries.
Recommended for adventurous adolescents, picky snobby discerning otaku, and recovering acrophobes.
126 minutes.
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