Jon Turner

I sure hope this still happens.  I quite enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy (not as much as the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it was still good overall), and its music was stunning throughout.  Howard Shore really captures the voice of Tolkien to a T and beyond, and it would be a fitting companion to Doug Adams' Music of The Lord of the Rings book.  Complete Recordings, too, might be nice.

I sure hope this still happens.  I quite enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy (not as much as the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it was still good overall), and its music was stunning throughout.  Howard Shore really captures the voice of Tolkien to a T and beyond, and it would be a fitting companion to Doug Adams' Music of The Lord of the Rings book.  Complete Recordings, too, might be nice.

I sure hope this still happens.  I quite enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy (not as much as the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it was still good overall), and its music was stunning throughout.  Howard Shore really captures the voice of Tolkien to a T and beyond, and it would be a fitting companion to Doug Adams' Music of The Lord of the Rings book.  Complete Recordings, too, might be nice.

I sure hope this still happens.  I quite enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy (not as much as the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it was still good overall), and its music was stunning throughout.  Howard Shore really captures the voice of Tolkien to a T and beyond, and it would be a fitting companion to Doug Adams' Music of The Lord of the Rings book.  Complete Recordings, too, might be nice.

Perhaps I might come across as a bit of an apologist for the Disney dubs, but honestly, I was never bothered by any of the changes from any of the scripts.  Controversial though they may be for some, it's important to remember that any occasional deviation from the scripts has to be approved by both Ghibli and Miyazaki.  Now if the Disney dub script changes happened without any knowledge of everyone at Ghibli involved (as with what happened with the first translation of Nausicaa, the now forgotten "Warriors of the Wind" edition) it would be one thing.  But when Ghibli and Miyazaki sign off on the end result, then it does create a bit of a blur between whether the changes are blasphemous or not. If Ghibli approves then as far as I'm concerned, then there is no major "butchery."
 
Referring to the comments on the Castle in the Sky dub script, I honestly didn't mind most of the occasional deviations.  The lack of reference to "Gulliver's Travels" was curious, but I got over it, and one could also interpret that as a case of Disney trying to be more vague about it because they might have been aware that Swift knew what "Laputa" meant in Spanish.  Or one could simply see it as Pazu's father perhaps being Jonathan Swift himself.  There's always a saying that art is open for interpretation, and if the Laputa dub script is a bit more interpretative than most of the translations, it at least still tells the same story and isn't altogether inaccurate, it's just loosely adapted.  (While I can see some of the points nightscape makes with his quibbles on the translation, I don't really share his views.  I just see it differently.)  The only change I could have done without was the last part of Sheeta's speech at the end of the film.  I think it would have been better if Disney kept it as it was.  That said, do these changes destroy the magic of this movie?  As far as I'm concerned, no.  I DID see the film one time in Japanese, and I don't think it's better or worse than Disney's dub, only different.  In my opinion, both versions can stand on their own, and sometimes being slavishly faithful to the script can cause for awkward-sounding sentences and sterile delivery.
 
That's what the previous non-Disney dub from the 1980's suffered from.  It may not take as many liberties as Disney's dub, but it, too, is guilty of not mentioning "Gulliver's Travels."  I can deal with that, but there are other problems with the '80s dub script:  accurate or not, it sounds very, very clunky and poorly executed, as if the writer wasn't skilled in the art of translation or lip-synching or natural flow.  Now Disney's dub script is more liberal, as mentioned, but despite the controversial alterations, it still outstrips the JAL dub script because of overall natural flow and fluency.  The dialogue sounds more believable and less hokey (as opposed to the older dub's more laughable "I'm as hard as a brick moppet, if moppets were made out of bricks" and especially "This room is where the throne was, isn't' that appropriate?  Now say bye-bye.")
 
I'm not the sort of person who believes that watching Japanese animated films in their native language track is the "only" way to "properly" experience them, and I don't consider the Japanese versions the "definitive versions", only as a separate entity.  And Miyazaki himself has said that instead of reading subtitles, viewers should be allowed to watch his movies in the language they choose.  In other words, he isn't offended by any deviations.  Especially since none of the translations in the Disney dubs are not "Warriors of the Wind" style ones.  That previous version of "Nausicaa" is far worse than any of the Disney dub scripts:  all the characters' names and location places were renamed, the script truly WAS butchered -- much more so, and 30 minutes were cut.  None of which the Disney dubs, Castle in the Sky included, are guilty of.  I think he has also said that there will be cases when things will be lost in translation, but he's not upset about it either.
 
Now having said that, if people prefer watching his movies in the Japanese version, great.  If people prefer watching his movies in English, that's great too.  IOW, there's no "right" or "wrong" choice, only preferences.  At least in my opinion.

Talking about the score, there's a trend I started noticing in Miyazaki's films: he likes to have the climax (mostly) unscored. All his films so far (minus My Neighbor Totoro) had little to no music during their climax. I first started to notice that with Castle In The Sky, then again with Kiki's Delivery Service (as I thought it was a shame he didn't use Hisaishi's cue The Old Man's Deck Brush) and then I started thinking about the previous films and realized the same thing happened with them.
It's quite different from how the music is used in most films' climax (well, at least in Western films, where the climax is generally scored wall-to-wall). I'm a bit ambivalent about that. While I think this worked/didn't bother me in some films (The Castle Of Cagliostro, Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind), for others (well, the two for which I noticed there was no music), I think the lack of music caused a lack of momentum during the climax, and they could have used at least a bit of music (they didn't necessarily have to be scored wall-to-wall, though).
Jon, since you've seen it, do you remember if in the version of the film with Paul Chihara's added score, there was music during the zeppelin sequence?

Once again, we disagree a bit, although, this time, I can totally understand why you liked the film, as it is indeed a fine feature. Not sure I understand your criticism of Kanta's character, though. I thought he was OK. Just someone who had trouble expressing his emotions. That's all.
I find it funny that you said this was the first Miyazaki film where you noticed the score, as I thought the previous two also had noticeable moments (especially Laputa. Again, I cannot stress enough how you guys should listen to the US version of that one!), even if a bit lacking in some aspects.
My ranking of the film is quite different from yours.
1. Laputa: Castle In The Sky
2. Lupin III: The Castle Of Cagliostro
3. Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind
4. My Neighbor Totoro
While I'd say My Neighbor Totoro is the superior film compared to Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind in almost every aspect (visually, musically, the atmosphere, etc.), I think that the latter, no matter how flawed it is, is more compelling.

While I can understand why the purists prefer to have the movie retain its original score, I can't understand why anyone would reject the score just because it's replacement music, and not based on the actual quality of the music. Moreover, the new score is very faithful to the original. It's not something completely new: all the music that was in the original score is there, plus some more.
If people prefer to have a version of the film with the original score, fine. But it's just stupid to dismiss the new score entirely, even as a separate entity, because it's damn fine music.

天空の城ラピュタ a.k.a Laputa: Castle In The Sky - Hayao Miyazaki (1986)
 
 
First time watching this one.
 
Well, I liked it a lot! That was definitely an improvement over Nausicaä. It felt like a more accomplished movie overall.

Right from the start, I knew I was gonna like the film: the opening sequence features great action that is well-directed and that serves as an excellent introduction to the film. In fact, all the action in this film is excellent and one of its strong points. The chase sequence between the train and the car in particular is both hilarious and exhilarating, as well as really inventive. Loved it. One of the highlights for me (if not the highlight of the film). The other action sequences (the attack on the army's fortress, the ships inside the Dragon's Nest, etc.) were also well made.

But that's not to say the action is the only thing I liked about Castle In The Sky. The film features a great ensemble of characters, from the fierce Dola and her gang of goofy pirates, to the group of miners, including Uncle Pom, Shiita of course, Pazu... The only character that didn't quite convince me was Muska, who was a rather dull villain. But that's no biggie. While we're on the topic of characters: it's interesting to note that the design of some characters presented here were later reused by Miyazaki in his following films (Kamaji from Spirited Away is basically the mechanic of the Tiger Moth in this film, Yubaba has the same face as Dola, etc.). It's also in this film that Miyazaki started cross-referencing his other works, with the fox-squirrels from Nausicaä having a short cameo when Pazu and Shiita arrive at Laputa.

The film has a really good pace, too. The characters don't arrive at Laputa until two thirds into the film, yet at no point did I think: "Come on! Can they get there already?", because all that happened before they get there was engaging. The fact that the action was good and the characters interesting helped, obviously. There's also the humor that is quite good: the movie has some funny bits, like the miner and the pirate showing off their muscles and tearing their shirts in the process, Pazu trying to fly with the stone, etc. There are also some nice twists and turns throughout the film, like the pirates, who at first, are presented like being the bad guys of the story, but turn out to be not so bad after all (I like this kind of stuff that make you reconsider the whole story halfway through it).

As for the story itself: I liked most of it, though was slightly disappointed by the last act. The climax (the last 20 minutes or so) was a tad underwhelming I thought (especially considering all the great stuff that happened before that), with a lot of stuff happening on screen but that didn't make me feel as invested as I was during the rest of the film (you have this weird technology in that orb below the castle, with all the cubes moving... It almost felt like this was all from another movie). I was also at first disappointed that we didn't learn anything about the history of Laputa. I'm fine with not having everything answered, if at least we're given little hints of what could have happened, but there I thought there was nothing. But then I noticed after the fact that the opening credits sequence actually feature a (visual) short history of the castle, which gives us just what I wanted: hints of what could have happened. So in the end I was OK with that!

In terms of visuals, the film looks just as good as the ones that preceded it. If anything, it looks like the Miyazaki trademarks in character design is better seen here: I think this is the film where he finally found his visual style that he would use for the rest of his career. Sure, Nausicaä already had that, but it still felt a bit rough on the edges in some aspects. Here, characters like Pazu, Dola, Shiita, etc. look very much like characters from later Miyazaki films. There are also some great ship designs here (this movie is a flying machines galore!): I particularly liked the Tiger Moth, as well as the ship of Pazu's father, the Flaptors, and a few other ships seen in the opening sequence. The robot soldiers also looked great.

And now it's time to talk about the score.. Now, as most of you already know, Hisaishi was asked to rescore the film for the US release, because the Disney staff thought the movie was too sparsely spotted for a "children's film", and also to update the synthish part. The DVD release featured the rescore, but that's no longer the case now. Now, to clear things up on this business that was mentioned by LeBlanc and filmmusic: the US version of the Blu-Ray has the English dub with the original score, while the International version of the Blu-Ray has the English dub with the new score. All the other dubs (as well as the Japanese version) feature the original score on all physical formats, as far as I know. There is no Japanese version with the new score (which is a bit of shame, because I'd be interested in watching that).

But anyway, to get back to the actual music... I watched the Japanese version with the original score, and I have to say: I don't understand why they asked for a rescore. I thought the score and the spotting were fine in the film. Now, had they asked for a rescore of Nausicaä, I could have understand, because parts of that one sound dated, and the score is sometimes oddly spotted, but here, I didn't feel the film had such problems. Sure, there are some synthish parts, but they do not feel really dated, and the movie is not as sparsely spotted as some people claim (it seems it is often wrongly reported that the movie features only 35 minutes or so of music, but I think people say that based on the OST, which is 35 minutes long, but the movie definitely has more than 35 minutes of music). Anyway, I liked the music. I didn't find the score to be particularly remarkable, but it had a few solid moments (the sweet The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, the bucolic Morning In Slag Ravine, the blood-pumping A Fun Brawl (~Pursuit) (absolutely love the rendition of Dola's theme there) the gorgeous The Collapse Of Laputa...) and felt more cohesive than the one for Nausicaä. That being said, it still didn't feel like great music, just good music.

Then I listened to the US version of the soundtrack. And wow! I loved it! The use of the orchestra really improved the music, and the rescore gave Hisaishi the opportunity to develop his cues and themes a bit more. The thing I liked about it is that he didn't completely write new music for each sequence: he used the cues he had already written, and "upgraded" them. So the new score stays true to the old one, it just expands upon it instead of completely reinventing it. So many great moments in there: Prologue - Flaptors Attack with some solid action writing, The Girl Who Fell From The Sky which sounds even more majestic in this version, Morning In The Mining Village, The Chase (with the statement of Dola's theme at 02'04 turned into an awesome crazy waltz. Easily one of the best moments in the score!), Floating With The Crystal, Stones Glowing In The Darkness which offers some interesting textures, Robot Soldier ~Resurrection & Rescue~ which makes a great use of the Flaptors' motif, Dola And The Pirates with its lovely rendition of Dola's theme (I dig how the theme evolves throughout the score from a menacing march to a gentle (and sometimes even comical) melody when the pirates becomes ally to Pazu and Shiita), Confessions In The Moonlight with its piano-led rendition of the main theme, The Invasion Of Goliath, The Final Showdown with a thrilling ending, The Destruction Of Laputa and its choral majesty... The only cue for which I preferred the original version are Pazu's Fanfare (the US version has too much fluff added to it, while the original version was a simple yet effective trumpet solo). I also liked the orginal version of The Destruction Of Laputa just as much as the rescored one. The original version of the score worked fine in the film it was written for, but was particular great music to listen to on its own, while the US version definitely is. A fantastic score with some stellar writing!

Overall, I was really satisfied by the film. Easily the one I liked the most so far during this retrospective. The one that feels the more complete, and solid on all aspects (story, characters, visuals, music...). There are a few nitpicks I could mention, but these were minor overall, and didn't . A fun ride!

7.5/10
 
 
All the tracks below come from the US version of the soundtrack:

Prologue - Flaptors Attack

 
The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

 
Morning In The Mining Village

 
The Chase

 
Stones Glowing In The Darkness

 
Robot Soldier ~Resurrection & Rescue~

 
Dola And The Pirates

 
The Invasion Of Goliath

 
The Final Showdown

 
The Destruction Of Laputa

 
 





 
 
P.S.: If you want to learn more about the writing of the new score:
 
 
There's also a translation of Hisaishi's production diary of the recording of the US version in the link I posted above. An interesting read!
 
On a sidenote: interesting that Hisaishi said he avoided the thematic approach, since the original version of the score definitely had themes already in it (the main theme, Dola's theme, Shiita's theme...). The score was not thematically-driven, though...

Castle In The Sky
My second time seeing this film. Another winner! One thing I like about all three of Miyazaki's films so far is that they start IMMEDIATELY with a scene in progress, that gets you hooked, and then there's always a nice main title sequence with all the credits. In Cagliostro you had the end of the casino robbery, in Nausicaa you had Lord Yupa investigating another empty village, and here in Castle In The Sky we get this cool airship sequence where we meet Sheeta and she has to escape from her captor when a bunch of pirates show up to steal her amulet, which leads nicely into the opening credits. Good stuff.
Overall, I found a film basically be a great blend of elements from his first 2 movies: You have a villain wanting to use an ancient power for his own gains, personal flying crafts, and a kind of larg-ish scope from Nausicaa, but with a more modern and "realistic" setting, more humor and light-hearted nature, and more streamlined and "straightforward/simple" plot style from Cagliostro. Not to mention that little squirrel thing from Nausicaa returns for some reason?
The story is instantly engaging; After we meet Sheeta in the cold opening, we meet Pazu after the main credits, a kid working for a miner in a town, and he's great - good hearted, full of adventure, wants to build a plane to find Laputa, a hidden castle in the sky his father once saw and hasn't been seen since. Early on there's a great sequence where Pazu and Sheeta have to outrun both the pirates and then men (led by Muska, who had her captured in the beginning) on a series of railroad tracks - it was great! The lead pirate, Captain Dola was awesome, a great character - the kind of old lady type that Miyazaki woudl use in a lot of his movies.
The film moves along at a perfect pace - we don't even get to the titular Castle In The Sky until late in the film, but it all seems right, the story always unfolding naturally. The animation is superb, both the characters and the great backgrounds. And since the story takes us to a bunch of different places, we get to see lots of new backgrounds and characters throughout. I really liked the style of the Laputa robots!
The Disney/English voice cast was once again very good! A pitch-shifted James Van Der Beek sounds a little goofy at times as Pazu, but Anna Paquin made a great Sheeta, and man, Cloris Leachman was great as Dola! Mark Hammil was a fantastic villain as Muska, and Jim Cummings, Andy Dick, Mandy Patinkin, and Tress MacNeille have small parts as well.
I enjoyed the score in the film, synth based as it was. I learned after that originally Disney hired Hisaishi to re-do the score with an orchestra for the first Disney DVD release; I wish I had known that, because I sold off my DVD when I got the Blu Ray (which reverts to the original score). Oh well.
So far, all 3 Miyazaki films have been terrific, A+ movies. If I had to rank them, I'd go
1. Nausciaa
2. Castle In The Sky
3. Castle of Cagliostro
But all are really great.
Next up: My Neighbor Totoro, which I've never seen!

My Neighbor Totoro
My first time ever seeing this! I think it took so long because Fox had the rights for so long while Disney had all the others, so I never bought the crappy Fox DVD and jut waited for the Disney release. I'm so glad I finally saw it because its just excellent!
Immediately you know you're in for a movie different than Miyazaki's first three when the film doesn't open with an exciting pre-credits sequence; In fact, there's no pre-credits sequence at all! Overall, the film has a comparatively microscopic scope compared to the other films, featuring just 3 main (human) characters and just focusing on personal struggles (that they get a little outside help for). It was great!
For a film with no real villain and barely a conflict, its amazing that its as effective as it is! In fact, I guess in a way Miyazaki probably set out to prove you don't need a traditional villiain, or even any kinds of guns or violence, to tell a compelling story. And he succeeded.
Miyazki is a master of pacing. He first introduces us to our 3 characters, and our setting - but just the house at first. Other characters meet them there, then the girls begin to explore around the house, and more is revealed, then Mei meets Totoro, and more is revealed, etc. It all unfolds so deliberately, but never in a slow or boring way.
I'm sure some have criticized this film for its length and abrupt ending - more or less, it features 2 acts then then suddenly we're at the end of a short climax, and its over. But I thought it was fine. Just enough time was given to any aspect of the story. If I can any questions about the film, it was the character of the neighbor boy. His motivations were kind of unclear to me, since he didn't speak much. Did he have the hots for Satsuki? Or was he slow or something? He was kinda weird and I felt like they were going to reveal something about him at the end, but then didn't.
The voice acting was once again spectacular. Dakota and Elle Fanning were perfectly cast as Satsuki and Mei, and Tim Daly was great as their father. Frank Welker played an interesting Totoro and Catbus, though I'm kind of surprised they even recast those since they don't REALLY speak, ya know?
I also LOVED the score to the film! Hisaishi's score was great! I think it probably repeated the same two themes throughout, but I noticed the score often, and for the first time it really made me want to check it out outside the film. I might just do so soon!
So after 4 films, I'd rank them: 1. Nausciaa2. My Neighbor Totoro3. Castle In The Sky4. Castle of Cagliostro It's actually really hard to rank them since they're all so different (and all so good - we're talking four A+ movies here!)