Sparta
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- Sep 27, 2003
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Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) - 3/5
From windy buttcrack to bitching floating castle. I think to do justice to this one, I really ought to rewatch it in Japanese. There's about 30% more script in the dub-version, and it's mostly extremely annoying exposition and ad-libbing from minor characters. Nevertheless, I 'felt' this a lot less than I remember when I first watched it, which is now some time ago. The main antagonist is as generic as possible, and the switch of the pirates from foe to friend is not without its troubles. The animation is mostly uninteresting, and feels cheap in the final sequences. Again, the colour-palette is quite limited, and the characters frankly psychedelic. The background art has improved a lot, and there are some particularly lovely sunny / cloudy images in the open-air, helped along by the (re-scored for this version) soundtrack to give it a serene feel, but overall, it's little more than a diverting action-romp.
Yeah I agree. It feels like an Indiana Jones film set in the sky, but that only makes me love it more. You're right though, it's not without its problems.
Whil I love Miyazaki, the thing that really bugs me about his films is that all of his adventures have their protagonists coming to some realization at the climax that makes them act extremely calm and save the day. Happens in almost every single one of his films.