From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 26 09:14:17 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!solace!eru.mt.luth.se!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.cais.net!in1.nntp.cais.net!van-bc!n1van.istar!van.istar!west.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!visi.com!mr.net!news.sgi.com!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.pbi.net!cbgw3.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: modemac@tiac.net (Modemac) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (1980) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 21 Nov 1996 21:17:14 GMT Organization: First Online Church of "Bob" Lines: 94 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <572gsq$bep@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: modemac@tiac.net (Modemac) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06378 Keywords: author=Modemac Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5770 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1117 THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO A film review by Modemac Copyright 1996 Modemac Hayao Miyazaki is best known as the director of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, smash hit Japanese animated film. It was subsequently released by Fox Video here in America, though because it's not a Disney film, it's still largely unknown to audiences in this country. This is a pity, because TOTORO is a wonderful movie for young audiences. It defies the anime stereotypes involving robots, demons, samurai warriors, women with tight clothes and huge breasts, and lots of graphic violence, and above all it is a fun, entertaining movie. Miyazaki's movies have all been aimed at the "family" audience, and his stories are often full of comedy, exciting action, and energy; on the Internet mailing list for discussion of Miyazaki's works, he is often referred to as "The Steven Spielberg of Japan." Miyazaki had created and produced many animated series and movies before the success of TOTORO, however. Among other works such as SHERLOCK HOUND, NAUSICAA, and LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY, he was responsible for the adaptation to TV of a highly popular comic series by Monkey Punch called "Lupin III," and in the late 1970s he produced an animated TV series based on the character. Many episodes of the series were produced, along with two animated movies: THE FUMA CONSPIRACY and THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO. CAGLIOSTRO received a stroke of good fortune: it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980, where it enchanted audiences and gained a reputation of its own. (Rumor has it that Spielberg himself saw the movie at Cannes, reportedly enjoying it immensely.) Streamline Pictures obtained the rights to release THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO on video in the United States, and a subtitled print of the movie was screened at several art houses across the country. A dubbed version of the film was released on video in 1992, and copies of this video can still be found with various video companies. The dubbing job is sufficient, in that there are no lines of dialogue that make the viewer wince; the lip-synching is quite good. "Lupin III" is a fine animated series, but THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO stands out as its high point, and a high point of Japanese animation as a whole. It's an exciting, hilarious, cartoony romp packed with memorable characters, delightful animation, and enough thrills and cliffhangers to rival the Indiana Jones and James Bond series. The animation is every bit the equal of Disney's productions of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and it avoids most of the anime clichés as well. (There's a samurai here, but no demons.) The hero of the story, "Wolf" (the English translation of "Lupin"), is the world's greatest thief: he's a clever, ingenious trickster with an arsenal of gadgets, who is always one step ahead of his enemies...yet he can't help jumping into a new adventure to save the life of a pretty girl.) This concept is similar to Columbia Pictures' LONE WOLF series of the 1930s [based on Louis Joseph Lance's character], and the character may have been taken from there.) He finds himself caught up in a fiendish plot involving counterfeit money, a hidden treasure, a princess locked away in the highest tower of a castle, and the evil Count Cagliostro, who intends to marry the princess and reunite the two halves of their long-separated family. Unlike many Japanese animated films, THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO doesn't take itself seriously, instead devoting itself to giving the audience a fun roller-coaster ride. The plot is complicated, but not overly so (prolonging the climax too far is a common fault with anime), and the supporting cast of Wolf's friends and enemies have been well-developed by this time, so that they stand out on their own and seem lifelike and believable. One notable scene has Wolf surrounded by about two hundred bad guys, all with their blades pointed at his throat -- but Wolf remains calm and undisturbed, still in control of the situation. Aplomb of this sort doesn’t occur very often on the screen, especially in cartoons. Wolf is a worthy descendant of Bugs Bunny; this makes him more than a mere two-dimensional “hero” figure. Added to the plot are outlandish car chases, gunfights, battling ninjas, scuba diving, dark inescapable dungeons, lots of explosions, and lots of laughs. This film uses the reality-defying tricks of the animated film to give us great slapstick, death-defying stunts, impossible physics (how'd you like to drive your car along the side of a cliff?), and characters who heal from near-fatal wounds in the space of one day. It's a good thing they do, too, otherwise they'd never be able to survive the furious action of this wild ride...and still escape from the clutches of Inspector Zenigata, the police inspector who is obsessed with capturing Wolf once and for all. (Shades of THE PINK PANTHER.) The final climax of the film takes place inside a huge clock tower, and though the final resolution doesn't blend with all of the funny action scenes beforehand, it still satisfies and leaves the viewer smiling. Miyazaki's company, Studio Ghibli, signed a distribution contact with Disney in 1996, and Disney now has the distribution rights to all of his films. His fans are hoping that this means his older films, such as CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO, will be translated and released on video in America, though so far there haven't been any signs of that. At the time of this writing (November 1996), there is no word of a new video release of CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO; this means that people wanting to watch this movie will have to search for the dubbed video release from Streamline Pictures. Fortunately, this is a movie worth searching for. -- Reverend Modemac (modemac@tiac.net) PGP Key Fingerprint: 47 90 41 70 B4 5B 06 90 7B 38 4E 11 8A ED 80 DF URL: http://www.tiac.net/users/modemac/