Hayo Miyazaki Retrospective Castle in the Sky Review

This is Jason David Frank, and you're listening

to the Deke Cash Radio Network. One day, everything

changed. I'm not sure how I survived. I was all

alone. Looks like a body. Whoa! The way you fell

from the sky, I thought that maybe you were an

angel or something. What? Yeah, I had to catch

you. It's Laputa, a floating island. An island

that floats in the sky? Yeah. Most people think

it's just a legend, but my dad actually saw it.

Nobody believed him. I am going to prove that

my dad was no liar. Look, my stone's glowing.

It's been in my family as long as I can remember.

That crystal is extremely powerful. Huh? Lady,

come back here! There are pirates chasing us,

and the army's right behind them. I left that

pistol! Somebody's got to protect your friend.

It's my fault getting them mixed up in the office.

Are you kidding? This is the most exciting thing

that's ever happened to me. You've bungled things,

sir. And now I must fix them. I wonder who that

guy is and what he's doing with the army. To

try to use the crystals' power for selfish reasons

will bring great unhappiness. You know the odds

are against you. They simply don't understand.

The same technology that kept Lapgida airborne

also made it a major power that once dominated

the entire planet. Shoot anyone who resists!

What do we do? Come on. Beyond that cloud is

a floating city that no one here on Earth believes

exists. We're going in! We have an emergency.

Hands up! The way to Lapgida has been opened!

Arrest him! Please let me come with you. I need

to save her. Hello and welcome to another episode

of The Cinema Geeks as we continue our Heio Miyazaki

retrospective. Today we are reviewing his third

film, Castle in the Sky. Finally a title that

is easy to say. I can't say it all correctly.

Joining me on today's adventure as always is

Kevin Optimus Solo. How's it going man? Not too

bad, glad to be here. Of course, we have Hard

Candy Mandy. And last but not least, Matt Fritley

says, For those joining first for the first time

are those returned visitors. Yes, we are going

through the career of Hayao Miyazaki. We started

with Lupin, and now we are at the third film,

Castle in the Sky. Going into this, you know,

we are coming from a variety of different backgrounds.

Myself, Matt, and Amanda have all seen some of

his films. Kevin, you're the newbie here coming

in this blind, this being the first time you've

watched any of his movies. With Castle in the

Sky coming up this episode, let's just get some

general thoughts here. Kevin, overall, what were

your impressions of Castle in the Sky? My initial

reaction, my initial impression after we got

done viewing this film, which I think is going

to differ maybe from some people on the panel,

but... My initial reaction was that this was

my favorite of the films that we've seen so far.

I think there's elements of each of the films

that I like, but as far as like an overall package,

I think for me this one has been the most enjoyable.

So that was kind of my initial reaction. Now,

I've had the opportunity to watch... At least

portions of this film a second time and obviously

had some time to think about it and digest it

and there are some minor issues that I'll possibly

bring up from nitpicks, but I still think it

is sitting as the best of the three for me. I

don't know if that will always be the case. I

think Nausicaa might grow on me as time goes

and maybe surpass this one, but just on like

an initial viewing castle in the sky has been

my favorite experience as a whole. Interesting.

I was not expecting that. I'm about to get into

that further. I'm here to shock people. Yeah,

for shock. Amanda, I know for Nausicaa, you know,

it put you to sleep. You were not the biggest

fan of it. Was that the one you almost started

to fire with? I forget. Yeah. Yeah, I did. Almost.

I just set myself on fire. Are you along the

same lines as Kevin? Do you think it's the best

of all the movies we've talked about so far?

So far, man, I don't know because I think that

some of the Lupin stuff I really, really enjoyed.

But this, I think I could get behind a little

bit more. Nausicaa, I really liked the main character

and stuff, but as far as overall, I think I had

a lot more fun and was able to stay awake longer

in this film than the other ones. I only missed

out on the last little bit, so we did have to

re -watch it again. I don't know what it is though.

We're watching movies at the wrong time of day

for Amanda. Yeah. I don't think that has any

reflection on the movie. I don't think it was

slow -paced. I think there was a lot of adventure.

And like Kevin said, there's probably going to

be a little nitpicking here and there. But overall,

I think I enjoyed the experience. Interesting.

Matt, your thoughts on Castle in the Sky. I think

this is the last one that I haven't seen of all

of the Miyazaki ones, except for maybe the last

one or two, which I have bought but haven't watched

yet. other than that like I've seen everything

else we're gonna watch the next couple of weeks

uh so this one was like except for I had started

this one when uh me and my fiance were we're

just starting to date um this was one of her

favorite movies so she showed it to me and I

fell asleep during it just like I was Amanda

or something but uh like I don't know it's it's

it's what I expect from a Miyazaki movie Like

it's you know, so like i'm I was pleased in that

regard interesting unlike you kevin. I I wouldn't

put it up the best I still think nausicaa to

me is the best we've gone so far it is the the

first mizaka movie i've watched twice, uh that

we've we've covered because I and remember now

why I thought this was his first film is because

this is the very first studio ghibli film before

that, you know, you had lupin which was another

property he was working on and then he had his

first feature film which was that of Nausicaa

but this was the first time that Studio Ghibli

was established and I think you do see kind of,

it's establishing the tone of that. It's different

in the sense of it's a little bit more, let's

say, framely friendly, kid friendly. It's not,

you know, I think dumbed down in any way, but

I think it totally, Nausicaa was a little bit

more harsh. It had the violence maybe a little

harder and friendly. Here, I think the humor

is more overt, and I think there is, the characters

are a little bit more along the lines of... Not

necessarily Disney -fied, but a little bit more

so regarding that. I did enjoy it. I thought

it was overall, again, like Matt mentioned, very

much what I expect with the Miyazaki film. Very

epic adventure. Coming off the heels of Nausicaa,

it just didn't have the same effect for me. I

guess I didn't find it as enthralling or as epic

as that film, but I do think there is a lot to

get into, and I think it's still a really good

movie along those lines. I think what you're

saying as far as this being the first Studio

Ghibli film and kind of being able to feel those

effects and maybe some Disney, almost Disney

-esque influence, obviously we have the Disney

dub of this, etc. I think that has something

to do with the fact that on my initial watch

I enjoyed this one more, but also why I was trying

to reference that like maybe a couple years down

the road or five years down the road if I were

to watch these two movies again why I think I

would possibly gravitate more towards Nausicaa

on a second viewing or why maybe over time it

would stick with me more. I think there is a

little bit more like you're saying more mature

strands to Nausicaa and some things that I think

with time will resonate more. So I can totally

see what you're saying with it. I don't know

if it all has to do with maybe Studio Ghibli

or those Disney -esque elements or maybe the

more kid -friendly stuff that why this one's

maybe more appealing on a first watch for me,

but why I think it maybe would lose a little

ground as time went on where Nazca might improve

for me. I don't know if I'm alone in thinking

that. They still pistol -whipped and shot at

kids in this. But they kind of deserved it, to

be fair. You know, there's still some questions,

not questionable things, but I think it's still

not like, you know, a G -rated, like, you know,

type of adventures. It still has some adult themes.

And I know, speaking of themes, last record,

when we talked about Nausicaa, one of the complaints

that was brought up was that a lot of the themes

were overly overt at times and maybe a little

heavy -handed. Do you think with this being more

on the element of family -friendly, with that

tone kind of toned down a little bit? Is that

become more acceptable because it is certainly

geared at a different audience at least or? Did

it kind of avoid that and where you where it

wasn't so? Avert with its messaging and it was

a little bit more cryptic with it I don't think

I saw it as necessarily cryptic But I also didn't

feel like I was ever like it was ever just in

your face with it Like I I think for any you

know intelligent Person viewing this film. You

can easily pick out the themes. It's not like

you have to You know have a guide to the film

or watch it four times to get some of the elements

I mean, I think those things are very readily

available for you to pick up on but I never I

was watching it was thinking I never got taken

out of the film to the point where I'm like,

this film is trying to preach at me or trying

to really, I mean, maybe it's because I don't

didn't name any things junk toxic jungle or whatever

it might be. Did it call Castle in the Sky, which

is legitimately a castle in the sky? Yes. But

I just never got the I never got a heavy hand

in this field from this film. I don't know. Like

you said, if it's quote unquote, maybe. Dumbed

down to a point where it doesn't come across

that but I didn't feel like it was dumbed down

either I just I never got the overt message,

but it was clear what it's still clear what it's

trying to get at I definitely wasn't as Like

felt like I didn't get punched in the face over

and over again with the message I felt like I

could get wrapped up in the adventure of it and

Still kind of feel those those hints towards

the you know, the moral that they were trying

to go for on like Nausicaa where it was just

over and over at Nausium. Matt, I know you mentioned

that you said that you felt like this kind of

gives you what you expect with a Miyazaki film.

Considering we're like three movies in at this

moment in time. When you say that, what are some

things you feel makes that of a Meizaki movie?

What are aspects or traits that tend to have

stood out within these three films that do establish

themselves as, okay, this is what you're gonna

get when you watch a Studio Ghibli or Meizaki

movie? Definitely, uh... With the exception of

maybe the Lupin movie, because that was already

an established franchise, if I'm watching a Studio

Ghibli movie, or specifically a Miyazaki movie,

I'm gonna absolutely expect some magical realism.

Like, it's going to be things that are not how

our world is, but not so beyond belief that I'm

gonna be like, that's not happening. You know,

it's not. It's rarely high fantasy, and a couple

of them, you know, you could definitely argue

that it's high fantasy rather than low fantasy.

But like, there's definitely gonna be some magical

realism. There's usually going to be some, like,

adventure. Like, it's rare that it stays in one

place, and when it does stay in one place, it

definitely has adventure themes that kind of

get that, like, we're moving feeling to it. I

was gonna ask too because you guys have seen

maybe more of the films and so I don't know if

it's gonna be a theme that carries out through

the rest of his filmography but I can definitely

see it so far in the films that we've watched

is is it gonna stick with us as far as the ambiguity

of the not necessarily clearly defined antagonist

protagonist or bad or good where there's a lot

more of that gray undefined area is that something

that we're gonna see throughout the rest of the

films or is that something that's only present

in these early ones? You're absolutely gonna

get that in other ones like I would argue that

especially in my neighbor Totoro Because I guess

that's kind of a thing that he that he likes

to play with this is like you're usually the

hero of your own story and So it's hard to have

defined. This is the good person. This is the

bad person Unless you really do just hit people

over the head with it, right? So I think in the

face sure you know, kill an old king in his bed.

I would say if anything, it's gonna get more

ambiguous as to who to side with, I guess, or

who's bad and who's good. Yeah, I would agree

with that thinking of something like, you know,

especially Spirit Away where, similar with this,

where you have all these different kind of factions

where they all have different goals and maybe

not all of them are necessarily morally... corrupt

as much as the other ones again even like a pirate

here who clearly have tensions that aren't necessarily

pure but their actions maybe or show that they

have hearts in there they're not missing basically

the bad guys but it really feels like these characters

are all they're all kind of working in the same

world it's all trying to find a balance with

something typically where they all kind of need

to exist in their own way it's just finding a

way for them to balance each other out within

without kind of destroying the world that they're

in it seems to be a constant force with him or

you see a character that you assume is going

to be okay this is this is the villain of this

movie but that ends up not being the case as

it goes on i think what it leads to so far is

makes the arcs of the characters much more interesting

than what you would get like maybe in like just

a dumbed -down kids movie where you have these

clearly defined like this is just your archetypical

you know bad or good character and they're gonna

have all the good or bad traits that you're used

to and blah blah blah blah you don't really get

to see much outside of they might make some random

decision that all of a sudden you know they switch

or have a twist or whatever, but it seems more

artificial in those types of films. Whereas this

one, it seems like it's much more genuine. There's

much more of a realistic arc to a lot of the

characters in these films, at least from what

we've seen in the first three. A lot of what

I've come to expect with that of Amazake comes

out in these two first movies. And one of that

being just, we talked about like the adventure

aspect of it. And one thing I was amazed by this

was just the... his ability, Meizaki's ability

in the anime, his ability to really establish

scale with this world and like with the ships

and kind of just seeing them compared to one

another really get the sense of like danger in

that aspect and then when you bring on the landscape

of the castle in the sky and it just really gives

it that immersed feeling where it's like you're

entering into this brand huge new world because

of just the way it's able to kind of uh Divvy

out its landscapes and its animation in that

in that realm. I don't know. Have you guys felt

about that if this did feel like a enormous world

through its ability to establish scale Well,

I thought I thought it did and I thought it was

also interesting the way that it uses instead

of using like earth as like the made the focal

point or the setting it obviously seems like

as is in the title that the that we're really

focusing on the sky as as the main backdrop of

this and where everything's either headed or

coming from or kind of the angles and the perspectives

that we get to. So I thought it was interesting

how it uses the sky in this one to do what you're

saying and kind of create that scale as well.

So yeah, I can see what you're saying on that.

I definitely got like a real Atlantis or like

El Dorado vibe. The journey to get there and

then the desire to get the treasures that are

there and and the hardness of technology or what

kind of power they have definitely had that feel

but with uh its own properties thrown in there

yeah you can definitely get little bits of pieces

of a lot of those uh folk stories or different

uh you know obviously it has admittedly been

taken somewhat from gulliver's travels and uh

some older Book stories like that and so like

that so I mean I think there's a way to see all

of that But I do like I said, I just like the

way that they use the sky to kind of like what

Dan was saying Project the scale of things and

kind of the the perspective in a way And to speak

on how well thought out and diverse this world

is, is like, that's a thing you can expect with

a Miyazaki movie. Like, any one of them is going

to feel like a unique world and yet be recognizable

enough that you can pick it up. Like, from Howl's

Moving Castle to Spirited Away, they're all gonna

have elements that are real and elements that

are fantastical. And they're not all gonna be

the same. I mean, I think some people might argue

that they could all be in the same universe.

But like, they're all... very unique in their

own way and very well thought out. It's like

one of those things where it's like it might

have been a hundred page script but they probably

wrote 10 ,000 pages just to make sure the world

felt old and felt real and things that never

make it into anyone's mouths were thought about

and detailed and you might see it in the background

but it's way more more in -depth than you're

ever gonna see a lot of worlds and a lot of Hollywood

movies maybe. And I feel like too there's it

leaves enough ambiguity or that where you don't

know, you know There's this abandoned universe

or this abandoned thing and you don't really

you have an idea You can try to put things together,

but I think it it gives you just enough and I

think it's like You can see that it does feel

like just the detail and what's there that it

does feel like this was all thought out and There

are answers to all these questions You just don't

have them and you don't necessarily need them

But it just there's a mystery part of it that

makes it that more appealing because you're just

like okay what let me try to figure Okay, what

what did that do? What was the purpose of this

these robots like is this? Alien technology is

there there are a lot of kind of questions that

you could ask yourself within You know what exactly

this is and I and I like the fact that they didn't

feel the need to answer those questions Well,

and it also kind of goes to like what you're

saying about with Why I think some of the messages

and some of the themes aren't necessarily Heavy

-handed because obviously one theme that you

could very easily Identify with or see played

out is the whole idea that we have some somewhat

of a technology versus nature position put out

there but it still remains somewhat ambiguous

because even when you get to this castle in the

sky which is clearly you know a bastion for nature

and and and what all is encompassed there, but

then you also still have it with these technological

robots that are defending it in a way. So, I

mean, it's like, even in its message, it still

finds a way to somewhat gray the area and make

it so it's not necessarily all one way or all

the other. Yeah, I agree. And I think you make

sure when you're like, was this a human creation?

You know, where exactly did this come from? And

which I enjoyed. And talking about the robots,

one thing we didn't really get into yet were

the characters themselves. This is the first

movie we got to where the character's name wasn't,

they didn't have a titular character, it wasn't

in the title, but we do have plenty of characters,

again, from Cheetah to Pazoo to Dola, any characters

stand out to you guys, ones that you felt were,

was it up to the task compared to the other films

when it comes to you having notable characters,

or do you feel like overall it's a story that

really is a strength here? I'll let Matt go first

because I want to hear his take before. I have

one character specifically that I'm going to

talk about a little bit in depth. Oh, like I

think generally to me is arguably the thing that's

the only thing that's as impressive or close

to as impressive as just the beautiful sprawling

world are the characters who usually feel complete

and real. I don't really have a lot of like stand

out. Maybe it's just because they're all so interesting,

like I think Patsu is a little, I don't know,

naive. He's a little too nice. He's a daydreamer.

He's like, he's very Luke Skywalker -ish. Like,

I don't want to be here, but I'm still going

to work hard and daydream about not being here.

And so he like that makes him incredibly relatable,

that he's, you know, like this just like a kid

about to go on a grand adventure. And that's

all he ever wants. And it's going to be too much

for him. And it's going to be great and well

written. So I guess that's who I relate with.

That's more or less the question. Yeah. Well,

I wasn't necessarily thinking specifically of

who I related to the most, but the character

that I found the most entertaining and the one

that I liked the most was Dola. I don't know

what it was, if it was just because Cloris Leachman

was the one that was doing the voice or maybe

how it was written, etc. But I thought that character

was so fun. I could have watched an entire movie

just with her and her, her pirate family. But

I don't know. I mean, there's some character

art there as far as obviously her intentions

at the beginning and her actions towards the

end wouldn't necessarily match up together. So

there is some change over the course of the film

for her but I just I don't know it was like a

combination of the the character from the Goonies

the mom of the of the two criminals it was like

a combination of that plus like the mom from

DuckTales like the Beagle Boys mom and I just

loved seeing that and then everything that kind

of came about with that I mean at one point the

movie to me almost when they Become part of the

pirate crew. I guess you could say at the one

point It was almost like it was gonna go off

on this whole different movie Like we were just

gonna forget everything else that had happened

prior to that and we were just gonna become you

know as They become part of this crew etc. And

I was like I was down for it actually I was like,

okay, let's just go this direction for a while.

And so I mean, I really like Dola's as a character.

She was my favorite. She was mine, too. I think

that She had some really awesome lines. Her,

um, like outlandish behavior was pretty sweet.

And she like whipped off a skirt at one point

and had pants underneath. I'm like, she is ready

all the time to get into submission. She was

a lot of fun. I do agree like she was probably

gave a lot of brought a lot of life to the movie

I liked uh, I was even funny that you mentioned

mark, uh, you mentioned luke skywalker considered,

you know the american version hamill mark hamill

does do the voice of uh muska muska yeah, uh

and Him I as a villain I thought was probably

maybe one of the weaker spots for me in the sense

of like, you know, I got him I thought he you

know, he was he just felt like uh He he didn't

I think compare to the other characters bring

a lot to the table. Patsy was another solid character.

I did find, though, the relationship with him

and Cheetah was really enjoyable, but I did find

the way that the pirates acted towards her was

kind of creepy. These are grown men and I would

assume she's a kid, I don't know for sure, but

I'm like, that's a little bit, we're getting

a little weird here. It's interesting that you

bring that up because I was actually looking

up... Trying to find you know as much information

and redoing my research about it and apparently

the age of The those two main characters differs

depending on what if you're watching the original

version or one of the dub versions Because I

guess originally they were supposed to be at

least she did was almost supposed to be coming

across as like a mother figure to them Rather

than a romantic interest is what it was saying

because it says that James Vanderbeek and Anna

Paquin the way that they're voiced makes them

more of like a mid -teen instead of a pre -teen.

So it seems like I guess depending on which version

you watch and different things like that It changes

some of that stuff because there was definitely

modifications to the dialogue that was spoken

from the doula gang to Shida as we got to the

the English dub for that so Yeah, I think the

way that they did do that ended up making it

seem a little creepy like you were saying Super

lech style. Yeah, I think the only reason I couldn't

relate or not relate but the only reason maybe

I didn't like Pazoo And she as much as some of

the other characters is nothing to do with the

actual characters Nor anything to do with how

the characters are written or their actions But

the voice work from James Vanderbeek and Anna

Paquin is not up to par James Vanderbeek is not

a voice actor and Nor was he even really? That's

talented at anything at that age when he was

doing the the dub of this not that he is now

either So you could just say actor. You know,

yeah the same voice and Anna Paquin is is somewhat

is I think a better actor than Vanderbeek but

there must have been no coaching or directing

as far as her accents were going because she

was from 17 different places over the course

of this film and I kept getting thrown off by

either the British or the Australian Touches

and accents that she was putting when she would

say certain words and then at other times She

was nondescript and had no accent whatsoever

and it was for some reason I don't know if I'm

just like more nitpicky when it comes to voices

But I was thrown off a little with the way that

that her voice was was portrayed. I haven't seen

the other English dub because I think there's

two of them, right? There's a there's like somewhat

of a older one from the late 80s or early 90s

Then there's the Disney one. I just saw the Disney

one. But yeah, the voice for Ashita was a little

Disturbed or distracting I guess for me Yeah,

I don't know if there was another dub I only

when I'm aware of is the the one done by Disney

when I watched this I didn't know who the cast

was like I had no idea it was named Peter Vanderbeek

or in a Pac -Man I thought the performances were

fine. I just like I guess when it comes to a

dubbed Anime anime film from Disney. I don't

have high expectations when it comes to voice

acting. So I tend not to Well, I think that was

the thing though is that they they sprinkled

in legit voice actors like you have Mark Hamill

You have Jim Cummings you have you know, even

Mandy Patinkin who is just a phenomenal actor

in general And so I mean it was it was more so

I think like the I didn't I don't expect much

from those dubs But then when all of a sudden

you find one that has a bunch of like actual

legit voice actors Then the ones that aren't

for me stood out a little bit more Yeah, I could

see that. I don't matter if you had any issues

at all with any of the voice acting performances.

I am not nearly as picky as Kevin is about voice

actors. I mean, he comes from a place of more

knowledge, so I get that. I liked James Van Der

Beek's performance. I mean, it wasn't award -winning

in any way, but like I could definitely, I felt

like he wasn't off. I do agree that the accent

of Sheets had changed a bit between scenes, which

was not... Pleasant but not now again not as

distracting if I wasn't watching with Kevin they

would have been like, oh, that's unfortunate

But it doesn't take me out of it You were probably

watching it with Kevin he would But I don't necessarily

think it's James Vanderbeek as much as the fact

that I know it's chance It doesn't help that

they do that intro sequence before you start

watching it or you definitely get the van This

happens a lot with the Disney studio Ghibli movies

is they focus heavily on on big names like another

weird one is in Princess Mononoke the main she

wolf is played by Gillian Anderson. I don't know

why but that's who it is Yeah, Billy Bob Thornton's

in that yeah, which just seems weird. It's just

why of all people Yeah, I did expect more considering

that you guys ever inspired to maybe listen watch

the dub not the dub version but the the original

language version just with subtitles here as

has anyone ever done that to see if there is

a big difference between the language that she

used I haven't but I would be interested to do

that because they also said that in doing the

Disney dub of this that they were also concerned

because you know a lot of times you know characteristic

of a lot of anime films is that there's some

silences and there's pauses and, you know, staring

and stuff like that. And so Disney decided to

throw in a whole bunch of more dialogue than

was existent in the original one to try to make

sure that kids attention was staying with the

film. And I think that's where we get a lot of

these one -liners and these like little quick,

supposedly witty lines that come across that

seem so misplaced. Like I don't know. There's

like a mom joke in there that I can't imagine

was in the original one. There's a One point

they say why the deuce which I didn't know people

said that in that decade and I don't know there

was just like these little one -liners and quips

that were added in that I think were some of

them were a little too obvious that they were

artificial to the film and I would be interested

to see it in the subtitle version which I know

a lot of people prefer and that's like the you

know the preferred method of watching these and

they would say never watch them never watch the

actual dub version so i would be interested to

see a couple of these again with that version

yeah and man have you ever watched the original

language version of it in the azaki films no

i haven't um and i'm not one of like i hate those

uh original language purists Like I mean cuz

I anime and it gets like the other animes you

get into it gets really like there are some Animes

that are really terrible, but I think the Disney

Miyazaki movies have done a pretty decent job

throughout And you know there might be a little

few weirdnesses or inconsistencies, but like

I am never gonna be like I gotta see it in the

other one No, I don't think I would necessarily

Feel like I have to see it. I would be interested

at least one time to watch one of them Just to

see if I can pick up on the differences or to

see if it makes it like Like for example on this

one if you get them like what damn is talking

about if that scene comes across as creepy in

the original Language version or if it seems

like it just flowed, you know, it's not so lectures

It was interesting you mentioned like she was

meant to be more of a mom character because then

they One of the characters has something about

loving you. So I wonder if that was like, you

know Disney being weird and like, yeah, let's

let's make this seem more creepy than it needed

the same Possibly Was there anything anyone anything

else anyone want to bring up regarding the film?

Um, I don't know how I'd feel about getting woken

up at dawn by a trumpeter I just don't know if

I would be okay with that but um, I think that

she does look is super similar to like Kiki's

so it definitely got me excited to see Kiki's

delivery service again even though that's probably

the the one I've been excited the most about

seeing and I think that bringing up like the

flying ships again and stuff those were super

intricate and super cool but you could tell again

like with the factions like how they looked and

dressed anything from the military was like camo

even like the fortress like it's made out of

stone and stuff why does it need It'd be like

camo. I don't get it and you're flying in the

sky not in the trees So why does it need to be

camo, but I get it? I? Did learn something about

clouds though in this film and that is that they

do in fact stop bullets so That is good to know

only magical clouds you can only magical clouds

true Dude in that henchman and like the black

derby hat and the glasses he looked like Fallon

from the prestige You know talking about Yeah.

Christian Bale's, like, twin. Yeah. Mm -hmm.

Gave that away. I didn't pick up on that. But

in Mark Hamill's super Hannibal Lecter creepy

line, he's like, it's really quite dead, you

know? And I'm like, oh my god, I'm pretty sure

that was in some Hannibal Lecter movie. Sounded

exactly like Anthony Hopkins, something we would

say, so. I think the only thing that... that

we haven't talked about that I kind of picked

up on. Maybe not so much towards the end of the

film, but especially at the beginning was the

musical score and the music, that trumpet song

that they're playing at the very beginning was

awesome. And I think the music is obviously maybe

one more thing that I've heard other people mention

as far as Miyazaki films that the music plays

a big part, but I could definitely see it in

this one. I very much enjoyed the beginning segments

with the music involved. Think the biggest redeeming

thing about this movie was how much heart Patsu

had and like his willingness to just like help

and like embrace the adventure of it And I think

that was kind of what pulled me along Yeah, I

could see that I guess the Patsu I think was

was certainly a good aspect of the film. I think

my one I was concerned a strong word, but I think

the one that thing that has this not work as

well as the the last film was just Sheet that

I think his overall character. I was hoping we

get more from her I mean, she I guess in a way

she's Wallflowers a strong word, but she didn't

necessarily have the command and maybe that's

because that's the character she's kind of Basically

just trying to figure herself out. But but by

the end she does kind of take charge So maybe

I'm just being a little bit in a picky and I'm

here to develop but But overall, I did quite

enjoy it. I guess my one concern or the one thing

that knocks it a little bit is that with these

two films, we saw such a huge leap when it comes

to. filmmaking from the first film to the second

one and maybe it's a lot to expect to see a similar

leap or seeing a similar increase where I felt

like this kind of wasn't along the same lines

as the last movie if not a little bit less which

I think maybe I was hoping it would like you

would see a continuous progression regarding

filmmaking not that it's worse but it just I

guess it's hard it's a hard hill to climb because

it's they're all great so it's hard to keep repeating

that success and keep topping yourself in a new

way but Yeah, that'd be pretty impressive if

you could make that exactly through from film

to film all the way through this because there's

a lot of films to be but a lot of people probably

say that he does for a certain film so but I

can see what you're saying that it seems like

not as big of a leap between these two. I think

as far as my nitpicks I think there is a little

bit of a little clunkiness sometimes as far as

the direction that we're going because I think

that sometimes they're willing to Let it develop

natural naturally and then other times they're

in a hurry to get from one thing to the other

so at times I feel like the pace is real rushed

and that at other times it's just not slow, but

more of a natural pace and it seems like You're

not quite sure which direction you're gonna stick

with like every time you think the movie's gonna

go this direction It starts going another direction

which not always necessarily bad or inherently

bad with a film but Every once in a while I felt

it a little bit clunky in that respect. But I

will say that I do appreciate how fast Dola was

able to science that thing up and figure out

the velocity of the wind, the velocity of the

ship, and the fact that they were going to catch

the Goliath. That was pretty impressive science

work on her part. Math and maps, man. That's

all you need. Matt, did you have anything else

you wanted to bring up that we didn't touch upon?

No, but I've kind of fallen into a rabbit hole

trying to find the original dub which came out

in the late 80s and Might be next to impossible

to get nowadays I've got I've got a lot of mixed

reviews on the internet about how good it is

and it seems like one guy says it seems like

every line was given One take and they just went

with what they had but in it is a more literal

translation if that's what you really want. The

other thing that's somewhat I found interesting

in doing my research for the film was the fact

that apparently Disney waited a long time from

the time that they got the rights to this to

when they released it and there was a bunch of

different delays and whatnot and I guess there's

this whole conspiracy amongst fans of the you

know Studio Julie and Miyazaki's work that said

that The only reason Disney purchased the library

was so that they could somewhat undermine the

releases of the film so that they weren't as

successful as regular Disney films. But that

seems weird to me that you would purchase something

and then try to make it so it didn't sell as

well. So I don't know how much I can buy that.

Well if anyone would do that, that would be Disney.

But apparently there's this whole theory that

there was these different things that they point

to as far as the different releases and stuff

like that, that they were saying was intentionally

done by Disney to make them not as successful

in the US as they had been in Japan. So I don't

know. I wouldn't be surprised. There's always

this fear I think when it comes to... taking

a property from Japan and bringing it over and

I think people like for some reason don't think

it's gonna work with mass audiences or they don't

think that like, you know, it's gonna be beyond

the niche of the anime crowds. That's why they

throw in these big stars and thinking like these

names will get people to maybe watch it that

would not necessarily watch an animated film.

So and I think we're seeing less and less of

that now as I think we become more global and

you have more universal access and I think when

the success of some like a spirited away I think

help do away with that and help well and and

I think too there's just not as much of a I don't

know if stigma is the right word but there's

not as much of a negative connotation I think

nowadays when you hear anime to like a US audience

like I you know when I think more so when we

were younger, it seemed like people frowned more

upon it or had an adverse reaction to it just

at the, you know, Oh, that's an anime, you know,

it got brushed aside where I don't think that's

even close to being a thing as much anymore.

I think it's, you know, with the internet and

all kinds of other things, there's just more

of a global presence of all different styles

of all different things. So I don't know if that's

how accurate that is, but I just get that feeling

that there was more of like a stigma to anime

during our childhood. I think so because I think

like When someone said anime I thought of akira

and pretty much nothing else and like those commercials

you would see late at night were like you had

to order it from like 800 numbers All right,

all right anything else before we bring this

episode to a close Oh, are we doing scores for

this one? That's a good point. There you go All

right. Well, well kevin you said this was the

best out of the three I am I am curious to hear

what you actually would give this a score from

from one to ten Well, I'm not the only one that

says it's the best out of the three so far. It

is the best Rotten Tomatoes score so far that

we've covered. It has 95 % on Rotten Tomatoes

compared to the 87 and 91 of the previous two

films, but they're all obviously rated real high.

Like I said, I think over time this one will

diminish more and Nausicaa will probably rise

more on my scoring, but as initial view I'm going

to give this one a 7 out of 10. Just for that

fact that I think maybe it will have diminishing

returns as I if I watched it again or as time

passes But I'm gonna give it a 7 to try to kind

of predict that Amanda will be your score be

I think I'm middle of the road. I'm gonna give

it a 5 All right, man, and Matt your score I

would say it's probably my least favorite like

Miyazaki original, like if we throw out Lupin

since it's a franchise and the rest are all his

originals, I would say it's probably my least

favorite of all of the ones I've seen, so I'll

give it a seven. Well, I will also give it a

seven as well. I think looking back on it, something

like the last film, Natsuka, probably a nine

for me. This one's still good, but it's a little

bit of a step down, but still a really solid

animated film and another It's all new for his

career. But overall just was hoping for a little

bit more but still I think high recommend for

seven Three people giving it the same score.

There you go. I thought about going 7 .5, but

I don't want it. So did I You know, we'll see

how it goes. We know we still got a lot of movies

to talk about So and pressure next time we talk

about Miyazaki. Well, we mentioned it in this

episode. We will be getting into My neighbor

to Totoro and I'm kind of curious about that

because that is and we were seeing these epic

films and for what I can remember Totoro does

go a little bit of a different direction, but

it's been a while since I've seen it So we'll

see that but uh, make sure to contact us Let

us know what you think of this episode in this

movie You can do so by contacting us at emailing

us at feedback at geocastrea .com Podcast is

also on twitter at cinema geocast. Uh, kevin.

What is your twitter name? at optimus solo amanda

Heart Candy Mandy, eyes no lies. And Matt. I

am at Fridley's Senate. And I am at Movie Revolt.

But this is the end for this week. Make sure

to turn in next week for another amazing episode

of The Cinema Geeks. We'll catch you next time.