Jan. 06, 2003 - 12:17 am
a.k.a. The Castle of Cagliostro. this is a classic Japanese anime that was recommended to me by Clay. now everyone needs to keep in mind that i'm not and never have been a huge fan of animes or Japanese film in general for that matter. for the most part, i generally feel like i'm watching something totally abnormal and i can't get into the groove of watching it. although this director, Miyazaki has done a great job of finding a way into my heart with his past two films that have been big in America, Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001).
this was Miyazaki's first big film and seems to have inspired tons of people including Steven Spielberg to a large degree.
The Castle of Cagliostro takes place in a very small European nation and revolves around the forced wedding of Lady Clarisse de Cagliostro to Count Cagliostro. at the beginning of the film, a notorious thief named Lupin III gets involved in attempting to rescue Clarisse and eventually is convinced that he needs to rescue her from this marriage that she completely does not want to happen. she's actually being held captive by the Count and his minions, who are also printing counterfeit currency for whatever reason, and will have to go through with the marriage in five days. during that time, Lupin III gets his friends together and makes a desperate attempt to rescue her...along with trying to find out the ancient secret treasure that is in some way tied to the Castle.
there are some good action scenes in this film, especially the introductory car chase scene. as far as animation, it wasn't anything that impressed me to any great degree. not much better than your average anime. the music to me sounded a bit goofy, but maybe that's just because of the age of the film. i was reminded of the Scooby Doo cartoons though.
i guess one of the big problems i tend to have with animes is that they don't focus generally too well on character development. they're very episodic and tend to jump from one bit of action right to the next without telling us enough about the people involved. sort of the same way that George Lucas has been operating over the past few years. it's a dangerous game that can leave your audience feeling empty. so i guess i'm saying this film could've used a bit more character development. overall i'd say i liked this film, but just a little.
be sure to click the "previous movie" button if you didn't read the entry last night. i'm also thinking about getting a gold membership on diaryland for $30. apparently you get 10,000 banner impressions on the site for that fee along with the rest of the benefits. and i'm always looking for ways to get more readers. hmmm...i'll think about it some more.