The Lupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostro [1980] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Amazon.co.uk Review

The delightful 1979 adventure yarn The Castle of Cagliostro was the first international hit for Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro). Quick-paced, high-spirited and loaded with wit, Cagliostro is a dandy throwback to the caper pictures of the 1960s. International man of mystery Lupin III stumbles back into the picturesque European duchy of Cagliostro with his faithful and gruff sidekick, Jigen. They will encounter, in no particular order, a runaway bride, a magical ring, an evil count with a dastardly plan, an inspector bent on catching Lupin, perilous rooftop chases, hooded guards with superhuman powers, a well-used dungeon, a counterfeiting scheme, and an ancient mystery promising grand treasure. Lupin deploys an array of Bond-type gadgets, razor-sharp wit, and a surprise up both his sleeves. Despite the hail of bullets, this caper is great fun, never taking itself seriously. Miyazaki's career illustrates how limiting the term animé can be for these films; there are hardly more than 10 live-action films of this genre as entertaining. Far less mean than Hollywood fare, it nevertheless is for ages nine and up since it contains adult-orientated language and gunplay. The Lupin character has been featured in other animé films, but never as successfully or with as much fun as in Miyazaki's. The new English-language dubbing is excellent to boot. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Light Hearted Entertainment..........2007-01-21

The first feature length animation by Hayao Miyazaki is as enjoyable if not more than some of his latest animations. The characters however aren't his own creations but first appeared in a manga by Monkey Punch (who took the ideas from various sources).
Unlike his other animations this is very light hearted and somewhat unserious, a blend of action, lust and humour is evident as a Master Theif sets out to uncover the source of counterfeit money accompanied by his gun totting sidekick, a samurai and an action friendly woman.
It is an enjoyable experience and the quality of the animation is good, especially for the time it was produced, fan of Hayao Miyazaki or not, this is certainly worth checking out, just don't expect it to be anything like his other work.

unviewable.......2006-12-23

WARNING: If you are ordering from the USA, forget it. UK DVDs will not play on American DVD players. They can sometimes be viewed on your PC,
but only for one or two times. Then they will shut down. Most of these
anime titles are available from amazon.com (USA) in format compatible
with USA equipment.

A delightful romp.......2005-02-06

This is kind of Tin Tin meets James bond. A fun film with some amusing characters. You wont be bowled over by it, but makes a nice change from the all-out violence of manga.

a refreshing change from robots, ninjas and demons.......2003-11-25

The Castle of Cagliostro is one of the earliest feature length films bought to us by the highly acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki who has since produced titles such as Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away, for which he won an academy award for best animated film at last years oscars.
For me Miyazaki is one of the most exciting anime directors because he is not afraid to try something new and unconventional. Most of the manga films that I have seen follow a formula which has become tiresome through a reliance on traditional devices such as martial arts, gore, violence, monsters, demons, robots and futuristic dystopias. However Miyazaki's themes, storylines and characters are imaginative and fresh and his films therefore broaden the scope of anime as a genre.
In this particular film we are introduced to Wolf (alias Lupin lll) and his sidekick Jigen as they flee from the seen of their latest crime. When they realise that the money they've stolen is in fact counterfeit, they decide to investigate the source of the fake notes. When their inquiry leads them to the small country of Cagliostro they find an evil count with a castle and an army of guards, a princess who is being imprisoned by the count and the possibility of hidden treasure. The combination of the danger, the girl and the loot not to mention the counterfeit notes mystery, is enough to lure Wolf and Jigen who are joined by their samuri friend Goemon and femme fatale Fujico, into concocting a plan to infiltrate the castle and overthrow the count.
The plot is exciting yet simple enough to ensure that you wont get lost, unlike other highly rated titles whose plots have been far too complicated for me, like Ghost in the Shell (maybe I'm stupid.) The animation is good, the script is witty making for a very funny film and the characters are well developed.
Overall its an excellent film and a breath of fresh air if your collection is full of violent, futuristic titles. I think that manga lovers, manga virgins and even those who hate manga would enjoy this film. I am going to buy the next one in the series: the secret of mamo, for sure. buy this

an amazing restoration, but why re-dub?.......2002-02-24

As most people who look this up will know, Castle of Cagliostro is an incredible film. As a big fan of the film who has watched the Manga Video VHS many times I would like to comment on the DVD.

The picture quality and sound quality are incredible. Especially the English soundtrack, the music comes across in a breath taking way. The picture is crisp, but retains the great filtering.

However the thing that stops this from getting 5 stars is the English dub track. It's not the same as the VHS, and the voices are all wrong. It completely loses its charm without the voice of the Gamekeeper and many accents are changed such as the Count's guards who have faux-german accents.

I will only be watching the Japanese original now, but at least it gives me the opportunity to fall in love with the characters once more as I hear them how they originally sounded.

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