For those in NY this weekend, Miyazaki's 1986 Castle in the Sky will screen on Saturday May 11 at 7:00pm as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. This print will be the new English-dub version commissioned and completed by Disney in 1999, with a newly extended score by Joe Hisaishi and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. This version premiered at the 2000 New York Int'l Childrens Film Festival and was shelved after the US failure of Princess Mononoke. Disney will be releasing (finally!) three Studio Ghibli titles to R1 DVD later this year--hopefully Castle in the Sky will be one of them.

In its original Japanese, this film was my introduction to the work of Miyazaki and turned me into an instant fan. In it, Miyazaki takes a bit of Jonathan Swift, adds a bit of Jules Verne, sets it in an alternate-history turn-of-the-century Wales, and spins an almost perfect B-movie rendition of a perfect boys adventure story. Paced and structured like a good novel, it is very satisfying to watch.

Links:
http://www.gkids.com/triFamily.html
http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/laputa/
http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/laputa/music.html

BTW Miyazaki's 2001 film Spirited Away is now tentatively set for a September 20th theatrical release in the US, in both English-dub and subtitled form. I think this two-pronged release may work out well--play the dub to the masses and the subtitle to the art and otaku crowd. It's the release Mononoke should've had. It will be interesting to see if any of these Ghibli films can find a North American audience.

Paul
Staff Projectionist, Senior Vidiot
Crown Theatres Neonopolis 14
A neurotic builds castles in the sky.
A psychotic lives in them.
My phone: Laputa 6-5000.