Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky Reviews wanted
04-15-03, 02:28 PM
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Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky Reviews wanted
I am wondering if anyone would be kind enough to provide some reviews of the films and the dvds as I can't seem to find any on the internet.
Thanks!
Thanks!
04-15-03, 03:02 PM
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I think you're going to find Japanese animation fans can be quite rabid in their defense of the art form, but IMHO it is definitely an acquired taste...even innocuous and charming stuff like Miyazaki's.
That being said, I had the opportunity to watch both films (and "Spirited Away") last week. I found "Castle in the Sky" to be the most accessible - that is to say, it was most action-oriented and faster paced than the rest. More explosions, less cutesy big eyed characters.
"Kiki's Delivery Service" was a little too juvenile and haphazardly plotted for my taste (although the late Phil Hartman's voice work as her sarcastic cat was a bittersweet reminder of just how talented he was).
Didn't have time to check out the extras on each disc - and to be honest, I probably never will. Hope you enjoy them, though.
That being said, I had the opportunity to watch both films (and "Spirited Away") last week. I found "Castle in the Sky" to be the most accessible - that is to say, it was most action-oriented and faster paced than the rest. More explosions, less cutesy big eyed characters.
"Kiki's Delivery Service" was a little too juvenile and haphazardly plotted for my taste (although the late Phil Hartman's voice work as her sarcastic cat was a bittersweet reminder of just how talented he was).
Didn't have time to check out the extras on each disc - and to be honest, I probably never will. Hope you enjoy them, though.
04-15-03, 03:06 PM
#3
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Working on these two discs next. Will have something posted on DVDFile by next week.
04-15-03, 04:31 PM
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And in the meantime, our full reviews of both DVDs--
http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdrevie...leinthesky.htm
http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdrevie...eryservice.htm
Bill C
Film Freak Central
http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdrevie...leinthesky.htm
http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdrevie...eryservice.htm
Bill C
Film Freak Central
04-29-03, 09:20 AM
#5
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Here's a short review by me:
First off, both of these discs are must-buys regardless of their technical characteristics. The content is simply that good. happily, the discs themselves are pretty damn good. I won't review the movies, check out the movie forum for that.
Castle in the Sky: the transfer is fairly amazing. Miyazaki uses eye-poppingly bright color scemes and they come through very well on disc. I also own the R2 version of this movie and the R1 transfer is even better. The earth tones, reds and greens are particularly amazing. This is almost a 20 year old film and it looks like it was created yesterday.
The Japanese track is stereo, but superb. Joe Hisashi's score is amazing in this movie and the Japanese track lets it show all of it's strength. I love the introduction of the main theme during the opening credits. There are two sets of subtitles, keep in mind that the true, literal translation track is the second of the two. The first is apparently captions for the deaf of the English soundtrack. The second subtitle track does have a few timing issues, but is very accurate and in a nice legible yellow. Superb stuff. Disney really did a good job here.
The english track is IMO mediocre at best, destructive at worst. Miyazaki's movies are very carefully crafted and making any change almost ruins the effect. Disney has added too much additional music and dialogue to this dub and the movie suffers for it. The best example is the beginning of the movie: a slam-bang James Bond pre-title sequence. Disney has inserted lighthearted reed-based music where the Japanese version had simply stark sound effects. They've also added a ridiculous amount of over-explaining dialogue. The changes reduce a nail-biting action sequence to a dumbed-down slapstick comedy routine. There are countless example of this type of destruction in tone throughout the movie that Disney seems to think will make it more child-friendly, but end up weakening the effect of the story.
Because of these changes, I say watch the Japanese version first. The way, you can see what Hayao was getting at this this film: a nostalgia-soaked, fairly serious action/adventure.
The extras are entire negligable: some storyboards, an awful japanese trailer (scenes for the movie haphazardly edited with a ponderous voice-over). I have no idea why this release warrented two discs.
Kiki:
IMO, this is a slightly better disc than the Castle in the Sky one.
The color scheme in this movie is more subdued and the disc does a terrific job in captureing the subtletys of Kiki's town, the bakery and the ocean. I don't think the transfer could have been any better.
The Japanese soundtrack is again terrific and the subtitles are again very accurate. This is another fabulous score, listen closely!
The translation is much better than the one on CITS. Many anime fans resent the overt humor Phil Hartman inserted into the character of Jiji (humor that was largely absent in the original), but I think he did a great job. He brings Jiji to life with wry wit. Kirsten Dunst does fairly well with Kiki, but sounds a little strained at times. IMO, the best voice-over is provided by Janeane (sp?) Garofalo, who is great as Ursala. She brings real toughness and depth to her character. I consider the Spirited Away translation to b the gold standard of how to translate a Miyazaki movie, and this one gets pretty close.
Once again, the extras are entirely not necessary on this disc.
As I said, ignore any gripe I have with the translation of CITS, these are both essential movies to own for pretty much anyone.
First off, both of these discs are must-buys regardless of their technical characteristics. The content is simply that good. happily, the discs themselves are pretty damn good. I won't review the movies, check out the movie forum for that.
Castle in the Sky: the transfer is fairly amazing. Miyazaki uses eye-poppingly bright color scemes and they come through very well on disc. I also own the R2 version of this movie and the R1 transfer is even better. The earth tones, reds and greens are particularly amazing. This is almost a 20 year old film and it looks like it was created yesterday.
The Japanese track is stereo, but superb. Joe Hisashi's score is amazing in this movie and the Japanese track lets it show all of it's strength. I love the introduction of the main theme during the opening credits. There are two sets of subtitles, keep in mind that the true, literal translation track is the second of the two. The first is apparently captions for the deaf of the English soundtrack. The second subtitle track does have a few timing issues, but is very accurate and in a nice legible yellow. Superb stuff. Disney really did a good job here.
The english track is IMO mediocre at best, destructive at worst. Miyazaki's movies are very carefully crafted and making any change almost ruins the effect. Disney has added too much additional music and dialogue to this dub and the movie suffers for it. The best example is the beginning of the movie: a slam-bang James Bond pre-title sequence. Disney has inserted lighthearted reed-based music where the Japanese version had simply stark sound effects. They've also added a ridiculous amount of over-explaining dialogue. The changes reduce a nail-biting action sequence to a dumbed-down slapstick comedy routine. There are countless example of this type of destruction in tone throughout the movie that Disney seems to think will make it more child-friendly, but end up weakening the effect of the story.
Because of these changes, I say watch the Japanese version first. The way, you can see what Hayao was getting at this this film: a nostalgia-soaked, fairly serious action/adventure.
The extras are entire negligable: some storyboards, an awful japanese trailer (scenes for the movie haphazardly edited with a ponderous voice-over). I have no idea why this release warrented two discs.
Kiki:
IMO, this is a slightly better disc than the Castle in the Sky one.
The color scheme in this movie is more subdued and the disc does a terrific job in captureing the subtletys of Kiki's town, the bakery and the ocean. I don't think the transfer could have been any better.
The Japanese soundtrack is again terrific and the subtitles are again very accurate. This is another fabulous score, listen closely!
The translation is much better than the one on CITS. Many anime fans resent the overt humor Phil Hartman inserted into the character of Jiji (humor that was largely absent in the original), but I think he did a great job. He brings Jiji to life with wry wit. Kirsten Dunst does fairly well with Kiki, but sounds a little strained at times. IMO, the best voice-over is provided by Janeane (sp?) Garofalo, who is great as Ursala. She brings real toughness and depth to her character. I consider the Spirited Away translation to b the gold standard of how to translate a Miyazaki movie, and this one gets pretty close.
Once again, the extras are entirely not necessary on this disc.
As I said, ignore any gripe I have with the translation of CITS, these are both essential movies to own for pretty much anyone.
Last edited by Hiro11; 04-29-03 at 09:23 AM.
04-29-03, 09:39 AM
#6
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My Kiki's review is on DVDFile now. Working on Castle in the Sky next.
Both transfers are burdened by obscene amounts of edge enhancement. I agree with Hiro11's comments about the quality of the two dubs.
Castle in the Sky is an awesome movie!
Both transfers are burdened by obscene amounts of edge enhancement. I agree with Hiro11's comments about the quality of the two dubs.
Castle in the Sky is an awesome movie!
04-29-03, 12:58 PM
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http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/d...views/2045.php
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/d...views/2044.php
You may also want to check out the forums on animeondvd.com as people post comments on the reviews there.
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/d...views/2044.php
You may also want to check out the forums on animeondvd.com as people post comments on the reviews there.
05-01-03, 11:27 AM
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