I love blu-ray collections. They’re pretty much the only kind of movies I actually buy, where I can get a whole set of something all at once. It’s the collector and the completionist in me, I suppose, but I *love* *it*.
My newest movie collection is the boxed blu-ray set from Disney of all Hayao Miyazaki’s 11 feature films. The first of which is Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, his debut as a director, and his entry into an existing film franchise surrounding Lupin the Third, a gentleman thief.
Is it any good? Can any of the mastery and brilliance of Myazaki be seen in this super early effort (1979!!!)? Yes. Big time. A hearty, enthusiastic yes.
The Blurb:
When master thief Lupin III (Yasuo Yamada) discovers that the money he robbed from a casino is counterfeit, he goes to Cagliostro, rumored to be the source of the forgery. There he discovers a beautiful princess, Clarisse (Sumi Shimamoto), who is being forced to marry the count so he can find the legendary treasure of Cagliostro. In order to rescue Clarisse and foil the count, Lupin teams up with his regular adversary, Inspector Zenigata, as well as fellow thief Fujiko Mine.
The Good:
I could gush about what was good in this movie, to be honest. I’ve never seen so many of Miyazaki’s movies, and just the idea of working through his history and catalogue probably set this movie up to succeed…but I am not alone in really enjoying this film. None less than Stephen Spielberg and John Lasseter have been quoted as being influenced by this movie.
The visual style, first of all, is *undeniable*. The scale. The colors. The mish-mash of time eras and cultures. And for me, it’s really the combination of technologies, new, old, existing, and fantasy. For example: the movie seems to take place in some incredible cross section between real-world 1970s japan, Romantic-era Central Europe (I’m thinking steam-punky Switzerland, with Barons and Dukes with military uniforms and sashes and such), and literal killer robots and castles that have elevators that extend out several hundred feet to isolated towers. It’s magical. And exciting.
The lead character is well-done. He’s smart and mischievous, and most importantly afraid of nothing, and never sitting still. At one point, he’s literally bounding over castle parapets and flying through the air. Another point, he’s swimming through a massive aquaduct system, or climbing through a massive clock.
And that brings me to the action sequences. Holy. Crap. Two of them in particular are breathtaking. The car chase at the beginning, which has all the daring and choreography of a live action set piece, and then the final battle with the bad guy in the clock tower, where none of the characters can stay still for a second while fighting because they’re fighting on constantly moving gears. Just the perspective, the movement, and the angles you have to draw the characters at to keep that looking real is astonishing. Truly incredible animation, and I have to think at the time, nothing like anyone had ever seen before.
The Bad:
It’s dated in the sense that it’s very much a male hero saving a damsel in distress. Miyazaki does offset this a little bit with Lupin’s female secret agent accomplice, but the princess is pretty much the princess of fairy tales: there’s not much to like about her except that she’s pretty.
Same goes for the villain. He’s flat. I will grant that he’s pretty menacing (he’s big!), but his motivations are pretty weak. He’s just evil, you know? But, sometimes that’s okay…
The only other quibble I have to make is that I can see Miyazaki still figuring out what shots need to be shown where. There are a couple instances where important and/or suspenseful moments are undercut because we either don’t show them close-up–we’re in a wide or a mid-range shot instead, which diffuses the tension–or they’re just not included at all.
Same goes for the sound sometimes. Sounds that needed to be loud aren’t. Musical cues don’t quite match up with the tension of the scene. Stuff like that is a bit clumsy here and there.
But here’s the bottom line: I loved this movie. It wasn’t perfect. It’s not quite up there with his masterpiece era of work in the late 90s…but damn. I would have loooovveeeddd this movie as a kid. I’d have wanted to watch it over and over and over again, act out its scenes, and save the day like Lupin. Miyazaki’s pacing, sense of adventure, and really just his VISUALS are off the charts inventive and enthralling. It’s visionary stuff. It elevates its material into something incredibly entertaining. Bravo.
8 out of 10 – a little-known movie you have to see