There have been lots of Lupin III the movies, and there have been lots of Hayao Miyazaki movies, but there’s only been one movie where the two flavors have combined to forge a veritable Recess Peanut Buttercup of cinematic flavor. Hayao Miyazaki had had years of experience working on previous Lupin III television shows, so his firm grasp on the characters shines magnificently in this film. However, one does not have to be a Lupin III-fan to enjoy this movie. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need to know who Lupin III is. Castle of Cagliostro is an animated masterpiece one can watch with the entire family (except maybe the really little ones).
Lupin III is the world’s greatest thief. Along with his partner and super marksman, Jigen, the pair travel to the isolated European country of Cagliostro to get to the bottom of a century’s old counterfeiting ring. Things are never so simple when it comes to Lupin, though. The greedy Count of Cagliostro wants Lupin dead so that he won’t interrupt his marriage to the young Princess Clarisse, who is the key to uncovering the country’s ancient treasure. Lupin makes it his mission to uncover the counterfeiting scheme, save the Princess and defeat the Count all at once. Complicating matters, though, is the arrival of Interpol’s Inspector Zenigata, who will stop at nothing to arrest Lupin. Lupin and Jigen have their work cut-out for them, so they get help from the Japanese swordsman, Goemon, and the femme fatale, Fujiko.
The Castle of Cagliostro, like many of Miyazaki’s films, feels like a timeless classic as you watch it. It hits upon numerous “fairy tale” themes, like a noble thief rescuing a beautiful Princess from a dangerous castle, yet in true Lupin III spirit, has a manic pace coupled with lots of crazy humor. Made in 1979, it was one of Miyazaki’s earliest films, and while it doesn’t contain the level of detail and nuance that his future endeavors would be known for, it has a quality to it that seems light-years ahead of its time.
The animation from TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsha) is very impressive, considering the age of the film, and holds up extremely well to today’s standards. There are maybe one or two noticeable animation errors, but nothing to pull one out of the experience.
The characters are just as important as Miyazaki’s direction in regards to the success of this film. Even if one is not acquainted with the volumes of material and extensive background histories that go with each character, it’s easy to appreciate them all for their individual quirks and special talents. While the bulk of the film is dedicated to Lupin and Clarisse, Miyazaki makes sure to give each classic Lupin character their own time to shine. Goemon might come out the weakest of the bunch, receiving maybe two lines total in the entire movie, but the quiet-approach is true to character and he gets some of the flashiest moves in. Jigen, my personal favorite member of the Lupin crew, is a total riot in this film and participates in some of its best moments.
The Japanese voice track, featuring the late Yamada Yasuo (Lupin) as well as Kobayashi Kiyoshi (Jigen) and Naya Goro (Zenigata), is classic. Each actor has been voicing the characters for decades and little else sounds more natural. The English dub provided on the Manga Video DVD release is actually very good, with voices that lived up to my expectations. While Pioneer has the best English cast for Lupin III (there are numerous different dubbing studios doing the plethora of available Lupin material, which is very annoying), the Manga Video cast take a more serious approach to the characters which fits in with the tone of the film perfectly. While I love the Pioneer cast, they work better with the goofier Lupin material, and this film is anything but a dirty slapstick comedy like other Lupin III movies.
The Castle of Cagliostro is one of my favorite animated films ever, and the best piece of Lupin III animation ever produced. The animation is impressive, the story is timeless, the characters are memorable and the direction is outstanding. While there is some blood and a few curse words, it’s more than suitable for a crowd that can handle PG-rated movies. I’d recommend it for the whole family.
Grade: A
Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie
I suppose the first thing that should be noted about Sonic the Hedgehog: “the Movie” is that, in reality, it was two Japanese OVAs (Original Video Animation) that were placed back to back for the American release. I suppose it’s not a “real” movie, but the episodes transition into one-another so seamlessly that you wouldn’t be able to tell.
On the Planet Freedom, home of Sonic the Hedgehog and pals, the evil Dr. Robotnik is in trouble. His headquarters of Robotropolis has been taken over by Metal Robotnik, and to make matters worse, the power-generator is overloading. If it blows up, Planet Freedom will blow up with it. By taking the President and his bratty daughter hostage, Robotnik coaxes Sonic and Tails to go to Robotropolis, defeat Metal Robotnik and stop the generator from going up in flames. However, can they really trust Robotnik? No, not really. As it’s all a ploy for the REAL plot of the movie; the creation of Metal Sonic!
When this movie was released, the only animated version of Sega’s star-hedgehog that American fans had ever been introduced to were the various kid-oriented TV shows produced by DiC. Writing-quality varied between the shows, but one thing remained the same, bland and slow animation.
With Studio Pierott at the helm, the animation in Sonic the Hedgehog: the Movie is quite beautiful. Maybe not theatrical-quality, but excellent all the same. One thing they managed that the American cartoons often failed at: Sonic looks like he’s going fast. Really, REALLY fast. When he first lets out that burst of super speed at the beginning of the movie, and runs along the cliffside, you know you’re in for a real visual treat.
All the early characters are there: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Robotnik and Metal Sonic. This movie was made around the time of the Sega Genesis and Sega CD Sonic games, so this is old-school Sonic through and through.
The story-telling is a fair mix of intense action and goofy anime clichés. Robotnik is nothing like the American cartoons or the Archie comics interpreted him. He’s less a dark and menacing overlord and more a one-man Team Rocket whom the heroes regard more as an annoyance than a threat. Despite this, his antics are actually quite entertaining and the zany animation just makes him fun to watch.
The voice-acting in the English dub is, well, pretty bad. Sonic has an unidentifiable accent. One second he sounds British, the next he sounds Southern Redneck, then he’s a surfer dude…you can’t tell just WHAT the heck he’s supposed to sound like. I’ve even heard people say he has a South African-accent. The Hell? It’s not good if the voice actor is so bad you’re wishing Jaleel White would come back.
The rest of the cast isn’t so bad. Knuckles isn’t quite as angry-sounding as I’d have liked. He works, though. Tails, on the other hand, sounds like he has a cold through the whole movie. Most-likely, the actor was just holding their nose the whole time. The BEST voice, however, would have to be Dr. Robotnik. He has a great mad scientist-thing going, and to make it even better, he’s voiced by the Hitchhiker from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Awesome.
The plot is nothing to take seriously, but it moves along quickly and all the scenes transition into one-another very smoothly. Metal Sonic brought to life is a beauty to the eyes, especially if you like Metal Sonic as much as I do, and his fight with Regular Sonic is a treat.
Sonic the Hedgehog: the Movie is really only going to appeal to fans of the video games, and even then, only to OLDER fans of the video games, as most kids today are only acquainted with the Sonic Adventure 3D franchise and the art design and character set that goes with it. However, if you’re a fan of the old school Sonic titles, you’ll love seeing them brought to life with animation worthy of the characters.
It gets a B. The movie is aimed at a specific market, and a specific age group within that market, but if you’re the target audience, this is the movie you’ve always wanted.
Grade: B
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
Just as a note, I watched this film in widescreen with the original Japanese dialogue.
A new Godzilla is terrorizing Japan and nobody knows what to do. Wait, yes they do; build a giant robot doppelganger! But this time they build their Mechagodzilla from the bones of the original Godzilla, killed by the Oxygen Destroyer in Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Godzilla and Mechagodzilla throw down a couple times until somebody wins. Yes, that is the extent of the plot.
I would have to say that this is my least favorite installment of the Millenium series. It had a good concept, and Kiryu is definitely the coolest looking Mechgodzilla to date, but the movie had some serious flaws.
For one thing, the humans were just so unlikable it was hard to sit through their scenes (which were many). The female lead (who’s name escapes me…in fact, ALL the human’s names escape me because I didn’t care about them in any way whatsoever) was supposed to appear hardened and soulless but instead came off appearing like she had no acting talent and they just cast her off the street. The silly old scientist and his constant advances toward the female lead were just embarrassing. As I’ve said before, the whole “Government hires a scientist to create a weapon to destroy Godzilla” plot has been done to DEATH. And then there’s the little girl. Annoying.
But it wasn’t just the human drama that hurt this movie. The guy who played Godzilla in this film truly sucked. It’s like he was sleeping inside the suit or something. Mechagodzilla’s going all-out and missile-bombing the crap out of Godzilla…and he’s just standing there, motionless like a statue. Makes me wonder if someone was even in there. The fight scenes are just so unsatisfying thanks to the poor acting on Godzilla’s part (never thought I’d type THAT sentence).
However, the movie wasn’t ALL bad. As I said before, Kiryu looked impressive, and regardless of what others think, *I* liked the Jetpack. For once Mechagodzilla’s flying didn’t look silly. I also appreciated the origin of this Mechagodzilla, as it’s far more interesting than what they’ve written in previous films featuring the character. Add to that the use of footage from previous Toho kaiju flicks (Mothra and War of the Gargantuas) was pretty cool. Oddly, though, the DVD has the Toho Mothra icon included on the back (Godzilla DVDs recently have been including these icons to indicate which of Toho’s kaiju appear in the film) but no icon for Sanda and Gaira. They appear for just as long and in exactly the same fashion as Mothra, why don’t they get icons? They gave an icon to Gabara, for Heaven’s sake! Where’s the love for the Gargantuas? Actually, it doesn’t really bug me at all.
Another thing that ACTUALLY bugged me, though, was the dropping of a plotline that all reasoning would indicate to be an important piece of the film: Kiryu goes berserk and starts rampaging Tokyo after hearing Godzilla’s roar. After all, it was made from the bones of the original Godzilla and thus has its memories. After its batteries run out they do a little reprogramming and this is no longer an issue. Seemed more like filler to me. They’re pulling a Matrix Revolutions!
To be fair, they address this plotline more deeply in the sequel, Tokyo SOS, but after seeing this film I can’t say I’d blame anyone if they weren’t motivated to sit through the second installment.
All in all, it wasn’t a good movie. The human drama was bad and so were the kaiju battles (though some of Kiryu’s CGed moves looked okay). Add to that a very anticlimactic ending and this movie just fails to please.
It gets a D+, and that’s probably being generous.
Grade: D+
Godzilla X Megaguirus
Just as a note, I watched this film in widescreen format with the original Japanese dialogue.
Now, I really don’t understand the distaste for this movie within the fandom. The webmaster over at Monster Zero said that the movie “suffered from a weak final half hour filled with non-sensical technobabble” (to paraphrase). Um…were we watching the same movie? Despite the awkward flying mechanics for Megaguirus the final battle between him and Godzilla was one of the finest.
It’s really a damn good fight scene, with Godzilla pitted against a very different adversary like nothing he’s ever faced before. Megaguirus is blessed with godlike speed, fast enough to dodge Godzilla’s atomic breath. He really just wails on Godzilla for the bulk of the fight; it’s painful. The whole time I was screaming (in my head) “C’mon Godzilla, knock that ****er down!” And after about twenty minutes of abuse, Godzilla finally decides he’s had enough and just takes Megaguirus DOWN! The actor inside Godzilla was excellent, without a doubt. Much better than the actor who played him in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (or was that a statue?). When Godzilla finally retaliates successfully it is a real treat. And when he burns Megaguirus to the ground you can tell he REALLY wanted it. A most awesome fight.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, here. The movie’s plot goes something like this: The Japanese Government decides that the best way to destroy Godzilla is trap him in a black hole. Seems practical-enough, so they build an artificial black hole-generator. However, when they test it the machine causes a prehistoric insect called a Meganulon (those things from the original Rodan, to all you hardcore Godzilla experts) to eventually mutate into a gigantic monster dubbed “Megaguirus”. And, of course, he and Godzilla throw down.
I also have to say, I really liked the pacing of this film. It was fast, real fast. They decided not to waste the film with piddley human drama and just make it all about the monsters. And isn’t that WHY we watch Godzilla movies?
The Meganulons terrorize citizens of Tokyo in true Slasher-fashion. Indeed, parts of the movie seem like they came straight from a horror movie; there’s plenty of gratuitous gore and violence. Actually, it sort of reminded me of Godzilla vs. Destroyah and those 10-foot tall Destroyah creatures that stalked the SWAT team down inside the office building.
And by the way, this is the type of human drama I like to see in a Godzilla movie. The humans shouldn’t try to steal the show away from the monsters, they aren’t the reason I’m watching the movie. So many Godzilla films are almost ruined by really boring human drama that just drags and drags and drags (“Terror of Mechagodzilla”, for instance). This one moves at lightning quick pace and is very well acted. I actually finished the movie liking Kudo quite a bit, something I usually don’t feel about the humans (they’re different in every Godzilla film, why should I care about them?).
I really don’t understand the negative feedback given to this film in the Godzilla community. It is very good, and the second best of the Millenium series, in my honest opinion (“Giant Monsters All-Out Attack” reigns as my favorite).
But no film is without its flaws. The first appearance of Megaguirus is without a doubt one of the most painful moments I’ve ever experienced watching a Godzilla film. Why? I could see the freaking STRINGS! And I saw them TWICE! It’s 2004, people! This shouldn’t be happening! Megaguirus’ flying mechanics are quite ugly throughout his role in the film; you know that “it just wouldn’t work that way”. Megaguirus is a very well designed kaiju, though. He’s wonderfully gruesome in appearance and really looks like a monster out of a horror movie (such was the director’s intent, I’m sure).
Anyway, I give this film a solid B. Definately one of the better Godzilla films I’ve seen, and certainly one of the better installments in the Millenium series.
Grade: B
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
Just as a note, I watched this film in widescreen format with the original Japanese dialogue.
I was absolutely impressed with this film. I didn’t think they could out-do themselves after Godzilla vs. Mothra, but less than a year later they come out with this masterpiece.
First, let me get the human plot out of the way. To be honest, it may very well be the BEST human drama to ever appear in a Godzilla film (outside the Raymond Burr plot in the Americanized original). It was refreshingly creative. Too often the films rely on mad scientists, reporters and government agencies to drive the human plot, but this was something completely new. A Princess from a fictional country goes crazy and believes she is a prophet from the planet Venus (and may very well be), so she travels around warning people of the coming of monsters and Ghidorah’s imminent destruction of Earth. All the while assassins are after her because the king of her country (her father, no less) wants her dead. And while THIS is going on a police officer dedicates himself to tracking her down and protecting her from her pursuers while his sister, a news reporter, follows in order to get an exclusive on her prophecies. This carried the movie wonderfully. It never got boring or outrageously stupid, and makes this one of the best Godzilla movies for repeated viewings.
Now for the kaiju segments. There are a lot of fan favorites in this movie. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and the new-comer, King Ghidorah. It’s easily the best Showa era kaiju team-up outside Destroy All Monsters.
Godzilla’s suit went through a little change, no more big brown eyebrows. Also, his atomic breath has thankfully been changed from a smoke-machine to exclusively animation. There’s a funny scene where Ghidorah zaps Godzilla in the ass and he starts to rub his behind in pain. Hey, compared to the Irish Jig in the next film, this was comedy gold.
Rodan looked fine to me. Some people complain about the length of his neck, but it didn’t really bother me. I thought it was an improvement on his suit in the previous Rodan movie. My only issue was the size of his head, but that’s been a problem with all the Rodan costumes I’ve seen (save for the Heisei and Millenium incarnations); it’s way too small. Rodan proved to be a decent fighting partner for Godzilla, though they got off to a rough start. I still prefer to think of Anguirus as Godzilla’s “#1 Guy”, though.
Mothra was a Larva again. Just one this time, as her sister apparently died between this and the last movie. Mothra is again the goody-two-shoes savior of Earth that the tiny Princesses call upon whenever the world is in monster peril. The effects shots with them were done just as flawlessly as in the last movie. In fact, it was interesting to see them kind of working on relations between Infant Island and Japan, appearing on talk shows and being regarded as celebrities rather than sideshow freaks to be captured and exploited.
King Ghidorah is inarguably the star of the show. A nice origin set up for him. I liked the whole Space Demon-thing, a nice change-up from the tired “Dinosaur gets frozen in ice and mutated” device used with Godzilla, Anguirus and Rodan (Rodan wasn’t frozen in ICE but it was the same concept). His first appearance is magnificent. The combination of animation and explosions set him up perfectly. In fact, it was SO cool they recycled it a couple times in future installments. I have to say, visually, Ghidorah is the most impressive of all the kaiju. The wire-work involved in making his heads, tails and wings all function separately at the same time must’ve been quite an undertaking. But the end result is spectacular. As far as the Showa series goes, King Ghidorah is the most worthy of being called “Godzilla’s Arch-Nemesis”. Not just because he’s fought him the most times, but because it always takes a team-up for Godzilla to beat him. Ghidorah is stronger and has all sorts of advantages over him. Personally, Ghidroah’s my second favorite kaiju (Anguirus being numero uno).
Then there’s the fight scene. It starts out with the three heroic kaiju having a “conference”, complete with dialogue translation by the Princesses (apparently all kaiju speak the same language). Mothra gets on top of a hill and acts as the “Chairman” whilst Godzilla and Rodan bicker below about the pros and cons of helping the humans. It’s absolutely hilarious, and though campy and silly, it’s done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, not to be taken too seriously. I loved it.
In the end they all teamed-up to take down Ghidorah. I liked Rodan’s hurricane attack, much more effective than I remember it being. He also got the best blow against Ghidorah. During their aerial chase scene Rodan turns completely around at a moment’s notice and just SLAMS into Ghidorah. Next thing you see is Rodan laying on the ground next to the quickly recovering Ghidorah and you could tell he was thinking “Crap, I shouldn’t have done that”. The final part of the battle where they all work together to defeat Ghidorah is the finest example of a kaiju team-up. Mothra gets on Rodan’s back and flies to a vantage point to shoot stun webbing at Ghidorah while Godzilla holds him in place from behind.
I also have to congratulate this movie for maintaining perfect continuity. Rodan digs himself out of the volcano he got trapped inside of in his last movie, Godzilla’s under water (big surprise), Mothra’s back at Infant Island but in larva form as seen at the end of Godzilla vs. Mothra and her sister has apparently died, hence there’s only one of her.
On a personal note, this ranks in my Top 5 Godzilla Movies, and gets a B+ from me. One of the best films in the franchise.
Grade: B+