Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro is a 1979 anime film by Hayao Miyazaki (co-founder of Studio Ghibli!). The characters are from a TV series, though this film is unrelated to the TV plot. In short, Lupin III is a master thief, who travels to a small, independent country in search of the source of legendary counterfeit notes. The villain behind the notes also happens to have locked a young woman in a tower, and has forced her to marry him, in order to find an ancient treasure of the Cagliostro family. Of course, our hero Lupin then proceeds to save the day. For me, this film had a strange 007/Ace Ventura knock-off feel to it, as Lupin is a bit of a womaniser, some cool gadgets etc, whilst being quite a ridiculous character. What really struck me about the film is its style. Having seen Miyazaki's more recent films first, watching one of his pre-Ghibli creations really emphasies the changes he has gone through as a director and writer. Whilst films like Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away can be interpreted to have deeper messages, Castle of Cagliostro is purely an action adventure film decorated with screwball comedy and goofy characters. Even the drawing style is very different - a lot more cartoonish than the modern anime we usually see. The car chase at the beginning of the film was just as thrilling as if it were live action, something I rarely experience with an animated piece. Although I was unimpressed with the film at first, it turned out to be very entertaining with great animation and clean cut storytelling. The drawing style of Studio Ghibli films is something that has always been an important factor for me in determining how good the film was (Mononoke, Howl, Spirited Away all were aesthetically so, so pleasing). However, this film has led me to question this line of thought, as the cartoony style juxtaposed with the slapstick comedy just makes this animation all the better. The huge contrast with other Miyazaki works makes me appreciate this film a lot more. Once again, the man amazes me.
Friday, 12 June 2009
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1979).
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro is a 1979 anime film by Hayao Miyazaki (co-founder of Studio Ghibli!). The characters are from a TV series, though this film is unrelated to the TV plot. In short, Lupin III is a master thief, who travels to a small, independent country in search of the source of legendary counterfeit notes. The villain behind the notes also happens to have locked a young woman in a tower, and has forced her to marry him, in order to find an ancient treasure of the Cagliostro family. Of course, our hero Lupin then proceeds to save the day. For me, this film had a strange 007/Ace Ventura knock-off feel to it, as Lupin is a bit of a womaniser, some cool gadgets etc, whilst being quite a ridiculous character. What really struck me about the film is its style. Having seen Miyazaki's more recent films first, watching one of his pre-Ghibli creations really emphasies the changes he has gone through as a director and writer. Whilst films like Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away can be interpreted to have deeper messages, Castle of Cagliostro is purely an action adventure film decorated with screwball comedy and goofy characters. Even the drawing style is very different - a lot more cartoonish than the modern anime we usually see. The car chase at the beginning of the film was just as thrilling as if it were live action, something I rarely experience with an animated piece. Although I was unimpressed with the film at first, it turned out to be very entertaining with great animation and clean cut storytelling. The drawing style of Studio Ghibli films is something that has always been an important factor for me in determining how good the film was (Mononoke, Howl, Spirited Away all were aesthetically so, so pleasing). However, this film has led me to question this line of thought, as the cartoony style juxtaposed with the slapstick comedy just makes this animation all the better. The huge contrast with other Miyazaki works makes me appreciate this film a lot more. Once again, the man amazes me.
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