Cheap Miyazaki 3 Pack (Spirited Away/Castle in the Sky/Kiki's Delivery Service) (DVD) (Miyu Irino) (Hayao Miyazaki) Price
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The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history (more than $234 million), Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro Kamikakushi) is a dazzling film that reasserts the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Lewis Carroll's Alice, Chihiro (voice by Daveigh Chase--Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch) plunges into an alternate reality. On the way to their new home, the petulant adolescent and her parents find what they think is a deserted amusement park. Her parents stuff themselves until they turn into pigs, and Chihiro discovers they're trapped in a resort for traditional Japanese gods and spirits. An oddly familiar boy named Haku (Jason Marsden) instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the greedy witch who rules the spa. As she works, Chihiro's untapped qualities keep her from being corrupted by the greed that pervades Yubaba's mini-empire. In a series of fantastic adventures, she purges a river god suffering from human pollution, rescues the mysterious No-Face, and befriends Yubaba's kindly twin, Zeniba (Pleshette again). The resolve, bravery, and love Chihiro discovers within herself enable her to aid Haku and save her parents. The result is a moving and magical journey, told with consummate skill by one of the masters of contemporary animation. --Charles Solomon
Castle in the Sky
Inspired by "Gulliver's Travels," the fantasy-adventure Castle in the Sky (1986) was Miyazaki's third feature, and helped to establish his reputation as a visionary in both Japan and America. The orphan Sheeta inherited a mysterious crystal that links her to the legendary sky-kingdom of Laputa. With the help of resourceful Pazu and a rollicking band of sky pirates, she makes her way to the ruins of the once-great civilization. Sheeta and Pazu must outwit the evil Muska, who plans to use Laputa's science to make himself ruler of the world. Castle echoes elements in Myazaki's earlier Nausicaä, and anticipates imagery in his later films, from My Neighbor Totoro to Spirited Away. Disney's new English dub, which features Anna Paquin (Sheeta), James Van Der Beek (Pazu) and Cloris Leachman (pirate matriarch Dola) is lively and close in tone to the original Japanese, if a bit talkier. The exciting flying sequences, appealing characters, and fantastic vision of a steam-powered future Jules Verne might have imagined make Castle in the Sky a must-have for fans of Japanese and Western animation. --Charles Solomon
Kiki's Delivery Service
In Kiki's Delivery Service, a 13-year-old girl meets the world head on as she spends her first year soloing as an apprentice witch. Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a cat Jiji (a gently subdued Phil Hartman) by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home. Miyazaki's gentle rhythm and meandering narrative capture the easy pulse of real life (even if his subject is a girl flying high upon a broomstick) and charts the everyday struggles and growing pains of his plucky heroine with sensitivity and understanding. Beautifully detailed animation and the rich designs of the picture-postcard seaside town of red-tiled roofs and cobblestone streets only add to the sense of wonder. This charming animated fantasy is a wholesome, life-affirming picture that doesn't speak down to kids or up to adults. --Sean Axmaker
| ACTORS: | Miyu Irino |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Hayao Miyazaki |
| MPAA RATING: | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 6 |
| UPC: | 786936223613 |
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Customer Reviews of Miyazaki 3 Pack (Spirited Away/Castle in the Sky/Kiki's Delivery Service)
A masterful trio by Studio Ghibli ...although actually, these films were never intended to be anything of the sort ;).
Although Disney has shown an irritating hesitation to publicize or release the films they have purchased the US rights to from Studio Ghibli, this three-set is still most welcome. Spirited Away was my introduction to the studio's works, and is probably one of my all-time favorite movies. These three DVDs, although sparing on the extras, hold up to scrutiny, and I give them my heartfelt reccommendation.
Kiki's Delivery Service is a light-hearted tale that gently chides the world for its harshness, well nevertheless remaining optimistic and true to its form. Spirited Away is a heartfelt adventure, in which the main character does not face good or evil, but simply a need to adapt to a new world and a new set of rules, and to overcome their lesser attributes. And Castle in the Sky is a wonderful, vaguely Star-Wars-y adventure about a confused girl who is ready to meet her destiny.
Did you notice I just used the word 'heart' twice in three sentences? Well, these movies have a *lot* of heart to them, more so than any typical viewing from the House of Mouse. These aren't a packet of slickly-paced jokes, or an 'epic' tale of Good vs. Evil. They simply...are. And they shine for it.
Each DVD contains three language tracks...English, Japanese, and either French or Spanish (Spanish for Kiki, French for the other two). The English version comes with subtitles for the hearing impaired, true to the dub (which is slightly different from the original Japanese version, although not much). There are also literal subtitles for the Japanese track...they're big and obvious, if you even stop to follow any of the instructions or pay any attention at all.
Actually, I prefer the dub for Kiki's delivery service, and I think I might for Spirited Away, too. I haven't yet tinkered with the Japanese Castle in the Sky (which, by the way, was rescored...the original score was maybe one hour of original melodies for a two-hour movie. Ghibli decided that they might as well fix an old annoyance, and the new soundtrack is awesome). Disney did a very good job; the voice actors for the English versions managed to cover some sort of poorly chosen lines rather well.
The movies are, in short, not 'Disney-fied' at all, and if you find the English versions unsatisfactory, you can still experience the pure Japanese bliss. Good show, Disney. Now take a cue from these guys in Japan!
2 of the 3 movies in this pack are well worth the price
I haven't seen Castle in the Sky yet, but am quickly becoming a huge fan of Studio Ghemli and Miyazaki. Spirited Away is a masterpiece, filled with beautiful animation and interesting 3-dimensional characters. Kiki's Delivery Service is a charming, beautifully animated and voiced film. The Amercian dubbed version of both films is excellently done by well known and respected voice talent.
Both Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service are much sweeter stories than (& lack the violence of) Miyazaki's acclaimed Princess Mononoki, but no less excellent. Both are gentle stories about young girls coming to terms with growing up and fitting in with society. Unlike Disney, and American animation in general, these stories are much more character driven than plot dependent but never drag. I was swept up from the first moment and the stories kept me interested all the way to the end. None of the characters are black and white good or evil. They are all multifaceted giving the films a very true to life feel despite the mythical and magical themes portrayed in both films.
Also, the violence associated with other anime is absent here, making these 2 films a great way to introduce younger audiences to Japanese culture and mythology through anime. I would highly recommend either of these films and to find them together along with a 3rd Miyazaki film is a real treat.
Miyazaki spirits audiences away
Hayao Miyazaki is undoubtedly one of the best children's filmmakers today. Here three of his best are collected together: "Kiki's Delivery Service," "Castle in the Sky," and "Spirited Away" -- all overflowing with charm, color, beauty, sadness, and spirit.
In "Kiki's Delivery Service," a determined young witch-in-training (Kirsten Dunst) sets out from her hometown to hone her powers out in the world, with only her cat Jiji (Phil Hartman) by her side. She finds a home and job in a picturesque little town, and puts her broomstick to good use as she sets up a delivery service -- and gets to know some of the townsfolk around her.
Action and fantasy are given a Jules Verne twist in "Castle in the Sky." Miner boy Pazu (James Van Der Beek) sees a girl slowly float down from the sky, suspended by a glowing crystal necklace. Sheeta (Anna Paquin) befriends the orphaned boy, but soon pirates and military thugs are chasing both of the children, so they can use Sheeta to find the fabled floating city of Laputa. To save Sheeta, Pazu teams up with some bumbling pirates -- and finds more than he ever expected up in the clouds.
Academy Award Winner "Spirited Away" opens with Chihiro (Daveigh Chase) being unwillingly moved to a new town. But when her parents take a detour into an abandoned amusement park, they are suddenly turned into pigs. Turns out the park is really a resort for powerful spirits and gods. To save her parents, Chihiro sacrifices her freedom and her name to the vicious Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette). And she allies herself with Yubaba's henchman Haku (James Marsden), a mysterious boy who seems somehow familiar to her.
While technically the Miyazaki three-pack is for kids, adults will probably enjoy the stories as well. These are well-crafted, beautifully-animated films that manage to be uplifting and sweet without ever descending to sappiness. In short, they're smart films. They don't talk down to kids, but they won't alienate adults by being childish.
The animation is uniformly beautiful, full of bright colors and clean lines. And Miyazaki has an excellent story-telling range: He produces the resort-towns of "Kiki," the richly dark-edged world of monsters, ghosts and spirits in "Spirited away," and the slam-bang action and majesty of "Castle." And he doesn't forget to mix plenty of the fantastical in too. In what other movies can you see a six-foot-tall baby, a pirate street-brawl, and a girl riding a dragon through underground tunnels?
Miyazaki also has an excellent grasp of character development, presenting us with the plucky Kiki and resourceful miner boy Pazu. But the best character is perhaps Chihiro, who starts off whining relentlessly, but showing her courage and love as the story goes on. Even the villains are multi-dimensional, even if "Castle"'s Muska goes perilously close to the megalomaniac tyrant cliche.
Miyazaki -- whose latest project is an adaptation of Diana Wynne-Jones' fantasy novel "Howl's Moving Castle" -- is definitely a wonderful filmmaker. These three movies are charming, evocative, emotional, and occasionally even epic. Highly recommended.