Manga movie at it's best!

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2000)

I remember the first time I ever saw this movie in it's uncut original VCR release by chance and didn't realise that I had by sheer luck stumbled upon a piece of manga movie masterpiece. The first thing that came into my mind after viewing this movie as a 12 year old child was it's absolutely stunning animation and breath-taking action. The creators and animators were able to place the viewers literally on screen with the main characters by the use of dynamic camera angles which best captured the action as well as very fine detailed animations, which were best illustrated in the chase scene on the railroads where Pazu and Sheeta who narrowly escapes their captors. But as I grew older so did my impressions of this movie change. What makes Laputa so good were not only for it's action and animations but it's strongest point lies in it's storyline and script which were able to elicit emotions in it's viewers, and the soundtrack compliments this movie superbly. I was about to compare this movie with others in its genre but after careful consideration I don't think there's ever been another manga/cartoon movie that comes close to it. After reading this review I bet you'll all think that I'm pretty bias, but then again isn't everybody who has seen this movie? Just a note for those of you who has only seen the VCD version or later release of Laputa....many key scene have been cut out of this later release and I highly recommend trying to get an uncut copy of this movie for you to fully appreciate what the creators intended it to be.