Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro

Lupin III is one of the biggest anime properties in Japan, with several long-running series and many many movies. However, only a few of those movies are even worth watching, and Castle of Cagliostro is the best of all of them. This film has many fans, and probably one of the most famous of them all is Steven Spielberg, who heralded this movie as one of the greatest adventure movies of all time. Another thing this movie has going for it is that it was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the famous Japanese animator.

So how does one of Miyazaki's first movies rate?

Visual Quality-15 points. Having been made in the 70s most of the animation is not as great as the newer computer assisted movies, but everything still looks pretty good, and the characters are well animated. Since this movie is a part of a franchise not many points can be awarded for new character design, but the villians and new characters all seem to be pretty original.


Plot-38 points. This movie comes up with a completely original story that stands on its own when not viewed in the context of the T.V. series, and the storyline is pretty good also. Basically it revolves around a thief, Lupin III, who ends up trying to stop a notorious counterfeiter, and finds time to save a princess. I know it sounds kind of hokey, but give it a chance, it's worth it. The ending is fully resolved, and the movie is not too long, two things that often plague other Miyazaki movies. The only place that it loses points in is that some people will need to have a little bit of background info on the characters in order to understand some of the character relationships.
Characters- 29 points. This is probably the best any Lupin III related show is going to get, and as a result Lupin III, and his friends are at their best in this movie. The character development largely focuses on the newly introduced characters, and spends some time on the gang from the T.V. show. The lines in this movie are all great, seriously some of the best stuff I've heard in anime, Manga Entertainment, the English translators for this movie have done a great job, just thought I should mention that.

Music- 8 points. Some of the music in this movie is a little dated, but its still all good.

Visual Quality-15 points, Plot-38 points, Characters- 29 points, Music- 8 points

Overall score 90 points.