MartinHafer Lupin the 3rd was a very popular manga when it appeared in the 1960s. It was so popular that it spawned several anime television series, several animated films and even some live action films. And, it hasn't just been popular in Japan but other countries, such as Italy. In the case of "Lupin 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro", it's a great film not just for Lupin fans but of Studio Ghibli, as it's Hiyao Miyazaki's first movie...which isn't surprising since he animated/directed many of the television shows before this full- length version. As for me, despite their popularity, I have never seen nor read any of the Lupin stories...so you might want to keep this in mind when you read the review. I have seen just about everything from Ghibli...and that is why I watched the movie.One thing I noticed up front is that this film, quality-wise, is nothing like a typical Ghibli movie. It looks like a made for television animated show and lacks the high quality animation you've come to expect after seeing such great films as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away". Anyone who would give this film a score of 10 is, in my opinion, completely ignoring the picture's visual shortcomings...as it really looks cheap. Repetitive backgrounds, garish colors and a lack of depth to the animation...it really looks like a TV anime stretched to full-length. But, you have to start somewhere!Another thing you can't help but notice is that this film is NOT intended for kids...which is true of a lot of anime and manga. With ample cursing, it's obvious this is a more adult movie. This is not necessarily meant as a criticism...but you might want to keep this in mind when you think about showing it to young kids. The language isn't horrible...but it is PG-13.Overall, a mildly entertaining film that may please some Miyazi fans but which bored me and left me marveling at how much better Ghibli became with subsequent films. Only for the curious or insanely devoted fans of Lupin III who, no doubt, will find no fault in this less than inspiring feature. Not terrible but not at all what I was hoping it would be.

Eric Stevenson For all the good and bad films I've had to sit through for Superhero Month, I am so glad to be starting off strong with Anime Month! We start off with none other than the directorial debut of the most famous anime director, Hayao Miyazaki! I had no idea that he even worked on this movie. Of course, he's simply been a part of almost every beloved anime film not based on an anime or manga. Actually, this one was based on a manga! I guess he started off not doing original ideas. It was great to see an anime film all the way back from 1979, especially with me judging on whether or not the film holds up.And guess what? It holds up perfectly! For being the oldest anime film on this list, that's quite an achievement. This movie features Lupin III saving a princess in a castle from an evil count. I admit the only bad thing is that the plot is kind of weak. It's still great to watch this wonderfully entertaining character, Lupin III, get into all sorts of mischief! From what I heard, in the original manga, he was actually more villainous, so some loyal fans are against this movie. I personally found him one of the most likable anime characters ever made. I love his voice, his style, and all the great backgrounds and twists and subversive love story, as expected from Miyazaki. ***1/2

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) Lupin the Third was a name I was not at all familiar with before seeing this film. He's a popular character that started out as a Japanese manga comic and then eventually became a TV series that spawned a plethora of film adaptations. Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is, arguably, the most popular of all the Lupin films for one reason and one reason only... Hayao Miyazaki. This is the very first feature length film from Mr. Miyazaki, the now legendary anime director. It's a fun and light hearted adventure film where the eccentric and noble thief Lupin the Third attempts to find the immense fortune of the Castle of Cagliostro, but on the way he falls in love with the princess of the castle who is set to marry the evil Count of Cagliostro. Lupin rearranges his priorities and sets out to save the princess in lew of the riches. It's a film that is simple, easy, and pretty entertaining.It's interesting to watch this film because it has Miyazaki elements all throughout, but you can tell that it is his first film. His style hadn't quite developed at this point and it is clear that this film was more of just an attempt to get his feet off the ground so he could go on to make more impassioned projects like My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away. That being said, he puts enough effort into Lupin the Third to make it a pretty dang fun film.There isn't anything very special here, nor does the story go any further than what you get on the surface. It is a very simple adventure story that doesn't try to incorporate any complexities or deep thought into it. But it's simply not that kind of movie, and I can gather that Lupin the Third isn't really that kind of character. He's a likable thief and there's not much more to it than that. The intrigue and fun just comes from seeing what kind of antics he can get himself in and out of. With that in mind this film gets the job done. It's fun and makes for decent escapism entertainment. There are some very creative Miyazaki-esque elements on the overall visual side of the film, but nothing like we see in his later spectacles. This is just a fun little flick that you don't have to think too much about. I don't have any strong opinions on any aspect of the film. It's just a pretty good little flick.

johnnyboyz One of the more remarkable things about 1979's The Castle of Cagliostro is just how well it melds together. The film bites off all of this material; all these reference points and points of inspiration, spanning a wide range of genres and prior texts, and just manages to lump it all together into a tale which is at once dizzy; electrifying; enrapturing and never confused nor with a sense of mangled, ill judged hybridisation afoot. The film is a spectacular romp, one of the finest animated films I think I may have ever seen and one of the best stand alone adventure films, animated or otherwise, that may have ever been made. For sure, the film is for adult audiences; its sub plot to do with women being forced into arranged marriages, its holding of people against their will element and its the general crime-come-heist genre related content, which in itself sees characters steal; thieve and use an array of weapons to varying degrees, is enough for it to remain strictly for adults. In spite of this, it has a sort of giddy, child-like glee to it – the film is like one long incarnation of the adventure games one may have played out with action figures as a kid, when acting out taboo sequences featuring made-up characters getting hurt and forced into less than social situations were one's world because you knew it existed but had to be sheltered from its fictitious incarnations at this early stage in one's life.Indeed, the film will begin with a heist sequence. Two people, the eventual lead and his supporting act, steal a large sum of money from a casino situated in the south of Europe; make it to their getaway car; speed on out of there and then need-do nothing much else but laugh at those flailing in their wake as the establishment employees desperately try to give chase in their pre-sabotaged automobiles. The twosome, a sort of precursor to the Samuel L. Jackson/John Travolta duo making up the opening and closing segments of Tarantino's 1994 Pulp Fiction (itself an opus of homage) is made up of Daisuke Jigen (voiced by Kiyoshi Kobayashi) and Arsene Lupin (Yamada), who is, I read, a long standing franchise protagonist whose adventures and quests have made for cult reading over a number of years.Disaster strikes when they look deeper into the cash haul they've just obtained and realise that it is made up of fake currency, an instance at once calling to mind Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch when the chaos and mania of the opening was then cruelly understated by the fact the whole thing was a set up for a fake haul. The difference being that we do not get an elderly man rather humorously dancing around the frame paraphrasing "You went through all that for five dollars worth of washers!" Agrieved, Lupin and Jigen decide to hit the place wherein the forgery was supposedly created: a castle in a neighbouring, fictional principality wherein a cruel count has say over most matters, a stretch of land located on the continent neatly syncing up with this overriding sense of hybridisation in the sense it essentially appears to be derivative of somewhere such as San Marino, although carries with it the geographical characteristics of somewhere else such as Liechtenstein. Upon arrival, an important altercation with a young woman named Clarisse (Shimamoto) comes to further shape Lupin's presence there; a woman revealed to be a princess and whose introduction of being involved in a high speed road chase as she is pursued by an ugly assortment of henchmen has her come close to death before being whisked back the principality's centrepiece: that titular castle Lupin and Jigen plan on hitting.From this premise, renowned director of animation Hayao Miyazaki spins the sort of tale fraught with danger; adventure; excitement and that overriding conflict between good and evil that you would see in any child's comic book or early morning weekend kid's television show. Rest assured, that is a compliment – we come to root for those who might ordinarily be slimy thief archetypes against that of a man of royalty and affluence who's actually a sordid and morally decrepit individual doing well to make the lives of those around him a living Hell. The Count is voiced by Tarô Ishida, but it is the work of Kirk Thornton in the English language dub who really brings to life the character with a snarling, patronising tone which goes a long way. An additional element to proceedings is global agent Inspector Zenigata (Naya), who "goes where Lupin goes" and has made it his mission to bring this crook to justice. The fact he too has stumbled into this unpleasant plot to marry someone off to a monster makes for often amusing viewing. For sure, Miyazaki's film sees women locked in towers awaiting "knights" so that they may be rescued, but the depiction of your more standardised fairytale archetypes (such as picturesque castles and royal weddings on the horizon) as fundamentally broken attributes to a sordid, disfigured community is what's at the core of the film and it runs parallel with our rooting for a shyster who's actually quite charming.The films genre fusion and adventurous style is infectious, from its Bond-esque opening credits sequence through to its Modern Times inspired finale, the film holds together in a way that is quite remarkable given there are moments in which it appears everything is about to fall apart at the seams. Pleasingly, that doesn't happen while overall it is difficult to find fault with the film; a project with an immense amount of both energy and cine-literacy which just never wears one out: an animation that does its fair share of thrashing around and yet is quietly beautiful in its animation what with several sequences ranging from car chases to the negating of castle walls via the air. All things aside, this is something to seek out.