The Castle of Cagliostro: The Infinite Limits of Animation

I was first going to just focus on the aspect of how in Hayao Miyazaki's directorial debut, The Castle of Cagliostro, the reality of animation can be exaggerated, where the film knows its being ridiculous but has a great time at doing so, showing the possibilities of an animated world. Instead, I'll step back a little bit and talk about how damn incredible and fun this film is. What is incredible about this film is its compelling nature to inspire while at the same time pose itself as a jesting tribute to many classic film genres. Its an adventure, one of the greatest of all time, in the same vein as classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings.

I know that's a loaded statement to make, but the brilliance of The Castle of Cagliostro lies in its free-flowing versatility due to its lack of caring of any rigid logic or physical laws that reality may oppress upon the characters. Instead, there seems to be an amusing lack of respect for such logic and we buy it because of the colorful characters who seem to be in on the joke with the film itself. Consider the opening scene, where Lupin and Daisuke steal from the Monaco casino. While mimicking the music, we witness abrupt suspension of disbelief as the duo jump over several hurdles at once while seeming to stretch themselves out to elongate their leaps. We see Lupin give a obnoxious smile while Daisuke retains his cigarette with a stone face. Such a depiction of hilarity sets us up for a world governed by such radically exuberant behavior. It also sets up the wonderful main character and his cohort, who seem to be invulnerable to fear and impossibility and roll with whatever challenges confront them, all in this one action.

Take another scene, where Lupin tries to rescue Princess Clarisse from an isolated tower. He perched himself on the top of a roof on another tower, ready to use his grappling hook that he somehow managed to cram in his suit. When he drops the grappling hook he chases after it, running down the steep roof facing the princess's tower. He gains much speed, the animation indicating it by blurs of legs and his upper body becoming more parallel to the ground. Lupin gains so much speed that he is able to leap from this tower to the other, a leap of impossibility made possible by the reality of animation. The film never questions such illogical acts. Yes, as I say this, the great Looney Tunes, who seem to defy an sort of code of physical laws (and I am thinking most of the roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote). Yet, the Looney Tunes are in a world of their own, I will speak a little later of the world Cagliostro is set in makes for a pseudo-serious backdrop to which these illogical activities occur in a way that heightens the comedy. Anyways, this film does much to exaggerate human action as well as human emotion and interplay since animation can allow such absurdity and it does so in a way that seems to make fun of characters, cynicism, or anything else it can grab a hold of. When Lupin gives Clarisse the (fake) ring and reveals the hanging line of country flags, there is both a profound sense of tease at the traditional courtship gallantry and a heartfelt mannerism; a gentle tease, if you will. This comes right after Lupin's leap, so the attitude of this whole scene is colored with the mood of accentuated exaggeration (a term which I used for another animated film).

To understand this concept even further, look at Miyazaki's body of work later on. Many of his other films, though they are drenched in imagination and visual complexity, never really act as though they are getting away with moments in the the narrative. Sure, there is exaggeration, but animation will always contain that in some sense. Cagliostro takes place in a world that seems very real, or, maybe more specifically, matured. Yet, with us following a character like Lupin, and his allowance to leap great lengths, drive his car up cliffs, and really just not die becomes a one to one correspondence to his character, breaking the rules and ignoring fear. Again, those leaps at the beginning of the film suggest to us this mastery of reality or an introduction to an animated reality. From there, you realize that this fits with the personality of Lupin and his cohorts; the film seems to be one of them.

Let me discuss more about Lupin, who is said to be a descendant of the master thief Arsene Lupin of the Maurice Leblanc series of novels. He is a character in the vein of Robin Hood, Scarlet Pimpernel, and even Indiana Jones, who ultimately is untouchable and has fluidity to weave through the constraints of social norms. Again, he projects his whole self on this elaborate world, which is the whole tone and feel that the film applies to itself. He ridicules upper-class snide and political riffraff but respects people where he sees fit. A brilliant flashback has him tell the story of how he first met Clarisse. In what seems like Lupin at his most serious, the flashback scenes when he was a 'punk kid' bring back his jovial approach to life. Yet, this amusement, I feel, is more than just for laughs. It brings about a character that has figure things out and knows what he wants with his life, such that by the end, and end which I applaud since Lupin does not take Clarisse with her and doesn't see her as an object of his gratification, we feel strongly of his convictions and admire his hilarious disposition. Though this isn't a character Miyazaki created, he understood that the film needed to not only follow Lupin with the plot but absorb his personality in the other elements of film. Hence, this film is essentially using animation as a showcase of projecting a character such as Lupin truthfully and, conversely, we observe what animation can do, its exaggeration as emotional emphasis.

People may find such analysis detrimental to a film like this, yet the fun you will be having in this film is due to these deliberate choices. The Castle of Cagliostro is a marvelous piece of adventure since it doesn't constrict the sense of adventure with unnecessary devices; any emotion this film has is packed into the adventure and to the events the construct it. This film uses animations in a glorious manner; a way in which live action cannot do. It is not really the aspect of making something look 'cartoony' or less like a human and more about underlining feelings and emotions through simplification. In a time where many animated films of all sorts try to force themselves into being hip, already run down with so many sequels, whose dialogue appears to be taken from a random assemblage of Facebook statuses, it's hard to find animated films that are expressive, significant, and bold. I feel it is even harder to find one that feels classic in the sense that it draws upon many forms of inspiration as well a reflect other great films of the time. The Castle of Cagliostro has many inspirations, from Leblanc to film noir to Japan's own samurai folklore. It was also made four years after Jaws and two years before Raiders of the Lost Ark. This animated film stands with these popular classics because it does the same thing they do and just as well. After watching all three films I feel inspired to go on some kind of an adventure. It is a feeling that has a deep attraction and one I love to experience over and over again. It's hard to deny greatness if that is the sort of experience you have.