[In September, there was a Miyazaki festival in Vienna. This is the first movie I’m going to review from that festival. They had planned to show Ponyo as the highlight at the end but becaue of some contractual problems, they didn’t, unfortunately.]

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is Hayao Miyazaki‘s first feature film.

Plot:
Lupin is a master thief. When he hears of a batch of excellently forged money, he travels to Cagliostro where he gets more than he bargained for: Not only does he have to save a girl, but also has to solve a riddle that goes back five hundred years.

Lupin III is not at all like Miyazaki’s later films. It’s quite clear that it’s not based on his original material and it’s still stuck way more in the general Anime conventions than his later work. Still it’s funny and entertaining.

Before I say anything else, let me say this: I’m not a huge fan of Anime. Not saying that there’s no good stuff there but I can’t really enjoy the conventions (as I do with horror movies) nor do I like the aesthetics that much. Miyazaki is the exception to the rule because his movies don’t adhere to either that much. Therefore I was really hesitant to watch Lupin III because it was clear that this movie wouldn’t be like that. But since I had already seen all the other movies in the programme, I decided to go for it.

And in the end I’m pretty glad I did. I didn’t expect much but I was pleasantly surprised. Lupin III is funny, much funnier than I ever thought it would be.

While the character design was still very crude, the landscapes and backgrounds already hint at the beauty Miyazaki will create lateron. But the characters themselves – great. I especially like Inspector Zenigata and Fujiko.

The story itself is fun. Nothing terribly surprising but so well executed that you neither need nor want it to be.

Summarising: not as good as Miyazaki’s later work, but still good entertainment.