This is a terrific animated action-adventure from Hayao Miyazaki, filled with gorgeous animation, wonderful music, thrilling action-pieces, and characters that one can care about. For an animated feature made in 1986, it still stands remarkably well today. Please note that the review before refers to an original US release in 1989 which unfortunately didn't last long (with a dub which is pretty much forgotten by all but the most loyal of devotees who have imported the Japanese R2 DVD). The version currently available in the U.S. is Disney's DVD release which features a star-powered English track for folks who don't want to read subtitles. The Disney dub benefits greatly from an expertly rerecorded soundtrack by the film's original composer Joe Hisaishi, as well as strong vocal performances by Anna Paquin, Mandy Patinkin, Cloris Leachman (who is perfect as sky-pirate captain Dola), and Mark Hamill (in arguably one of his best roles since STAR WARS). James Van Der Beek's portrayal of the main character sometimes comes off as a tad too mature-sounding for his (younger-drawn) role, but his actual voice acting is grossly underrated. Purists will understandably stick to the Japanese version (which is included on the DVD), but the Disney dub is nonetheless of excellent quality and worth watching.