Castle in the Sky is in the same playing field as Nausicaa and My Neighbor Totoro; classics that will stand the tests of time. For an 80's film, it hasn't aged at all, considering it came out around the same time Transformers the Movie did. And on Blu-ray with the Hi-Def treatment (and some minor cleaning), the film is a brand new experience for anyone who has seen it before.
The picture quality in this outing is on par with other previous releases from around this time. Colors, primaries especially, are more robust than the DVD counterpart, lots of pinks and indigos. None of the typical videotape artifacts are present. That being said, dim lit sequences (the third act especially) do show dust anomalies with the frames, but I believe this is more of problem with the technology in general, not necessarily the individual films. Nausicaa has this issue too, as does Akira, and both of those films have been worked over many times.
Sound quality on the Blu-ray is better than many other similar entries. At no point do I have to change the volume level to hear Ponsu's voice over the score. While on that topic, I prefer the American dubbed track over the Japanese track in this film. Mark Hammel (Luke Skywalker people), Anna Paquin (True Blood), James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek), Tress McNeil (EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN, but especially Futurama) will peek your attention as they were perfect casting choices for the American dub. Andy Dick is in there too, see if you can decipher which of the pirate bros. he is! I love Disney/Studio Ghibli colabs for this reason. They always get the perfect voice actors for the dubs.
All of the typical Miyazaki plot and character tropes are in Castle in the Sky. Powerful indomitable women, misunderstood males, technology vs. nature, flying, aircrafts, eggs, obligatory food and eating segments, it's all there. The storyline is somewhere between National Treasure and Goonies. I'll let you watch the movie and decide which of the 20 typical plotlines it's predominantly comprised of.
As for extras, this is one of the few that doesn't have too much additional content. There's some sneak peeks, a storyboard of the film, and that's about it. But for a film that helped spark the Studio Ghibli craze and set the course for other installments like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky is an addition to your anime library that you shouldn't pass up!
