Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This review is not of the movie itself -- which is amazing -- but rather of the 2010 Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack. If you're someone who used to rent this movie from Blockbuster and is used to the 2003 English dub, then odds are, this DVD/Combo pack will disappoint you. The reason why is because when Disney remastered the film in 2010, they cut a significant amount of the audio from the English dub. I ordered this movie because I loved it as a child, and for me, a big part of reliving that nostalgia in movies comes from listening to the same familiar sounds, voices, and scores that grew to become a part of my inner memory of the movie itself. Sitting down to watch this was incredibly disappointing to me because it's not just the background "chatter" of other characters that's gone, but they also cut memorable lines of dialogue, and much of the musical score as well. You know those sweeping, epic musical scores composed by Joe Hisaishi? The ones that play when Pazu is playing his trumpet, when the robot is attacking the army, and when Laputa is falling apart? About 80% of each song is gone, as well as many of the mood-setter tunes that play throughout the film. Remember all those memorable and humorous lines from Dola and her sons, the chilling lines from Muska, and Pazu and Sheeta as well? So much of them have been cut -- all you see is the characters' mouths moving with no sound coming out. Supposedly, the reason Disney remastered it like this was to make the English dub more similar to the original Japanese version, and I probably wouldn't mind it (too much) if the cuts weren't so awkward and noticeable, but they are. While the visuals are as stunning as ever, especially in the Blu-Ray version, to me the movie feels silent in comparison to the 2003 English dub that I'm used to -- and there's no option to switch to the old audio track. Long story short, if you were introduced to this film at a young age, like I was, and you're looking to relive the nostalgia of the audio as well as the visuals, go for the 2003 DVD with the original cover rather than the remastered Blu-Ray/DVD copy. Had I known, I would have bought the 2003 version.