The main character is named Lupin, a charismatic, clever master thief with almost as many tricks up his sleeves as batman. Lupin takes his partner to the Duchy or Cagliostro where the rumoured counterfeit bills are supposedly being made and meets Princess Clarisse. When Lupin first meets her, Clarisse is in something of a predicament and is trying to escape a group of men. Lupin is oddly drawn to her and bumps into her again later, discovering that she is being forced to marry a count. As it turns out, the count is also at the center of the whole counterfeit operation. In addition to the counterfeits, there is also rumoured to be a hidden treasure somewhere in the castle of Cagliostro, a treasure that may be tied to matching rings both the count and Clarissa wear, and the count wants dearly to find it. Lupin gets into more and more trouble with the count as he tries both liberate the princess and wrest the mysterious treasure from his power, after he finds it of course. In addition to all this, there is a police officer on Lupin's tail, hoping to catch him and throw him into jail for all the past offenses he's committed.
I first heard of this movie a while back, but delayed watching it. It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki before Studio Ghibli came together, so I knew there was a good chance the story would be good, but the animation style really isn't my favourite, and the first five minutes didn't really grab me. Fortunately, the story is done well enough that I was able to look past the animation style and appreciate the story. Once the plot gets going it really draws you in. It's intricate, but fun. There's mystery, suspense, action, and just a hint of romance. A hidden gem, don't pay much attention to the packaging, this one is worthy of a watch. The dubbed version is currently on Youtube.
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