Castle in the Sky is one of my favorite moveis, for all the same reasons you just listed :)

Haven't watched it with the overdubs, though. The first time I saw it was on a Japanese video tape with no subtitles, and it was very moving even though I couldn't understand the words! Maybe I'm afraid watching it in English would muddle that memory, or maybe I'm just afraid to do so after trying to watch "Kiki's Delivery Service" in English.