Castle in the Sky

A beautiful story with great characters that both children and adults will enjoy!

The animation is still very good, even though it's an old movie. The music is simply amazing.

Airships, floating islands, sky pirates and lost civilizations in this dreamy, upbeat animated adventure. It's the first-ever film produced by Studio Ghibli and only Hayao Miyazaki's second feature-length (after 1984's _Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind_), but already both parties are testing their boundaries and nonchalantly blowing past expectations. Really incredible that _Laputa_ still stands up so well, given its age and scope, and I mean that in both an artistic and a thematic sense.

There's a rich sense of humanity to the plot and a sweet innocence shared by the determined young protagonists (both Miyazaki hallmarks), with an irresistible fiber of discovery running through the whole production. And, naturally, each of the fantastical flying machines and techno-organic wonders are fleshed out to an absurd level, with operational mechanics playing a crucial role in several memorable scenes. That's another Miyazaki calling card, for those keeping track at home.

Meanwhile, the animation team swiftly meets and defies convention in a series of brilliant, preposterous early action scenes. Most remarkable among these is a crazy automotive chase through a sleepy mining village and across an active railroad bridge, an intensely kinetic effort that's bursting with creative power and realized potential. Ghibli can do the pulse-pounding stuff extremely well, right out of the gates, but the team also knows how to let a delicate moment linger, to give a scene room to breathe for greater dramatic effect. Those latter points are important during the climax, as we explore a crumbling airborne palace and learn about the forgotten culture it once housed. All this, of course, while dodging the military and foiling the efforts of a particularly formidable evil mastermind (voiced, in the English dub, by Mark Hammill).

Despite the years, _Laputa_ is timeless; a magical, warm-hearted fantasy ride that deserves equal footing with many of the studio's later, more heralded works. It might even be more impressive than _Mononoke_ or _Spirited Away_, considering the team's relative inexperience at the time.

For me it's one of Ghibli's worse movies... and it still kicks ass of course.

not so cool as Spirited Away but it has a nice story line

Sky pirates, ancient robot friends, crystal islands. Many moments of peaceful silence.

Easier to get into than _Nausicaä_, this is a much more propulsive, adventurous film by comparison. The animation is more detailed and colourful, Miyazaki’s storytelling abilities improved by leaps and bounds (no more clunky exposition; bolder themes and messaging), the music is beautiful and there are a lot of scenes that are very entertaining in their own right. I like that the visuals put a strong emphasis on the aesthetic differences between both worlds (the industrial vs the ethereal), which reflects the main theme of the film. It’s a pretty refreshing narrative compared to the usual Hollywood films indulging in technophobia (let’s not forget that _The Terminator_ came out only two years prior to this), because here you have a film arguing that nature and technology can coexist if we allow them to. However, some of the character work isn’t all that great here. Sheeta and Pazu are fine protagonists, but the film should’ve taken more time to develop these characters as they’re both a little bland as is (especially Sheeta). I also didn’t care much for the pirate characters. They’re fun in their own right, but the campy portrayal doesn’t work in tandem with the rest of the film, and frankly they could’ve been omitted altogether.

7.5/10

I'm awaiting my AAC (Age Appropriate Critic, 9 year old Sophie)'s review of this, but I will put in my two cents, while I wait.

Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli, changed the world of Anime. It's influences transcended the borders of Japan, and even Disney, a company as American as apple pie, borrows the brilliance of Ghibli. Miyazaki captures both the imagination of a child and the subtle nuances of movement and response unique to childhood. Often the times of greatest brilliance are things happening in the background. Miyazaki waste neither frame nor background character. CASTLE IN THE SKY has all that quality. I watched the version with an American voice cast and the performances were good. The story took awhile to reveal itself, although it began with rapid paced action, which rather set the slower pace for the story amid a plethora of brilliant animation, imagination and characterization. To paraphrase a fellow commentator, although it is not one of my favourite Ghibli story, the lesser in world of Ghibli is still a masterpiece. I give this film an 8 (great) out of 10. [Adventure Anime]

"The earth speaks to all of us, and if we listen, we can understand."

I still really dig the design of the Robots in Castle in the Sky. My first introduction to these well designed mechanic beasts was while I was at the Ghibli Museum and they were there, 5 meters tall. They were guarding the museum what I've been told. So when I came home after my Japan trip in 2013 this was my second Ghibli movie after Totoro.

Now finally having seen it again, it still holds up. The film is beautifully animated, the destruction of Laputa looks amazing, Dola and her pirate sons are fantastic. Muska is a great villain and I really like every interaction between Pazu and Sheeta.

Hayao Miyazaki made sure the first film under his and Isao Takahata's Studio Ghibli set the bar high for almost everything that would follow. If you haven't seen this Ghibli gem yet, you are in for a magical film.

Not the best narrative but the movie's message is pretty good.