Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa

In a world filled with planes and airships, Sheeta is a young girl who has been kidnapped by government agents who seek her mysterious crystal amulet. While trapped aboard an airship, she finds herself without hope—that is, until the ship is raided by pirates. Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion, Sheeta manages to flee from her captors. Upon her escape, she meets Pazu, a boy who dreams of reaching the fabled flying castle, Laputa. The two decide to embark on a journey together to discover this castle in the sky. However, they soon find the government agents back on their trail, as they too are trying to reach Laputa for their own greedy purposes.

Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa follows the soaring adventures of Sheeta and Pazu, all while they learn how dreams and dire circumstances can bring two people closer together.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Pazu Main

Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese

Sheeta Main

Yokozawa, Keiko Japanese

Dola Supporting

Hatsui, Kotoe Japanese

Muska Supporting

Terada, Minori Japanese

Uncle Pom Supporting

Tokita, Fujio Japanese

Lui Supporting

Yasuhara, Yoshito Japanese

Shalulu Supporting

Kamiyama, Takuzou Japanese

Okami Supporting

Washio, Machiko Japanese

Anli Supporting

Kameyama, Sukekiyo Japanese

Shogun Mouro Supporting

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Takahata, Isao Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao Director, Theme Song Lyrics, Screenplay, Character Design

Shiba, Shigeharu Sound Director

Inoue, Azumi Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Jan 18, 2008

JTurner

Recommended

Retitled from its original Japanese name of Laputa (for being an offensive phrase, something which director Hayao Miyazaki was oblivious to at the time), Castle in the Sky is the master animator's third film, and it's one of his most beloved of all time. Initially a box office disappointment in its 1986 release, it has since been embraced by critics and audiences around the world. Inspired by Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", Castle in the Sky is a steampunk-themed action adventure tale about two young orphans -- young miner Pazu, and mysterious girl Sheeta (who wears a magic crystal around her neck) -- who team ... up to find the long-lost island of Laputa, which is rumored to have great riches and gems. They are aided by a band of bumbling yet sympathetic air pirates led by the feisty Dola (who at first chase them, yet turn out to be true allies) and pursued by the government headed by its villainous topmost-secret agent, Muska, who wants the power of Laputa for his own benefit.

For anyone looking for an exciting way to spend two hours, this film is an excellent choice, featuring just the right amount of humor, exploration, wonder, and mystery to keep one interested. The artwork, although not as spectacular as in some of Miyazaki's later movies, is fantastic and gorgeous enough to watch with imaginative characters and locations, incredibly exciting action scenes, and breathtaking flight sequences that will make one feel giddy. And while the characters that populate this tale are less complex than Miyazaki's other works, each has a memorable, endearing personality that stays with the viewer long after the film is over. Dola, in particular, makes for a terrific comic character, shouting orders to her dimwitted sons one moment and being protective of Sheeta the next. Muska is one of the few Miyazaki creations to ever come across as an irredeemable villain, but like Dola, he commands every scene he's in with a sinister charisma that is both alluring and chilly.

Anime fans have often compared this movie to Gainax's sci-fi adventure series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. After all, both works share similar story and character elements... not to mention that they were both created by Miyazaki himself. Where both differ is in their execution. Nadia, although charming for the most part, suffered from taking a wrong turn at its midway point, devolving into cartoonish nonsense which all but distracted from the main plot, even though it did have a strong ending. Castle in the Sky, on the other hand, remains consistently entertaining and focused for its two hour running time, and is all the better for it. While the film's epic tone is sometimes broken up by some "cartoonish" moments, like a brawl between Pazu's boss and one of Dola's sons, it's never to the point that it detracts from the film.

While purists will probably prefer to listen to the original Japanese version, I am of the opinion that there's nothing bad about watching Miyazaki's movies in English, and this is no exception. That said, there are two different dubs of this film. The first one, dubbed by an unknown company but released by Streamline several years ago, was a hastily produced, badly acted, poorly written trainwreck briefly released in 1989 but quickly disappeared afterwards. The current version, produced by Disney in 1998, features an all-star voice cast and, interestingly, a rerecorded score by the film's original composer, Joe Hisaishi with the Seattle Music Orchestra. There has been a lot of heated debates arguing over which is the better version. Personally, even after seeing the Japanese version once and having distanced myself from it enough to appreciate it on its own terms, I'm ready to offer up the following: Disney's Castle in the Sky, despite its faults, is an entertaining listen in its own right.

The leads aren't the strongest voices in the dub; James Van Der Beek's Pazu sounds significantly more mature than his character, while Anna Paquin's Sheeta speaks with an odd accent that fluctuates at times (a problem which actually works in favor of the character). That said, both do good jobs overall and provide a fairly believable chemistry throughout. It's the lively supporting cast, however, that really make this dub so much fun, particularly Cloris Leachman's Dola and Mark Hamill's Muska. Both are perfectly cast and steal every scene they're in as the cantankerous sky pirate captain and treacherous agent, respectively. If there's any reason to see this dub, it's for these two. Another reason to check out the dub is for the aforementioned rescore by Joe Hisaishi. There are some instances where filling in some critically silent scenes from the original Japanese is a bit distracting (notably the journey through the dragon-infested storm cloud), but the overall reworking is fantastic and in many ways improves on the original, particularly the scene where a robot attacks the army's fortress and the climactic moments toward the end. Here, Hisaishi displays his musical versatility and genius for matching music to visuals. (The original Japanese track is on the DVD, complete with its original, unaltered score.) The script adaptation borders on the loose side at times--there's quite a bit of extra lines and/or commentary (some of which are pricelessly funny and others somewhat overdone)--but aside from at least one debatable alteration (Sheeta's speech in the climactic showdown "the world cannot live without love" as opposed to the original "you can't survive apart from Mother Earth"), the overall characters, story, and spirit remain fairly faithful to the original. On the whole, there is little point comparing the Disney version to the original language track; each puts their own stamp on this legendary masterpiece, and I like them both.

Either way, though, you can't go wrong with Castle in the Sky. It's one of Miyazaki's all-time greatest, and I highly recommend it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 21, 2013

Fujaku

Mixed Feelings

If Castle in the Sky was to come out today into the anime world, chances are it would be thrown aside like all of those bad ecchi shows. I mean, god damn it! I'll let it slip as I'm not exactly good at fantasy anime and what was the one that started the fantasy genre and 1986 didn't have as many clichéd fantasy anime, if any, it's 1986, wasn't Uresai Yatsura just starting or something, but still!
A Studio Ghilbi anime directed by the everyone-claims-he's-great Hayao Miyazaki. It tells the tale of Pazu, who is an ordinary, young boy who lives alone in a town ... somewhere, despite the fact he's only like, 10. His dad once told him that he saw a castle in the sky called Laputa one time, and has made it his goal to travel there someday. One day, while he's working, a girl comes falling out of the sky, but she slowed to a float thanks to the mysterious necklace she has. Pazu takes her into his house and befriends here, but soon, several groups are chasing them, wanting the necklace, and their life will never be the same again.
And of course all the parents are dead somehow. You know, that's a trope I never realize until someone points it out. It's true though. Everyone's parents are either dead, traveling, or just plain absent from the story.

Castle in the Sky is filled with cliches... Expect the thing is, due to the fact this is an old and popular movie, for all I know it could've influenced stuff. In a way it's tough to review older anime, as I simply don't know what was cliché back then or how influential the anime is, Fortunately, by the mid 90s or the “Evangelion Age” as I like to call it, everything melds together, tsunderes and moe is born, and you can start complaining more easily about cliches. But seriously, the movie gets really predictable. Especially the beginning. At the halfway point it did get better, but by then I had lost interest in the setting and characters. It also felt way too much like Miyazaki's previous movie, Nausicaa, several elements were the same (the little mascot even returned!). It simply does not have the charm or originality of Nausicaa though. And once they get to the castle in the sky and the bad guys appear, I have to wonder- Why does it matter if the bad guy gets to control this place? It's a castle in the sky. How will it affect Earth?

Castle in the Sky did have its moments though. The middle is good enough right before they go to the castle and heck, even when they're at the castle before the bad guys appear. It's not terrible, just more annoying than anything.
Pazu is the main character of this movie. He's okay himself, obviously an optimist. I disliked Sheeta, the heroine though. Twice in the movie I commented on how useless she was, and twice she also gets kidnapped by the bad guy, having Pazu come and save her. She was just very weak, I mean, she complains about how she's scared to see Laputa and how she doesn't want the stone, which makes no sense! While the stone does have a generic “destruction spell” it has several good powers too, and what's wrong with seeing Laputa? Also, note how she says she's scared. Don't say, show us! There's not much else to add to the fact she's apparently scared besides her saying it. Speaking of that, these kids are way too badass in this movie, Pazu especially. He jumps over a long gap and climbs more vine walls than I care to know. And he's only ten! The villains are also a little weak, but the pirates are good once you get to know them.
The music is good and the voices are good, expect Sheeta who can sound a little whiny at times. Ghilbi's animation is still amazing though god, those I still dislike the backgrounds. They actually used the conspicuously light patch technique in this (you know, where part of the background is lighter than the rest as that's the part that's gonna move),and that always looks really bad. As pictures they're nice, but as anime backgrounds, they fail and just have to much contrast with what's going on the screen.. The character designs are the same as Nausicaa, so good, but maybe slightly dated.

Castle in the Sky might have been unique in its time (maybe), today the story is very dated and likely wouldn't get anyone interested now. It's a classic, so I suppose you might want to watch it, but only if you want to watch all the classic anime out there. Anyone else will be better off watching something else.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 9, 2019

Optigisa

Not Recommended

Studio Ghibli is the most illustrious Anime film studio ever conceived, and might as well be one of the best movie studios of all time, even outside the realm of Anime. Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata have both produced some of the most imaginative works ever put to the animation medium, and their genius efforts show in most of their creations. Add in to the fact that Joe Hisaishi is one of the best soundtrack composers in all of Anime, and you’ve got yourself a trio that has produced works that were nearly perfect in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, a group of professionals ... and talents can’t always emulate perfection in every work they create, as consistent quality is something that is impossible to achieve, especially with the quantity of movies that Ghibli has put out throughout the years, and every person or studio will have their ups and downs every now and then. In Ghibli’s case, it's futile failure had to be a movie known as Castle in the Sky.

Considering that this movie has one of the highest review mean scores ever, it seems hard for someone to dislike it. Unfortunately, this movie never managed to be appealing nor striking nor cathartic in any way, shape or form, as this one is the most laborious and unimaginative movie Ghibli have ever produced, even with the fantasy elements sprinkled all over it. Saying that this movie should not be given such harsh criticism considering the old age of it is fair, but people tend to forget that Ghibli had made a movie two years prior to Laputa, which has aged extremely well, and that movie is called “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”. It’s really not about the age of the work at the end of the day, since a really old work can stand firmly against the test of time when given well executed directing and a well thought out script and characters. This wasn’t the case with Laputa though, as it’s plot feels trite now after it’s release, and so do it’s characters, due to several factors that is. Perhaps not having a manga to adapt to movie form, and it being the studio’s first film with no source material to work with, turned it into such a nauseating catastrophe.

The plot tries to implement a sense of mystery with a missing father that the two main characters have to find, but unlike My Neighbor Totoro, the mystery is not intriguing nor does it work in any way. Isao Takahata was needed in order for the mystery to work, but he wasn’t there to save this film, and an amateur Hayao Miyazaki wasn’t enough to save it on his own as well. The plot is also unoriginal, compared to some of the better Ghibli movies out there, which have the same exact premise but are filled to the brim with better execution and directing. The characters are all one dimensional archetypes, be it the cartoony villains who switch from being evil to the side of good very easily, or the main heroine who resembles every other Ghibli heroine, only much less developed this time around. All of this wouldn’t be so bad if the movie was made by a third rate studio, but unfortunately, Studio Ghibli made this movie. Studio Ghibli, one of the best studios when it comes to creating memorable, well written characters in the short span of one to two hours only, made such vacuous and poorly thought through, simplistic characters with this movie.

Perhaps it was trying to be simplistic, but with that, it deemed itself unwatchable for an older audience, and mostly became a movie for kids. It doesn’t tackle the same mature themes that others within the same studio tackle, and it lacks the directing genius that Miyazaki would later go on to showcase in his later works. As far as themes go, there is no theme exploration here, especially the environmentalism theme which Miyazaki likes to preach about in most of his other works. If there was theme exploration, then it was handled and conveyed in a much better fashion in most of his other works. The comedy displayed here is lackluster as well, and the emotional catharsis is nowhere to be found. Nothing, I felt nothing while watching this movie. It lacks the depth of Princess Mononoke, it lacks the imagination of Spirited Away, it lacks the emotional catharsis of Kiki’s Delivery Service, and it falls short in most regards, especially when it comes to creating emotion and resonating with people.

The animation has not aged well at all, and it shows throughout most of the movie. At least Nausicaa had some memorable art and colossal amounts of imagination poured into it, something that made it age all the more better, even when it’s animation was flappy at times. What also made Nausicaa age very well, is how extravagantly Joe Hisaishi’s tracks flowed with the movie’s memorable moments and gave them a certain feel that is hard to find anywhere else. Laputa felt much worse than Nausicaa when it came to the animation aspect, add in to the fact that the atmosphere was not intriguing, and the artwork was not memorable, and you’ve got yourself a work that is inferior to it’s predecessor in almost every aspect. Laputa fails in the animation and visuals department, and even when it comes to the directing and memorable scenes, it fails as well.

Moving on to the final aspect of the film, which is the soundtrack - it was neither striking nor memorable, nor could one say it was good, even as a standalone soundtrack and without having to compare it to Hisaishi's other works. This is rather surprising considering that this is a movie which composer Joe Hisaishi worked on. No track stood out, unlike some of the top Ghibli movies out there, and neither were the tracks immersive or good.

Other contentions a viewer would have with this film is that it is excruciatingly slow, as scenes take forever to translate. This movie is also too long for it's own good, spanning a length of two hefty hours. Any movie which fails in the audiovisuals department, in the script department, and in the characters department, must at least redeem itself by not having the viewer tortured for hours on end. A perfect length for a movie is to span between an hour and an hour and thirty minutes, which are more than enough to tell an entire narrative. Two hours is very long for a movie, even the Studio Ghibli ones, especially when the movie has nothing of value or substance to convey.

Aside from all of this, what is truly astounding about Laputa, is the fact that this movie might as well have one of the highest review mean scores an Anime could have, as there has yet to be a negative review for it. It being higher than movies such as Kiki’s Delivery Service and Only Yesterday in general mean scores adds more insult to injury, especially due to the fact that those movies surpass this one in almost everything - from sheer imagination, to directing, to the raw emotion poured into them, etc.

All in all, there really isn’t much else to say about this movie. It is not memorable in the slightest, bordering on nauseating boredom. The animation has not aged well at all, and the soundtrack is neither striking nor helps in making the scenes better. It’s technicalities would have been forgiven if it had a good story or characters, but alas, it is boring and trite, especially for those who have seen many other Ghibli movies, which have taken the same exact premise and executed it in a much better fashion. Laputa is Ghibli’s first feature film, and the studio would go on to write and produce some of the best and most memorable Anime movies ever made, leaving this one in the dust, right where it belongs.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Cele - Dec 3, 2009	128 replies	by EmpsyXD »» Oct 22, 12:29 PM
	What's the Philosophical Significance of Certain Motifs in Castle in the Sky? Hethalos - Jun 9, 2013	10 replies	by YahiyaX777L »» Jun 16, 8:00 AM
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