Movies / Animé and Toons

Castle in the Sky

By Hervé St-Louis
April 6, 2010 - 08:46

Pazu, a mine machinist finds a young girl floating in the air after having jumped off an airship under attack by pirates. Sheeta, the girl possesses a mystical gem in her necklace that was handed to her by her grandmother. It has been passed down for generations in her family as it is suspected that she is of the royal bloodline of the people of Laputa, that lived in a floating city. The military and secret service is after Sheeta and her necklace and so are the pirates that raided the airship. Will they manage to get the necklace and find the pathway to Laputa or will Pazu and Sheeta stop them before?

This film is the typical and classic Miyazaki film. It has everything that makes it a traditional epic. It’s action based with weird looking flying gizmos. There is a young girl and a young boy, potentially in love and who develop a strong friendship in the course of the adventure. There are weird and interesting villains, not all bad not all good. Then there is an intricate set of design and mystical message about man having to live with the Earth as one.

What I liked about this film is that it was released before its time. The idea of a floating satellite with a destructive laser pointing down has been a major theme in recent cartoon series from the 2000s, such as Batman Beyond and Justice League Animated. Here, it’s introduced without fanfare and used in the same disposition. It’s hard to pin where this story takes place and at what time. In the extra features, Miyazaki says he was influenced by old industrial British cities where mining occurred. But the airship and the bug-like helicopter crafts used by the pirates are nothing common. It’s a steampunk film set in the industrial age where there are robots and spies wear dark sun glasses. The movie kept my interest all along but I have to admit that the two main characters did not have much personality outside of the roles they played. Pazu was the enthusiastic and determined boy who wanted to find the island of Laputa that his father told him about. Sheeta was a girl with street smarts trying to do the right thing. The basic characterizations and motivations were right, but neither character went beyond their scripts, in a sense.

This staged effect is what I didn’t like about Castle in the Sky. Don’t get me wrong, I know very little people that will not have a good time watching this film. It delivers all the action and awe one expects from a greater than life story. But it feels that the movie did not breach any territory than what it was assigned. Unlike Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky did not introduce characters that had their own inner conflicts based on personal flaws. There was no growth to the characters unlike other films like Kiki’s Delivery Service or Ponyo. At the end of the story, the characters were still the same perfect teenagers they were when they started the film.

Animation-wise, there’s little to say about this film that won’t sound redundant and expected. It was good. Great would be a better description. But the animated magic wasn’t enough to wow this reviewer. Still, like I wrote above, this film is a winner by all counts and will entertain anyone. But it’s not an insult tom say that this is not the best Miyazaki film, only the most typical.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12