Castle in the Sky
Composite Score: 82.47
Starring: Mayumi Tanaka/James Van Der Beek, Keiko Yokozawa/Anna Paquin, Kotoe Hatsui/Cloris Leachman, Minori Terada/Mark Hamill, Fujio Tokita/Richard Dysart, and Ichirô Nagai/Jim Cummings
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG
Box Office: $6.11 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Castle in the Sky is Hayao Miyazaki’s film about two young children racing together against pirates, the military, and government agents to find the legendary floating city/castle of Laputa. It follows Sheeta, who possesses a powerful crystal, as she flees from these forces and is joined by Pazu, a young boy from a mining town who helps her on the journey. The most striking aspects of this particular Miyazaki film are its original setting and its continually relevant themes. The world of Castle in the Sky blends tropes of medieval settings, post-apocalyptic settings, and steampunk settings together to create one of the more unique worlds that exist in the director’s many animated features. As the story progresses, two major themes are highlighted – the dangers of warmongering and aggressive military expansion along with the importance of appreciating and protecting the natural world. Altogether, it’s a delightful film that does some fun things and earns its high ratings.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Personally, I view this as one of Miyazaki’s weakest films, lacking in many memorable art pieces and in compelling original story. That being said, it’s still a better animated feature than probably 90% of all animated films ever made, so keep that in mind. Still, aside from some really creative animating of lightning in the middle of a hurricane and the guardian robots, there’s not much that sticks out to me about the art in Castle in the Sky to set it apart from Miyazaki’s other works. In that same vein, this story is one of the more straightforward, following children that have to deal with government agents and pirates. It’s a fun story, just not the most creative or original, drawing heavily on sci-fi and fantasy tropes seen in other films of the same era. It feels as though some of the more creative aspects of Miyazaki’s other films were sacrificed in this one to ensure clarity of message, which is fine. On its own, independent of any other film, Castle in the Sky remains a very creative and high-quality animated feature; for me, it just pales in comparison to Miyazaki’s other works.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Though it’s not the most striking art that Miyazaki has ever produced, the world of Castle in the Sky remains incredibly compelling to think about. It is a world both ancient and futuristic, full of visually compelling sets and characters, as most of his films can attest. Particularly, the towns built into canyons, the guardian robots of Laputa, and the creatively designed aircraft used by the pirates stand out as well-crafted pieces of a unique world that capture the minds of the audience as they watch this film. Though much of it draws on other media for inspiration, those visuals remain memorable and kept me thinking about the history of this world even as the “present” of it was playing out across the screen.
Thematically, the exploration of military aggression and arms build up goes hand-in-hand with the appreciation of nature and the natural world in this particular film. The contrast between Sheeta’s and Pazu’s reaction to the natural beauty of Laputa and that of the agent Muska communicates well what Miyazaki was aiming to get across – those who appreciate and want to protect the natural world are to be commended, whereas those who would destroy nature in the name of progress, particularly militaristic progress, ought to be reviled. The added visual of an implicitly nuclear explosion in the film’s back half serves to hammer home the critique of arms races and power and progress for their own sake at the expense of all else. Though its story is not the most compelling, the film’s themes remain drastically important even for modern audiences.
Well-crafted and intentional themes that remain relevant today alongside a compellingly illustrated setting for the story make Castle in the Sky as great as it is, worthy of a place among the Greatest Films of All Time. Though its story and much of its art is not the most original of Miyazaki’s works, the overall message of the film and its high entertainment value keep it quite watchable and enjoyable. This film is currently available to stream on HBO Max, if you are interested.
