Castle in the Sky looks spectacular, but is narratively stagnant in regards to Miyazaki’s career.
75/100
Original Release: 1986
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui
Favourite Quote:
"Take root in the ground, live in harmony with the wind, plant your seeds in the winter, and rejoice with the birds in the coming of spring. No matter how many weapons you have, no matter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live without love."
Favourite Shot:
A captured princess. A boy that helps the princess. A piece of jewellery that the villains are after. Some rogue third party who are also interested.
The plot for Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky sounds awfully similar to his anime series: Future Boy Conan. Or his first feature: The Castle of Cagliostro. Or his second: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. And at this point it becomes a little tiring.
The film begins in a steampunk influenced miners village where a young boy named Pazu (Mayumi Tanaka) witnesses a young girl named Sheeta (Keiko Yokozawa) fall slowly down from the sky seemingly protected by her amulet.
From there the film becomes a chase between a bunch of pirate sons led by their pirate mother Dola (Kotoe Hatsui), the army, and the two young people. The animation is truly imaginative and delightful in this whole opening sequence.
Miyazaki is already a master at creating fresh and extraordinary settings for his stories at this point. The small hut where Pazu lives, the train tracks surrounding the village, and the dark and mysterious mines are all so incredibly creative and magical.
And the sequence is exquisitely handled as we jump from the suspense of Pazu and Sheeta attempting to escape from all this danger. Then to some classic Miyazaki comedy with the mother yelling at her dawdling sons and the hilarious fight scene between one of the miners and one of the army members.
And the detail in these sequences are incredible. Every vehicle, or part of machinery, is operating in the correct way right in front of our eyes. There is no cheating. If a train is going to run, there must be a scene where they stoke the fire. (Plus the military train is pretty awesome).
This then leads to the scene underneath the mines where the two young people share an egg together and meet an old mine dweller. We are treated to another whimsical scene where we hear more about the mysterious floating island called Laputa.
After this though, the film begins to lose its legs and unfortunately becomes a little potty and less imaginative and fresh. It’s also when it begins to feel like his other projects and you wonder if you’ve seen this before (it’s particularly similar to the worst parts of Future Boy Conan and after watching 26 episodes of it, it becomes tiring).
The children get kidnapped by one party and then saved by another party and the whole time they’re trying to find the floating island. One positive in these sections is the development of the relationship between Pazu and Dola.
There is a sweet moment when Pazu and Sheeta are talking privately yet everyone is listening to them. And Pazu says something about trusting Dola and she becomes smitten for the first time in the film.
When they do finally reach the island of Laputa the film once again reaches the heights of the first section. When they finally make it, the feelings that the visuals arise inside you are ones of great happiness, peace and meditative beauty. You feel as if you are flying through the sweet air.
The island is a utopic vision of animals and nature living in peaceful harmony with one another in a world separated from our own - and reaching heights we can only dream of. These initial moments are some of the best of Miyazaki’s career.
But then the film once more desolves into mindless, plotty action involving all sorts of different parties and twists and turns that again seemed to resemble the worst of Future Boy Conan and his other projects.
Castle in the Sky certainly looks unlike any other Miyazaki film to this point. There are different vehicles, settings and character designs. The animation is certainly original and creative. But it’s the plot that begins to tire the viewer if they have been watching all of his projects up until this point.
It is strange because personally I enjoy directors that remain stagnant in their style and themes, but grow in terms of story (Wes Anderson, Tim Burton). And perhaps this is a personal taste, but directors that change in style, but remain stagnant in terms of story tend to bore me more.
I can certainly see why some would disagree. And I also understand that having not watched all of Miyazaki’s previous projects before watching Castle in the Sky might mean that the viewer might enjoy it more. But it can’t be debated, that a lot of the story plot points and beats are similar to all the projects up until this point in Miyazaki’s career.
Castle in the Sky is certainly not a terrible misstep in Hayao Miyazaki’s career. It still features extremely high quality moments and makes you feel like the world is an incredible place. But viewed in relation to Miyazaki’s career and other projects, it feels like a lesser work.
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