Laputa: Castle In The Sky

Continuing my series of reviewing Studio Ghibli movies, we have the next one in the lineup, Laputa: Castle In The Sky. I know in some places, it's just called Castle In The Sky, but that's what it's called here. Anyway, this is another film I had heard so much praise for before seeing it and I was, again, really happy I was able to see this along with the other Ghibli movies and, despite this coming out after Nausicaa, I can notice some similarities between this and that, but I still see this as its own thing that I really enjoyed. This was another Ghibli film that Hayao Miyazaki directed and was made in 1986. Like I said, I can totally see the differences between this and the last film but, this film still has a charm about it. The movie opens with a girl named Sheeta in an airship that's then attacked by pirates who're after her but she then falls out and is found by a boy named Pazu after a crystal she's wearing makes her float to the ground. When she wakes up, the two of them get to know each other and Pazu reveals he's searching for a floating island called Laputa and they're then chased by the pirates again along with some men that Sheeta is trying to get away from. So, the majority of the film is them on the run while trying to discover Laputa itself. So, like I said, I noticed some pretty big differences between this and Nausicaa. For one, I think this film gets into its story a lot faster. It seems to be paced a bit faster and gets to the action faster too, but it's still paced extremely well and we still care for these characters a lot. I really like Sheeta and Pazu together and I like their dynamic. Plus, with the film being well paced, it knows when to have a fun action scene and when to let the characters be people and just sit and have a nice conversation and, again, the way Miyazaki does a lot of this is really facinating. I also love how the film changes during the halfway from Sheeta and Pazu running from the pirates and the men to the two of them teaming up with the pirates, and it's done extremely well. I like the stuff in the first half with the two of them in Pazu's town and on the run with the help of everyone there and then go to getting help from the pirates and exploring to find Laputa, I just love it. It's also like what I said in my review of Nausicaa where I love the technology they use and it's amazing that this was all thought of in 1986. It's especially impressive when they get to Laputa itself and seeing the different ways the technology there looks. Speaking of, it's cool how the climax takes place on Laputa and it's cool that it's revealed that that Muska guy is the main villain and, again, the fact that Laputa works in different ways allows for a lot of different opportunities and it does look like they take advantage of all of them. It also seems to stick on these action scenes a lot longer than the last time too and I think that makes it even more fun too, but it still doesn't foget to just let the characters be like real people and let them just talk and still make it really interesting. I love how Miyazaki is able to balance all that really well with these movies. I also just really enjoy these characters too. I really like Sheeta and Pazu, but I especially really like the pirates here. They're all really fun, funny and have this really enjoyable dynamic, especially when it comes to the captain, Dola, she's so much fun to watch. Also, like the other Ghibli movies, the film is absolutely stunning. Even in some of the films I don't like as much, I can never deny how absolutely gorgeous these films looks and it's no different here because they once again made the scenery and all the things like that beautiful, especially on Laputa itself where there's all this architecture around the place and stuff like that. I love how they even take advantage of that in various ways during the climax too. Plus, the dub in this is so much fun to listen to as well. I already mentioned how fun a lot of these characters are and a lot of that can be attributed to how well done the dub is. James Van Der Beek and Anna Paquin do great as Pazu and Sheeta, but others like Cloris Leachman and Mark Hamill are fantastic as well as Dola and Muska. So, yeah, while I don't think I liked this more than Nauicaa, I still had a great time with this and it was just much fun watching these characters going through this adventure. So yeah, I would recommend checking this out, it's a lot of fun. So guys, that's my review of Laputa: Castle In The Sky, thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.