Synopsis
Haunting and brilliant!
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
1986 ‘天空の城ラピュタ’ Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Tenkū no shiro Rapyuta, Tenku no shiro Rapyuta, Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa, Laputa, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Laputa - Castello nel cielo, לפוטה טירת הרקיע, הטירה המרחפת, LAPUTA - Il castello nel cielo
Way too wholesome and sweet to a degree where it's almost unbearable, my heart oh god my fucking heart [starts banging on table] kind robots! robots that look scary on the outside but are in fact programmed to be extremely gentle, robots that care about animals, robots that play with fox squirrels in their free time aaaaaa look! the robot gives flowers, the robot tends to the grave of its master. I am going to cry now.
Probably my most controversial Studio Ghibli opinion, but I can’t change the fact that something about “Castle in the Sky” never worked for me. I wish I could say I like this movie more, but even as a kind the “Ghibli magic” was missing. I still has a huge nostalgia factor for me and there are some scenes I really enjoy, but I never connected with the characters and the story overall. Other Ghibli movies give me joy when I revisit them, but I always have to force myself with “Castle in the Sky”, because it feels incredibly long, every time I start it. This film just didn't resonate or affect me emotionally like all the others works I've seen from him, but that doesn’t change the fact that it still is beautifully made and that Hayao Miyazaki still is my favourite director.
Incredible
But why were those 30 year old men simping for Sheeta, a 13 year old
Castle in the Sky has one of the best scores in an animated film. I remember when I was little, after the first couple of times I watched this film, I would always look up at a big billowing cloud and wonder if Laputa was really in there. Sometimes I would play the music in my head to give myself the full effect while cloud gazing.
*spoilers*
I want to take some time to talk about the ending of this film. Bittersweet and powerful. It's interesting that all the spells that have constructive effects are extremely difficult to both remember and pronounce. But the one that puts everything to ruin, is just one simple command. I find that to be…
ONE OR TWO MINOR SPOILERS
Can I just say that this film led to me getting this shit song stuck in my head? Thanks a bunch, Miyazaki!
I suppose I'll let him off considering the similarly named film turned out to be quite wonderful. This is my third and a half Hayao Miyazaki after Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, and half a viewing of Porco Rosso that was abandoned years ago when the VHS tape I was watching it on conked out.
For sheer scope and vision, Laputa: Castle In The Sky is a good distance ahead of these films and is a quite astounding achievement on numerous levels, some of which I'm not even sure I can get my…
it still blows my mind that Mark Hamill voiced Mushka in the English dub version of this film
There’s something in the magic of Miyazaki’s films that captures the feeling of childhood imagination. One of the biggest things that impresses me about him as a storyteller is that he is able to replicate those feelings even as an adult, when life begins to lose its shine.
It reminds me of that feeling when you’re young and the world can still shift around you when you want to play. The floor isn’t carpet anymore - you really do see lava. When you and your brother jump off of the picnic table and pretend to fly - you really feel like you’re soaring through the air.
The adventure of Castle in the Sky is fun, dramatic, and heartfelt. It’s a…
That crystal is extremely powerful, but with a power that rightfully belongs to the Earth from which it came. To forget that and then try to use the crystal’s power for selfish reasons will bring great unhappiness… Your crystal should remind us that we come from the earth, and to the earth, we must return.
Showing this film to someone who has never seen it before brings back incredible and nostalgic memories of watching said film for the first time all over again. I'm a huge sucker for "lost paradise/legend" type films and this hits all the vibes for me.
p.s. for those of you who don't know, Laputa (or la puta) means "the bitch" in Spanish. so technically this movie could be roughly translated to be "the bitch in the sky" and we don't have time to unpack ALL of that.
watched the dub (against my will) & could not get over how much the main character sounded like dipper pines
The fact that no one is scared of heights in Ghibli films is beyond me. Pazu really just be hanging on the side of a castle thousands of feet in the air like it’s a walk in the park.