Castle in the Sky, the first film officially produced by Studio Ghibli, is a tale of flying machines, pirates, robots, government conspiracies, the fraught relationship between humanity, technology, and nature, and questionable railroads. I have a few more reservations about this one than I did about Nausicaä or Ponyo, but there’s no denying that it’s a fun ride.
Since they mostly show up in the beginning of the movie, let’s start with the problems. This movie has an interesting story to tell, but for the first third of the movie that story butts heads with a lot of jarringly cartoonish moments. Is that overly picky to say about a literal cartoon? I don’t think so. Cartoons can sit anywhere on the range of reality, but you do need to pick a spot and stick to it and there are a few moments early on that stick out like a sore thumb—in particular, when Mining Dad picks a fight with Buff Pirate and there’s a whole shirt-exploding flex-off bit, and an extended train sequence that demolishes miles of railroad track. These over-the-top goofy moments really took me out of the story, and the movie gets a lot better when it leaves them behind. I wish those were the only problems I had with Castle, but the protagonists also fail to reach Nausicaa-levels of quality. Our young heroes are Pazu and Sheeta, and the two of them put together have about three personality traits. Pazu can be summed up as “eager” and “wants to find Laputa” (the titular sky-castle) and Sheeta is pretty much a walking MacGuffin with an inconsistent accent. |
They improve a bit as the story goes on, but neither make much of an impression. It’s a bummer, because the
side characters have personality in spades. The major turning point for my enjoyment of the movie happened when the pirates who fill the villain role for the first act turned into allies in act two. Especially after they’re allowed to be good guys, the pirates (and their sweet airship) breath a whole lot of much-needed life into Castle. The pirates’ mom and leader is an absolute blast, her engineer husband is endearing, and their sons provide some great comic relief. Aside from the pirates, Mark Hamill has a lot of fun as the villainous secret agent, and there’s a crazy old miner man who’s entertaining despite his role as exposition-giver. Even the army general, a second-tier villain, is fun and memorable. Pazu and Sheeta’s bland characterizations stand out all the more against such a colorful supporting cast, but you could also say that the side characters’ personality and design are all the more welcome next to the protagonists’ lukewarm presence. Unlike the downgraded protagonists, the animation on display has improved some since Nausicaä. The designs for all the flying machines are imaginative without falling into the overly-cartoonish problem, and there’s some Ghibli-trademarked Deliciously Animated Food to drool over (I’ve never had such an intense craving for eggs on toast before or since). There’s also some really great robots. Like, really fantastic robots. I think I like these robots a lot more than the movie intended. It’s funny, because they share some design elements with the Giant Warriors from Nausicaä, but there are just enough differences that instead of horrifying and dread-inducing, Castle’s robots come off more as dedicated, loyal guard dogs, with just a smidgen of dread. I honestly love the balance of inhumanity and the weird way they move with their “I’m just doing my best” vibes. A+ robots. |
That’s all I have to say about this one. It was fun and largely well-made, but it didn’t feel as fun as Ponyo or as essential as Nausicaä.
Next up: Grave of the Fireflies I briefly debated reviewing only Miyazaki’s films, but decided to stick with my original plan to review every Studio Ghibli film, as I think that will force me to watch a lot of movies that pertain to genres I would normally pass by. Alternate Titles:
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