Castle in the Sky, is an animated film by much-acclaimed Japanese director,
Hayao Miyazaki. The film is a fantasy work, like all of Miyazaki's cartoons. This one is set in a never-time, somewhere near the turn of the 20th century, when the world was largely agrarian, but industry was beginning to take over. There are fantastic propeller-driven flying machines of every kind, trains running on crazy roller coaster-style elevated tracks, steam powered factories that hardly hold together, and a magical floating castle in the sky that may or may not be just a legend. The land is as inventive as the technology and the sky, with steep gorges and ravines everywhere, and clusters of houses built along the sides of them, clinging to the rocks like bird's nests while the vast majority of the land is open and green and unsettled.
The main plot concerns a young girl and her magical pendant, and the dangerous air pirates and destructive army forces chasing after her. She is befriended and aided by a young boy (his and her ages seem to vary, with them looking 8 at times and 15 at others) with great courage and spirit, and as they run from their pursuers they explore their fascinating world, meet numerous interesting people, discover that neither the pirates nor the army are what they seem, and finally investigate the truth about the castle in the sky.
To the scores.
Castle in the Sky, 1986
Script/Story: 8
Acting/Casting: 7
Action: 8
Humor: 7
Horror: NA
Eye Candy: 8
Fun Factor: 7
Replayability: 7
Overall: 7
I enjoyed this film a lot. Not as much as
Spirited Away, but
Castle is a bit more childish and silly, and I was initially put off by the slapstick humor and over the top characterizations of lots of the supporting characters. Lots of them, the various pirates especially, are screwball caricatures, doing goofy things every chance they get, overreacting, brawling and eating like children, and so on. If not for the fact that most of their jokes are actually pretty funny, and that they're consistently that way throughout the entire film, that element could have ruined it for me. It's largely about expectations; if you come into this expecting a serious, contemplative, adult film, you'll be dismayed. If you expect an exploration-filled adventure comedy, you'll love it.
Also, after a bang bang opening, the first hour is a bit slow, as the two child leads get to know each other and run from their pursuers. Lots of characters are introduced, and the story grinds along, but we started checking the time around 45 minutes in, and kept doing so until around the 70 minute mark, when the cool stuff really starts to happen. We were engrossed by the last hour though, and in retrospect there's nothing really wrong with the opening hour+; we just found it sort of predictable and wanted them to get to the
good better stuff. I've only seen the film once, a couple of days ago, so I can't say if it would improve on a second viewing. I found lots of
Spirited Away pretty slow the first time I saw it, but absolutely loved it on the 2nd and 3rd viewing. (See
my review here.)
While Miyazaki is not yet that well known in the US, he's a superstar worldwide. His films include
Princess Mononoke,
My Neighbor Toroto,
Kiki's Delivery Service, and
Spirited Away, winner of the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Film. Miyazaki is widely-regarded as the greatest living director of animated films, and his work has dominated the Japanese box office for many years. It's only recently that he's come to any notice in the US, and he's still far from a household name in America. His brilliant
Spirited Away earned $265m world wide, but just $10m in the US, despite its Academy Award win. One hopes his work is gaining in popularity on DVD, but it's a sad state of affairs when his masterpieces, films that appear childish but that can be enjoyed by the entire family, are outgrossed by the latest forgettable CG crap from Dreamworks or Disney, or shoddily-inked vomit like Pokemon, DragonBallZ, and Yu-Gi-Oh. His biggest promoters in the US are John Lassiter and some of the other guys at Pixar, and there's definitely a connection there, in quality of work and appeal to all generations.
Disney, Pixar's overlords (for one more film, at least) have signed a deal with Miyazaki to bring his films to the US, and whatever you think of Disney and the way they've destroyed their traditional 2d animation studio in recent years, they have to be given credit for trying to bring Miyazaki's work to a wider US audience. They've done a good job releasing
Spirited Away and the new
Howl's Magic Castle here without long delays (hello Miramax and every Hong Kong film they've delayed and butchered in the process), and they've done good work dubbing English voices into the films. You can watch them in Japanese with subtitles if you like, but as far as dubbing goes it's been done very well on Miyazaki's films. Disney has hired quality actors, they've paid for good translations and script revisions to make the words in English more or less match up with the Japanese lip synch, and unlike most anime and foreign films, it's not at all painful to watch these movies with dialogue you can understand.
I'd talk more about the plot, but you'll enjoy it more if you go in knowing less, and discover the wonders of the film as you watch it. I will mention a few plot points though, below the following spoiler warning.
Minor spoilers below:I can't imagine that anyone over the age of 5 will be surprised that there really is a castle in the sky, or that the main characters all end up there for a final confrontation. The castle, which is more like a city crowned by the largest tree in all creation, is by far the coolest thing in the film, and its there that Miyazaki's trademark melancholy and solitude comes creeping in. Watching the two young leads wander around the castle, which is vast, completely uninhabited, and totally overgrown by plant and animal life, is engrossing, and a bit sad. What fun is paradise if you're there alone? Even the sight of so many robots, all rusted into disuse and overgrown, is depressing.
The final confrontation as well, with paradise shattered by human violence and then abandoned since it can only hope to survive without human interference, is a pretty depressing observation on the human condition. Entirely accurate, I fear, but depressing nevertheless. I don't think it would really register on that level to children, who would just enjoy the action and such, but it's another way that Miyazaki's films work on multiple levels.
I'm curious to see how this one will appeal to me on a second viewing. The slow spots and boring bits in
Spirited Away somehow became brilliant changes of pace and subtle meditations the second time I saw that film, and while I can't imagine that the wacky slapstick in Castle would become anything but that, maybe it wouldn't seem so out of place and redundant on a second viewing?
