Laputa: Castle in the Sky (AKA Castle in the Sky)

Dir: Hayao Miyazaki

1986

*****

Laputa: Castle in the Sky represents the very first official Studio Ghibli film and it remains one of their best. With references and influences from The Bible, Hindu mythology, classic fantasy literature (Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels being the most obvious) and the Welsh Minor's Strike of 1984, Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a unique and varied adventure that raised the bar as far as adventure/fantasy animation went. It also helped the medium to become far more main-stream, although western distributors just couldn't seem to get their heads round it. When released in the UK and United States, the title was changed, more background sound effects were added and the film's score was lengthened and atmospheric silent scenes were drowned in booming orchestral pieces that just didn't suit the overall feel of the story. The main character Sheena became a mother figure to the Pirates in the original story, in the westernized dubbed version, Sheena became potential romantic interest for the Pirates, even though she is a very young girl. Thankfully updated versions correct this but all of the original references to Gulliver's Travels (apart from the name Laputa) and also Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which I understand to be honest. The changes were an eye-opener to Hayao Miyazaki and the rest of the studio and after Miyazaki's first film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was cut to ribbons and renamed by New World Pictures, Ghibli began their 'no cuts' policy and became very protective of their work from then on. Laputa: Castle in the Sky set a precedent to how all Ghibli films were to be made from then on, from work ethics, budgets and time-frames. It also set the bar for which all future films would have to match, although only a handful have really achieved. Its mix of sci-fi and fantasy is wonderful and full of adventure. It has moments of tremendous action and also awe-inspiring beauty. The animation is superb and the film is littered with little special moments that I had never seen in a cartoon before and it took my breath away. It's something were now used to with the studio and something they generally always deliver, I loved Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind but for me this is where the magic really began.