Thursday, June 11, 2020

The Ghibli Novice: Castle in the Sky

Well, now for the first proper Studio Ghibli film, again from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

Castle in the Sky is set in a steampunk late eighteenth century with airships being quite common.

In fact, the film opens on just such an airship as an orphan girl named Sheeta falls from it when it's attacked by pirates. However, her fall slows and she lands in a mining town where she's befriended by a boy named Pazu who helps her hide from pirates and government agents.

It turns out Sheeta is actually descended from people who used to live in a kingdom on an island floating in the sky called Laputa, held aloft by a special ore that is part of a pendant Sheeta wears, which allowed her safe descent to earth.

When Sheeta is ultimately captured by the agents, Pazu joins with the pirates to rescue her and discover the secrets of Laputa.

Castle in the Sky is a rollicking good time. It's an adventure story with some good action, great pacing and a lot of humor. Plus there's robots, some sci-fi and a little bit of magic as well at heart. This was a good one to check out.

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