Castle in the Sky (1986)

[天空の城ラピュタ]

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Keiko Yokozawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Kotoe Hatsui

Synopsis:
A young engineer with dreams of finding the floating island of Laputa meets a girl with a mystic pendant who fell from the sky.

Impressions:
It goes without saying that I'm going to have glowing things to say about a Ghibli/Miyazaki film, but this deserves particular comparison to the earlier Nausicaä. You can see how the experience from Nausicaä was put to good use. I would argue that on every point this is a stronger film. Most importantly, the story fits better in the two-hour container its given, which I feel is Nausicaä's weakest point. There's plenty of imaginative worldbuilding and vehicle design, the characters are appealing and there are more of the epic-style tracks you'd expect in Joe Hisaishi's score (though we still have a fair bit of 80s synth, which I don't consider to be necessarily a bad thing). Unambiguously evil antagonists are rare in Miyazaki's work, but main villain Muska is one such example. As the first true entry in the Ghibli film canon, it's a strong start for the many good things to come. This one deserves a prized place in your collection.

Rating:
Treasure It