Miyazaki Marathon: Film #2Castle in the Sky'Noke's ReviewLaputa-Castle in the Sky Huh.
I don’t start reviews. I cannot start to talk about Miyazaki. So, let’s just go ahead, can we just accept such things as fact?
Castle in the Sky follows two kids, young enough to be adventurous, old enough to create an everlasting bond. Now, I love the way Miyazaki develops these relationships, his relationships are my favourite of any filmmaker to watch play out on screen. He doesn’t need sex or even kissing to bring characters closer, he beautifully conducts it through circumstance, character, and dialogue. There has never been a shot with more emotion and beauty in it then the hug in Mononoke, in my opinion.
Here in Castle in the Sky, the relationship was probably my favourite part of the film, and the whole movie is built around that. The story is simple, a girl named Sheeta falls from an airship and halfway to the ground she begins to float. She gets picked up by an orphan by the name of Pazu, and they form a relationship quickly. They soon find themselves on the run from pirates and the army, both of whom want to capture Sheeta and more specifically the necklace around her neck. There’s also a legend about a sky castle, and robots. Both of these will be dealt with later on.
The bond between Pazu and Sheeta is so strong and so beautiful; it has this instant warming effect. I loved every scene they shared together, especially some of the talks they have on the Pirates ship. Sheeta is not a strong, warrior female Miyazaki uses in Nausicaa and Mononoke, but neither is she a damsel in distress. She can handle herself when she needs to, but she has a delicate personality and an instant likability. Pazu is instantly likable as well. When we meet him we get to know him straight away. No characteristic he shows is new, but in either is it a cliché. You know? He doesn’t perfectly understand how to fit the hero mold straight away but he is passionate about many things and that drives him. But what I love is, like most Miyazaki films the goal is made very clear. Get to Laputa, run away from bad guys, track giant army ship. But whenever these two characters get separated the goal of each character changes instantly, and they only have one thing on their mind. Find the other person. It’s beautifully done.
One part of the film I want to mention is the robots, because I think it’s a part of the film that just stuck out to me. At the start, I thought the robot could become the true villain of the piece. He would become the side effect of the crystal the wise old man mentioned. The rest of the film would be us watching the others try to stop him. It turns out it’s just a set piece with the robot grabbing Sheeta and bringing her to the top of a tower. He turns from villain to a guardian. And then there’s this moment, right before he is destroyed, where he looks at Sheeta as he leaves her on the castle wall and it devastates you. It’s a farewell. Later on we see the robot in the caslte of the sky, and he is caring for the trees and the animals. He moves the kite to open up a birds nest. He makes friends with fox squirrels. He goes from villain to one of the most sympathetic and lovely characters in the movie. Masterful
The first twenty minutes of the movie, up until Muska appears, is highly comedic, but its lots of fun. You have the hilarious group of pirates who all obey their mother (and call her mom) and the great fistfight between Pazu’s boss and one of the lackeys. It’s a fun and hilarious movie till then. But the pace slowly changes and though we get touches of comedic brilliance every now and again (like the great mini plot of the lackeys all having crushes on Sheeta) it becomes simply a story.
Laputa is a gorgeous set. A Castle in the sky, the beautiful forests and plains above are contrasted by the moving cubes and scientific scrabble down below. After centuries of abandonment the forest has grown underneath, and the crystal powering the island has become surrounded by vines. One great moment is at the end, when it’s all over and the science is gone. It speaks to the point Miyazaki has been making this whole time, that nature will win. A point I hope he’s right on.
Where is it? : I’m debating its merits against Spirited Away, both are at least on par with another. Top 50 most definitely, top 20 maybe.
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Ferris’ ReviewCastle in the Sky(1986)
Wow - what a ride! I really enjoyed this. I liked it enough to immediately turn around and show the kids. Actually their mom gave them a choice between this and
Planet 51. They agreed on
Castle in the Sky after I assured them there was no kissing.
I hate to sound like a cliche' but you know what. These visuals are stunning. It's not enough just to say the artwork is great (I will let the screenshots do the talking there) - Miyazaki creates amazing universes - with rules that both completely break the laws of physics yet seem completely grounded and believable. He does the opposite of what most animators do. Most animators seem to find their challenge in emulating the real world. Miyazaki challenges himself by creating his own.
I've now seen four Miyazaki films. I worried going into this marathon that I would start to notice elements of self-derivitiveness that might eventually temper my love for Spirited Away. And I'll admit some patterns have emerged. I'll wait to talk about these until later in the marathon. But I am very pleased to discover so far these are all very different films despite the similarities.
this the kind of nuance that turns good into greatOne thing I've learned I can count on is one scene - a scene so great, a screne where we are brought to a place of such beauty and creativity that my jaw just drops in my lap. This one was no exception.
Castle in the Sky is a bit lighter fare than
Naucissaa, and a must admit more grounded in a reality that I could appreciate. I almost immediately latched on to our two main characters - the children - both fallible and sympathetic, but ultimately kind hearted and heroic. Their little relationship was handled so perfectly. I was watching my boys during a few scenes were the music swells and the kids embrace and all three of them are squirming in their chairs (the 8 year old has his hands in front of his eyes) All of us appreciate that they never did kiss - but I'm sure my reasons were a bit different!
So getting a bit into spoiler territory from here on out, I'll list a few points that I wanted to highlight
1) The score again - fantastic. I read online that this is probably not the original score...That it was modernized and spread out over the film more for American audiences. Even though apparently this move had Miyazaki's blessing - I'd still rather have the original! I read that this very month a new release came out with the old version of the score restored. I don't know which version I ended up getting. Nevertheless. I really loved it.
2) I love Miyazaki's train imagery. Here it was highlighted in a scene mostly played for laughs (which worked pretty well for my kids) but I don't know.. I'm just a sucker for it. Add to that the DaVinci-eque opening credit sequence. I just love that stuff.
3) One thing that really appealed to me was that the film played out as if it were created at the turn of the century - Miyazaki put himself in the mode of someone who, with a 1900's mentality was extending the flight expertise of it's day to it's next logical conclusion - like those 80's movies that showed a future with Videophones with CRTs. For instance the amazing arrays of propellers on these airships. And you know. I've never known a scene in a film with an airship that wasn't totally awesome. Maybe a top 5 topic, huh?
3) The way the robots were handled was just oh so cool...starting with that one in the cellar(?) and ending with that small army of them that shot out of the castle like fireworks and buzzed around the Goliath like mosquitoes. You had to think that Brad Bird got some of his inspiration for Iron Giant from this.
4) By far the highlight of the film was the scene extended from when the children first arrived at Laputa to when the robot gave the girl a flower. I rewound and watched the again. How great are the little touches of the bird eggs and the underwater city. This shot for me was just incredible:
(sorry this is far more spoilery than I like to put in a review, but this was just too good not to share)5) I started with the dubbing turned on (my first time through) and ended up turning it off and going with captions because I was so bothered by Anna Panquin's voice acting. She seemed to be slipping in and out of American, British and those accents you hear from models in the make-up ads. I don't know Anna Panquin well - I remember seeing her in
The Piano way back and I thought she was perfect casting for 24th Hour. I don't know really anything else. When I watched with the kids the second time it only got worse. It was kinda cool to hear Luke Skywalker's voice though
The only time I watch dubbed is on Miyazaki because I really hate to lose focus on the imagery of the film.
6) My 11 year old - bless his heart - gave us all an analysis of the thematic similarities between this an Avatar. I thought that was pretty cool. Sadly I think he still liked Avatar better, but clearly there is hope for him
So overall - I really liked all of it. LOVED sections of it. Great watch - easy to recommend. Just not quite A+ material, but I just don't just sell those out like votes on the floor of Congress.
Verdict:
Thoroughly enjoyable. Delightful story and memorable characters. A jawdropping third act.
Grade: A
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