A girl with a sought-after magic crystal falls from the sky in this underrated early gem from Miyazaki, packed with action, comedy and fantasy in what could be his purest, most exhilarating adventure.

---

---

There is something about Castle in the Sky that you can’t quite find even in his bonafide masterworks like Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001). 

Maybe it’s simply the purest, most exhilarating adventure Miyazaki has ever created.  It’s his ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, jam-packed with action, comedy and fantasy, and so rollicking in its storytelling that the narrative never sags at all. 

Even in its quietest moments, such as the truly wondrous scene of the protagonists, Sheeta and Pazu, meeting an old man in a dark cave lit by glowing minerals, the momentum continues like an undercurrent. 

Sheeta, the girl with a sought-after magic crystal, would fall from the sky in the prologue, where we are first introduced to Joe Hisaishi’s exquisite main theme. 

“A girl just fell from the sky, boss!”

I’ve seen Castle in the Sky a few times now, and every time, Hisaishi’s music cuts deeper and deeper; in fact, my tears would fall on cue at certain points in the film no matter how hard I resist. 

Pazu, the boy who would fall in love with Sheeta, accompanies her on a journey as they are chased by sky pirates and even the army. 

Everyone just wants the damn stone, which holds immense power and is said to have originated from Laputa, the mythical island in the sky. 

Beautifully animated as always from Studio Ghibli, Castle in the Sky is also an indictment of the warmongering mentality—it urges us to always seek peaceful solutions to violent obsessions (and to love nature). 

Forget about Totoro, Kiki or Howl, I want to live in a world where Sheeta and Pazu are my best friends. 

Grade: A+

---

Trailer:

Music: