A Classic Adventure Tale: Laputa: Castle in the Sky

Synopsis

Set in a world where planes and airships are plenty, this tells the tale of Sheeta. Because of a mysterious crystal amulet that she holds, she has been taken by the government and trapped on an airship. While on board, however, the ship ends up being raided by pirates. Seeing her chance with the resulting confusion, Sheeta manages to flee from her captors. This escape, however, has her jumping out of the ship.

Rather than falling to her doom, however, her necklace has her floating into the arms of a boy named Pazu. Upon her rescue, Sheeta learns that Pazu has a dream of reaching the fabled flying castle, Laputa. The two decide to set off in search of the castle in the sky. However, it does not take long for the government agents to find them as they too are trying to reach Laputa for their own greedy purposes.

The Good

If the title didn’t indicate it, the film has plenty of classic adventure points to it to enjoy. From the flow of the story to the different colorful characters and the classic villain, you can tell it was hitting all of the marks of a solid adventure story. The highlight of the series film other than the action scenes was the lore that was revealed on Laputa. There was just the right amount of information given and it left a nice amount of mystery build-up until the reveal.

On the note of the reveal, the greatest scene of the film was when Pazu and Sheeta arrive on Laputa. The way that things went silent as they took everything in and the music slowly built up the more of the area is revealed truly takes the viewer on a journey. It also helps to see all of the intricate detail placed into the area. The entire portion of the film was just an artistic pleasure to enjoy.

Outside of this, there were smaller things to enjoy as well. The flow of the story was great in showing the development of the main characters and the dynamics of the different characters stood out. As stated, the action scenes were fun and the way that they were choreographed really made you feel the impact of things. That and they were just fun to watch.

The Bad

The thing a classic adventure film is that it tends to stretch things when it comes to its hero. This is especially true with how the film had Pazu going through all kinds of gauntlets and managing to survive with only some wounds. Really, surviving such an explosion in a closed in area with no heavy injury? That’s a pretty long stretch. Other than this, there are some eyebrow-raising moments with the film. The whole young males of the pirate crew having some sort of thing for Sheeta is pretty high on the awkward and weird scale.

Conclusion

The story holds a great flow, the characters are fun and the lore is interesting. Pretty much everything about this film holds elements of a solid adventure story involving fantasy. The artistry of the animation really helped things and the action gave some great impact. There aren’t any real issues with the film unless you count the whole indestructible hero trope. This is however, a must watch film for the classic genre of anime.

Rating: 8/10