You’d think that when starting a brand new animation house, you’d want to come up with something as fiercely original as you possibly could to separate yourself from the pack. However, it just goes to show how special director Hayao Miyazaki is when his stunning adventure film manages to contain lots of familiar themes and similar scenarios to his previous film, the Ghibli dry-run known as Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind and still manages to be quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Yes, we’re dealing with teen heroes, retro-futuristic flying machines and a decidedly strong eco-friendly message once again, but while Nausicaä was hardly a pushover concerning its animation and grandiose world building, 1986’s Castle In The Sky manages to somehow be even grander and more complex despite being decidedly more grounded (figuratively speaking, that is). With Studio Ghibli taking it’s official maiden flight, Miyazaki once again had another chance to sent his imagination soaring into the world, but could Castle In The Sky fly even higher now that the Ghibli gang were fully assembled?
Existing in a world that’s either an alternate past, or a possible future for us, we find a gigantic, gloriously impossible airship carrying an orphan named Sheeta to an unknown fate after being abducted by smug government agent, Muska. The reason that this seemingly innocuous child has been taken prisoner has something to do with a crystal necklace the girl owns – but when a sky pirate clan led by the gutsy Dola attack the airship, Sheeta finds herself hurtling to the ground after falling while trying to escape. But while Sheeta should be turned into human flavored yoghurt on impact, her necklace starts to do some funky stuff after suddenly glowing and once it disrupts gravity and helps the confused girl float back down to earth as gently as can be, she soon meets up with Pazu, a fellow orphan and child mechanic who works in a small mining town.
After taking her in and marvelling at her fantastical story, Pazu soon recieves proof of its validity when two groups of people come searching for Sheeta and her magic jewel. The first is Dola’s gang and the second is Agent Muska, and both are desperate to lay their hands of that necklace for the exact same reason – to discover the location of the fabled flying castle known as Luputa and while Dola hungers for the treasure the structure is rumored to hold, Muska and his troops want something far more dangerous: knowledge.
The two orphans are about to embark on an adventure that’ll see them take to the skies in order to locate this mythical city and keep it safe from any who would plunder its halls. However, discovering that pirates aren’t as bad as they’ve been made out to be is small comfort compared to the devestating, war-like technology that Muska hopes to obtain if he can get to the castle in the sky first.
While Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind was a memorable start for the various pillars of what became one of the most important animation houses in history, in my own, deeply personal opinion, I feel that Castle In The Sky narrowly squeaks ahead as the superior film due to it being a bit more mature in its aims. That’s not to short change Miyazaki’s 1984 sci-fi fantasy and all the giant, empathetic bugs and cool gliders that came with it, but while that earlier epic wore its heart on its sleeve, I feel that his follow-up is a vastly more complex and nuanced affair. The first instance is the setting and placing the action within a retro-futurist 19th century that contains both massive airships and the fact that people still mine for metals, feels far more personal and tangible than going for full, fanciful sci-fi trappings.
Then there are the themes and once again, while Miyazaki wears his heart on his sleeve, he also plays this cards closer to his chest. All those usual themes are still very much in effect and once again the military complex is seen as a metaphorical beast that consumes everything that is beautiful and good and the act of flying is portrayed as the most freedom a person can ever hope to experience, but this time out, the filmmakers choose not to show their working as much, leaving you to pick these things up for yourself, leaving Miyazaki to weave a grander story and more touching relationships. Right at the beating heart of Castle In The Sky lay the central friendship of two orphaned children and while the film thankfully focuses more on friendship than romance, what could have been an irritating or even one-sided pairing ends up being remarkably touching. Both are smart and capable and it’s one of the great joys of the film that it’s their bond that starts to positively affect the cynical adults around them and change their ways. Well, some of them at least.
However, it’s in the vastly more polished animation that allows Castle In The Sky to really shine and the endless scenes of various flying craft never fail to dazzle and impress.
You literally could spend and entire film hanging out with the Keystone Cops-esque sky pirates and their fascinatingly impractical flying base of operations, which is why Miyazaki essentially revisited them in his later film, the similarly flight-obsessed Porco Rosso. However, I have to say, I was increasingly amused how no one in an airborne Miyazaki movie seems to have any problem being miles in the air at all times. No vertigo, no shaky limbs, no dizziness – if I had to do even of a fraction of the things Pazu and Sheeta have to do, I’d probably Sheeta my pants…
Terrible wordplay aside, it’s also stunning how much influence the film has had despite not being a household name. The subplot involving Gort-like, gangly-limbed war robots in particular feels like it birthed both The Wild Robot and The Iron Giant into the world virtually fully formed, I’m certain that some of that 19th century feel might very well have also had an influence on Katsuhiro Otomo’s Steamboy too and if you’re going to tell me that the pirate mechanic isn’t a dead ringer for Dr. Robotnik from Sonic The Hedgehog, then you must be blind. But in this time when anime movies are no longer painstakingly hand drawn, there’s a certain amount of pleasure to be derived from how gorgeous the film looks, from the nail biting train chase that sees the tracks collapsing a split second behind our heroes, or any moment when Miyazaki lets his characters just fly free as a bird to achingly beautiful effect.
Ghibli’s first film (technically speaking) lays down a statement of intent that the studio has been busting it’s butt to measure up to ever since. And yet, compared to other, more familiar films such as Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro, Castle In The Sky doesn’t admittedly quite have the same recognition factor – but don’t let that fool you. This beguiling adventure manages to catch some serious air time.
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