This Japanese animated tale of adventure, danger and magic actually happens to be a bit better than average; a rousing and exciting film.

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2013)

Are there many films that are as flat out exciting, enjoyable, well designed and well-structured as Laputa: Castle in the Sky? In essence, the piece is a B-movie but it's one of those B-movies which happens to throw a dart in generally the right direction only to end up nailing the shot with aplomb. When these sorts of ideas and approaches come off, there is little which doesn't work and Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 animation is one of these: an absolute joy of comedy; fantasy and adventure toying with switching allegiances and imagination in design. I'm a firm believer that animation often works best when it's working with things insurmountable to being ordinarily filmed; a medium which, when applied to cinema, brings to life worlds and people and objects otherwise impossible to create without the need for computer generated imagery to intersperse with the live action. Laputa: Castle in the Sky is one of those films, a project which allows for its creators to just go nuts, although within reason - to do so knowing that they will not be hampered by the potential for effects to overrun creativity and immersion into a fictitious world.
There are, of course, instances whereby animated films have tackled "adult" issues (ranging from true to life warfare to the toppling of self-possessed alcoholism and grief) in the form of "Waltz with Bashir"; Franco-Iranian effort "Persepolis" through to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and have done so rather well, but they were always preoccupied with bringing a visual flourish to worlds that already existed and the period detail (1980's Vienna, Lebanon and 1940's Los Angeles) additionally helped in elevating them above self-indulgent, vacant of substance, spectacle driven pieces. But these are few and far between, and it's not like the Japanese are immune to droll, often unwatchable, animations which blind you with faux-nostalgia and that terrible quasi-sense of magic and merriment abound in pieces such as "Only Yesterday" and "My Neighbour Totoro", where not an awful lot is happening bar the repetition of steps which had already been taken more rigidly and more enjoyably.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky is about a chase and an adventure involving a young, 'farm'-like locale dwelling boy who's propelled into the stratospheres of action, romance and danger. It is, of course, pure escapism but it is charming and it remembers to get the little things right. Opening in an airship flying high in the air above what is later revealed to be the ground below of an alternate Japan on an alternate planet Earth set some time ago, insect-like looking sky bandits invade the affluent surroundings of the vessel in pursuit for a necklace that a young girl surrounded in suited bodyguards is in close contact to. She is Sheeta, a depressed young girl who doesn't feel like eating but is, for some, reason in the company of this small army of men of whom each possess firearms. Amidst the chaos, Sheeta knocks out one of the men guarding her and it's revealed she was, in fact, so fond of their protection that she drops out of the window to fall to what appears to be certain death. Nay, for the item attacked to her necklace has steadied her fall and allowed her to land softly on the grounds below.
What she falls into is a rural stretch of land where the young Pazu works, a minor who does the hours and lives simply only to have this Sheeta and her amazing possession come upon his world. Cocksure and boisterous, he is not deterred from maintaining his whipper-snapper attitude in spite of a peer chastising him for something. With Sheeta, Pazu, who's a sort of epitome of the working class man in boy form, embark on this adventure with the elements from before chasing them as they strive to uncover the secrets of the necklace whose purpose is to lead them to the eponymous kingdom in the sky: Laputa. The film's setting, stuck somewhere between the industrial age and a futuristic Utopia wherein rocket propelled jet skis are designed within an inch of their lives, but when a motorcar shows up can only induce reactions of "You don't see those very often(!)", allows perfectly for a rounded; neo-fantastical locale wherein grounded and recognisable characters and attitudes may exist hand in hand with escapist content.
One looks past the film's tendency to depict its lead as an all-conquering, all saving epitome of leftist industrial liberalism – a character whose decision to aid an outsider arriving unexpectedly in a locale alien to them (although familiar and functioning to the lead) very much leads them to a higher and more spiritual plateau of adventure and discovery. Moreover, and where the idea that factory floor/steel mill/coal mine (delete as appropriate) dwelling leftists can vanquish enemies and embrace this new found intruder is inherent, one should look past apparent 'pro' annotations to what waves of Left-induced immigration spins on those already occupying the land, and instead focus on the fact Laputa: Caslte in the Sky is more of a cracking, gratifying action film with a lot of amusing second unit material that works a whole lot more than it should.