Review of Castle in the Sky

Sub/Dub: Dub Story: 7/10 Fun and adventurous like most Ghibli movies. Castle in the Sky has a pretty significant “Disney” feel to it, the over the top action scenes, fighting, pirates… All just felt extremely Disney and less Ghibli. Not that that’s a bad thing but it did make me feel as though this movie has a different target audience to most of the Ghibli films I’ve seen. Towards the end I was disappointed that there was really no further development with the island of Laputa. To me, it made the story feel sort of unfinished, especially since Pazu felt very connected to the island because of hisfather’s story but spends most of his time there just dealing with the greedy soldiers. Also I really wanted the robots to have a bigger part.

Art: 8/10
There seems to be much better animation in Castle in the Sky compared to Nausicaa which is very impressive since there’s only 2 years between them. Still, for me it’s not mind-blowing and that’s mostly due to the aged nature of the animation.

Sound/Soundtrack: 8/10
I really enjoyed this soundtrack. I’m not a huge fan of horns but it’s very thematically relevant to Pazu and I think that’s cute. Also I noticed that “Sheeta’s Decision” is essentially a less complex version of “Merry Go Round of Life” (from Howl’s Moving Castle) which I just liked in that, I think this movie shows all lot of not only the studio’s development but even Joe Hisashi’s development as well.

Character: 7/10
I didn’t feel particularly connected with Sheeta as a main character, I don’t think we’re really even given a reason to connect with her. The other characters like Pazu and the pirates come off as much more likeable and relatable. I even enjoyed Muska as a villain even though his “true identity” reveal felt A LOT like an afterthought.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Again just not feeling that much attachment to the characters, and the seemingly underdeveloped story... it wasn’t the most fantastic viewing experience.

Overall: 6/10
It’s a fun movie but not one I’d rate that highly or really recommend to anyone over the age of 10.