Review of Castle in the Sky

So far, I've pretty much managed to stick to my original feeling that I was unlikely to rate anything a 1 or a 10. But if anything is worthy of being called a Masterpiece, it's Castle in the Sky. I was continuing my journey to go through the Studio Ghibli films I missed as a kid... I don't think I realized just how old this one is until I started it up. In hindsight, I'm not surprised Castle in the Sky wasn't part of my childhood, given I wasn't born for another decade after it came out. And with that in mind, there were some thingsabout it that felt very 80s. The villains (the pirates, at least) were really goofy, and some of the sound effects brought me back to the Tom and Jerry reruns I used to watch as a kid. None of these things are critiques; they just brought a different feel to the movie than I was originally expecting.

It definitely held up to the expectations I have for Ghibli. The animation felt simple, but it was beautiful. The story was an interesting one, and I think having two sets of antagonists after Sheeta and her crystal shook things up a little. It didn't feel predictable, like it was following some sort of worn-out script. Too often these days, I feel like stories are bolted into a format just because it's proven successful in the past. I think that was what I liked most about this movie. It didn't feel rushed. The story was going to be told in its own time, and it felt like it had all the time in the world to do so.