Review of Castle in the Sky

Nausicaa like personality. Atlantis like Lost City. Video-Game like music. I saw about half an hour of this and I liked it but it wasn't the complete movie so I waited until the day that I 'could' see the full thing. So The Suicide Squad came out and I got an HBO Max free trial, I figured I'd look into some other stuff before the trial ended so I tried 'Only yesterday' and after a little bit, I saw that it wasn't for me and I shut it off and restarted Castle in the Sky. It's been years since I first saw the beginning and oh boy didI need a refresher. The movie is 2 hours long but that time isn't wasted, it jumps straight into it from the very beginning, incredible set-pieces left and right all bound together by a loveable story and charismatic characters with a notable voice cast.

So I came into it knowing it was good but not THAT good.

Easy 8/10

I suppose the only thing I can complain about is that the whole movie felt grandiose yet the ending felt like it held something back. I also think it'd be really cool if they recreated Potsu's painting with the castle just peeking out of the clouds, slowly revealing it then they crash. But I understand that they wanted that crash to be the big up close and personal look into it, did they make it out of the storm or not?

I know Studio Ghibli usually does this but it feel like they made this without compromise. So they have the violence and guns of an action movie but sweet and full of heart like a kids movie. I wasn't a fan of Ghibli as a kid so I don't really have any nostalgia for them but I think as I got older, the more I was open to that kind of stuff. This one feels like I still would've liked it as a kid.