My take on Laputa: castle in the sky

One December Saturday morning in 1989 (I think) I came downstairs and started watching tv. Nothing too ordinary about that, but what was on ITV for once was different. It was a cartoon, but had a certain "something" about it that made it appear different to all the western/Disney cartoons I'd seen. It started in a small village on the edge of a cliff and featured 2 children who were being hunted by both the government and a group of sinister pirates. Eventually, the girl was captured (by the government) and shown a giant, broken robot that had fallen from the sky and provided the first physical evidence of a floating in the sky. The adventure then took to the sky as it turned out that the pirates weren't as bad as they first appeared. The memory gets a little hazy (I was only 9) especially as I wasn't used to 2hr cartoons.
Fast forward to 2002 and a thread on the DVD Forums suddenly reminded me of that film. I could now be pretty much assured that is was a Japanese film and this was what gave it its distinctive look (anime uses fewer "in betweens" that western films). Asking around and describing the few details I remembered (the robot, the pirates that turn out to be ok and floating island) came up with the film Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (Laputa: castle in the sky). Yet another film from Ghibli co-founder Miyazaki, this is actually the first film from the studio founded after the success of Nausicaa.
The story starts in an airship, where a girl called Sheeta is being guarded by suspicious-looking men. A raid by air-pirates seems to be targeted at Sheeta, but before the pirates can capture her she falls from the airship. Suddenly, the stone that hangs around her neckeruptss into light and causes her to float gently down to earth. Here she is found by Pazu, a young local mine worker. He agrees to help her and they set off being chased by two groups, with both Pazu and Sheeta unaware of Sheeta's importance. This is one of several "retro-future" films from Ghibli where a early 20th century technology (giant woodern railways across precipices, a lack of widespread electricity) is mixed with bizarre technology such as giant airships and armoured trains. The look of Pazu's village was inspired by the Welsh mining towns that Miyazaki saw during a location scouting trip. The depressed nature of the workers coming from the miners' strikes that had just finished at the time of his visit. The chase eventually leads us to some clues about the importance of Sheeta and her stone before the second half of the film takes us to the skies in search of the mystical floating island of Laputa. All the different characters want to find Laputa for their own reasons - Pazu to prove his father, who was mocked with his tales of the island, was telling the truth, Sheeta grows curious of her heritage and believes it may lie in the sky, the pirate clan lead by Dola believe Laputa to be full of riches, the army are worried that the technology that keeps Laputa afloat may be a danger to them and sinister agent Muska seems to have his own agenda over that of the government.
This is very much an adventure story for children of all ages. It's yet another example of how our culture differs from that in Japan. In a scene where the children are caught by the army, we see an agent pistol-whip Pazu to the ground - something that would never have seen the light of day in a Disney film. Those expecting an action packed resolution are likely to be disappointed (don't get me wrong, there is a lot of action at the end of the film) as once again, like so many Japanese stories, the climax is more spiritual and human that all that has gone before. Miyazaki's love of flying again comes to the fore with some exilarating aerial sequences and once again, several of the "bad guys" may not seem as evil as they are when the film starts. The one exception to this is Muska. I think I can safely say that he is the most evil character in a Miyazaki film to date and seems to lack any redeeming qualities. The theme of nature and man's quest for domination comes around too. Muska shows Sheeta a giant robot that fell from the sky. Later Sheeta recants a "spell" taught to her by her grandmother that reactivates the robot. Its primal instinct is to protect Sheeta and a massive fire fight between the robot and the army ensues as the robot battles to get to Sheeta and keep her safe, with the massive firepower of the Laputian technology decimating the army's fortress. Later we see another robot, alone on the island itself. It tends a grave with flowers and even moves the glider the children arrive in away from a birds nest. Even thought the robot cannot communicate beyond beeps, we can see that it bears no agression to the newcommers at all. A lifesize Laputian robot stands atop the roof of the Ghibli museum in Mitaka. The delightful relationship that devlelops between the two children is at the centre of the human story. They have a totally innocent love for each other that pirate leader Dola tries to get her many sons to understand.
In 1999, the original Streamline dub that was shown on ITV all those years ago was replaced by a brand new Disney supervised effort. I haven't yet heard it but it has drawn equal amount of praise and disgust. If James Van der Beek was hard to take as a teenager in Dawson's Creek, then I imagine he's equally hard to take as the 11 or 12 year old Pazu. Mark Hamill (who has had a successful voice over career since fading from the acting limelight of the Star Wars films) voices Muska and Cloris Leachman voices Dola (both these roles have drawn praise). Even more contentious among fans is Disney's commissioning Joe Hisaishi to extend the score.
Where the Japanese track features long periods of silence, Disney felt western audiences would feel ill at ease with this. The reports on the extension are pretty good and Miyazaki was quite happy to let the change take place. If you buy the R1/2/4 version you have the chance to listen to both the new English dub and the original Japanese recording. The score (like Nausicaa) is still a little synth-heavy (it was 1986) but still has some excellent themes. Whilst Disney was unable to edit any of the film due to the terms of their contract with Ghibli, they did change the title of the film as they were worried that the name Laputa ("the whore" in Spanish) wouldn't go down too well in the US. All other regions are unaffected by this change. This is another example of how to create a film that will captivate children and adults alike. It seems that no matter what subject Miyazaki tackles he injects such a fantastic vision that isn't impossible not to be transfixed. This is essentially an excellent grounding in his themes: we have flight, how man misuses power available to him and its impact on nature, leading characters who are children and a great love between 2 of of the characters and people who's motives seem to change over the course of the film and an "alternate-reality" European setting - all of these feature in his other works.