Laputa
Castle in the Sky

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Cloris Leachman, Mark Hamill, Richard Dysart, Jim Cummings Produced by: Isao Takahata
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki Starring Mayumi Tanaka Keiko Yokozawa Kotoe Hatsui Minori Terada
Music by: Joe Hisaishi
Released: 2 August 1986

Plot: An airship carrying Sheeta—an orphan girl abducted by government agent Muska—is attacked by Captain Dola and her air pirate sons, seeking Sheeta's blue crystal pendant. Trying to escape, Sheeta falls from the airship but, thanks to the amulet, she floats to earth, unconscious. An orphan boy named Pazu catches her and takes her to his home in a mining town. Pazu shows her a picture of a legendary floating city, Laputa, taken by his late father. When Dola's pirates and Muska's men appear and pursue them, Pazu and Sheeta, aided by the amulet, fall into an abandoned mine, where she tells how she was kidnapped from her mountain home because of her necklace. Old miner Uncle Pom shows them the glowing deposits of Aetherium around them.

Leaving the mine, Sheeta tells Pazu her full name - Lucita Toel Ul Laputa - revealing her as a descendant of the Laputan royal family. Muska captures them and takes them to his fortress where the children are imprisoned in different rooms. Muska shows Sheeta a broken Laputan robot; knowing her name, he intends to make her reveal Laputa's location. Muska threatens Pazu; for his own safety, Sheeta orders him to leave. A despondent Pazu returns home, where Dola and her sons await. To rescue Sheeta, Pazu joins them.

Sheeta and Pazu safely reach Laputa, where they find plants and animals thriving in the ruins of the castle, which surround a huge tree. However, the army plunders the city, with the pirates as their captives. Muska captures Sheeta while Pazu frees the pirates. Muska takes Sheeta into the center of Laputa, a vast repository of scientific knowledge where an immense crystal powers the city. Muska reveals his real name, “Romuska Palo Ul Laputa", another member of the royal line that left Laputa centuries ago. Using Sheeta's crystal to access Laputan technology, he unleashes Laputa's secret weapon of mass destruction and a dormant robot army, destroys the Goliath and its crew, and declares his plans to conquer the world. Horrified, Sheeta steals back the amulet and flees. She gives the amulet to Pazu through a gap in the wall but is cornered by a pursuing Muska in Laputa's dilapidated throne room.

Review: The Castle in the Sky follows the adventures of an orphaned girl named Cheeta as she searches to discover her families past whie running from government agents who are after her blue crystal.

M J Flack