Castle In The Sky

, known simply as ''Castle in the Sky'' in North America, is a 1986 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is the first film by Studio Ghibli, produced for Tokuma Shoten and distributed by the Toei Company. Set in a fictional late 19th century, it follows the adventures of a boy and girl who are trying to keep a powerful crystal from the army, a group of secret agents, and a family of pirates, while searching for a legendary floating castle.

The film won the ''Animage'' Anime Grand Prix in 1986. The film received positive reviews and grossed over at the box office. It went on to gross a total of approximately in box office, home video and soundtrack sales, . In Japanese polls asking about the greatest animations, it was voted the second-best animated film at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival and was voted first place in a 2008 Oricon audience poll. ''Laputa'' has had a strong influence on Japanese popular culture, and has inspired numerous films, media and games, in Japan and internationally. It has been cited as an influential classic in the steampunk and dieselpunk genres.

Plot summary

An airship carrying Sheeta — an orphan girl abducted by government agent Muska — is attacked by Dola and her air pirate sons, seeking Sheeta's blue crystal amulet. While attempting to escape, Sheeta slips off the airship and falls unconscious. However, the amulet, emanating a mysterious blue light, catches her and lowers her slowly to the ground. 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 of how she was kidnapped from her mountain home by Muska and his agents. In the caverns, they meet the old miner Uncle Pom, who shows them the glowing deposits of Aetherium around them.

Leaving the mines, 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. Muska shows Sheeta a broken Laputan robot; knowing her name, he intends to make her reveal Laputa's location. Muska threatens Pazu, and for his own safety, Sheeta orders him to go back home. A despondent Pazu returns, where Dola and her sons await and capture him. To rescue Sheeta, Pazu joins them on their quest to find Laputa.

Sheeta recites a spell her grandmother taught her, unintentionally activating the amulet and the robot, which wreaks havoc until it is destroyed by the military's huge airship, ''Goliath''. Pazu rescues Sheeta, but Muska obtains the amulet, which now emits a beam of light in the direction of Laputa. Pazu, Sheeta, and the pirates return to their airship and pursue the ''Goliath'', which is navigating by Sheeta's amulet. Along the way, Dola tells Pazu and Sheeta how to turn the lookout into a kite, giving them a higher vantage point. Pazu spots a swirl of clouds in an approaching hurricane. Recognizing the clouds from his father's stories, he tells Dola they have found Laputa and insists that they head toward the eye of the storm. However, the ''Goliath'' appears, damages the pirate ship and severs the lookout kite from it, sending Pazu and Sheeta into the clouds.

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 the amulet 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 takes the amulet back and flees. She gives the amulet to Pazu through a gap in the wall, but is cornered by a pursuing Muska in Laputa's throne room.

Sheeta rebukes Muska, declaring the people of Laputa left because they realized humankind was meant to live on Earth. Undaunted, Muska threatens to kill her unless she gives him the amulet. Pazu arrives and asks to speak with her, and Muska grants them one minute. Sheeta and Pazu recite a spell of destruction connected to the crystal, causing the center of Laputa to collapse. The resulting flash of light blinds Muska, who falls to his death offscreen, while the children are protected by the tree roots. The remainder of Laputa's ruins ascend until they disappear from view, supported by its crystal. Pazu and Sheeta take the kite to reunite with the pirates before both groups part ways.

During the closing credits sequence, Laputa is shown floating in orbit above Earth.

Voice cast

Development

Precursors to Studio Ghibli

Miyazaki's earlier anime series ''Future Boy Conan'' (1978) featured a number of elements that he later adapted for ''Laputa''. Conan and Lana, for example, were forerunners of Pazu and Sheeta, and it had similarities to Sheeta's rescue by Pazu. Some of the characters and themes in ''Future Boy Conan'' set the blueprint for ''Laputa''. The name "Laputa" is derived from Jonathan Swift's novel ''Gulliver's Travels'', wherein Swift's Laputa is also a flying island propelled by a giant central crystal and controlled by its citizens. Anthony Lioi feels that Miyazaki's ''Laputa'' is similar to Swift's Laputa, where the technological superiority of the castle in the sky is used for political ends.

Trip to Wales

Some of the architecture seen in the film was inspired by a Welsh mining town. Miyazaki first visited Wales in 1984 and witnessed the miners' strike firsthand. He returned to the country in 1986 to prepare for ''Laputa'', which he said reflected his Welsh experience: "I was in Wales just after the miners' strike. I really admired the way the miners' unions fought to the very end for their jobs and communities, and I wanted to reflect the strength of those communities in my film." Miyazaki told ''The Guardian'', "I admired those men, I admired the way they battled to save their way of life, just as the coal miners in Japan did. Many people of my generation see the miners as a symbol; a dying breed of fighting men. Now they are gone."

Animation

The film had a production budget of , at the time equivalent to , matching the record set by Miyazaki's Lupin III film ''The Castle of Cagliostro'' (1979) for the highest budget for an anime film. Telecom Animation Film, and Oh! Production helped animate the film.

Release

Box office

The film was released in Japan on August 2, 1986, by the Toei Company, which also released ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind''.

At the Japanese box office, the film grossed ¥1.16billion, at the time equivalent to . In Hong Kong, the film's 1987 release grossed HK$13.1million, at the time equivalent to . In the United Kingdom, the film's 2012 release grossed $327,559 in its first week. In the United States, the film's 2018 limited release grossed $523,664. In other territories, the film's 2003 release grossed $5,434,627, including $4,670,084 in France alone. This adds up to a combined worldwide box office gross of .

In terms of box office admissions, the film sold about 800,000 tickets in Japan and 1,066,427 tickets in Europe.

Home media

By 2003, ''Laputa'' had sold 1.612million VHS and DVD units in Japan. At an average retail price of ( on DVD and on VHS), this is equivalent to approximately () in estimated Japanese sales revenue as of 2012.

In the United States, the 2010 DVD release grossed over in sales revenue .

In the United Kingdom, it was 2019's eighth best-selling foreign language film on home video (below six other Japanese films, including five Miyazaki anime films).

English dubs

The first English dub of ''Laputa'' was produced by an unknown party commissioned by Tokuma Shoten for viewing on international flights on Japan Airlines; this dub was licensed between 1989 and 1991 by the then-brand-new Streamline Pictures for distribution in North American markets. Carl Macek, the head of Streamline, was disappointed with this dub, deeming it "adequate, but clumsy". Following this, Tokuma allowed Streamline to dub their future acquisitions ''My Neighbor Totoro'' and ''Kiki's Delivery Service''. In UK, the premiere took place on August 12, 1987 on MTV Europe in its own dubbing. The original dub of ''Laputa'' is also seen on the 1996 ''Ghibli ga Ippai'' Laserdisc set, and on the first Japanese DVD release. The initial Japanese DVD release is now out of print and the subsequent re-release in 2014 replaces it with the Disney dubbed version.

The English dub produced by Disney was recorded in 1998 and planned for release on video in 1999, but the release was cancelled after ''Princess Mononoke'' did not fare as well in the US, and so ''Laputa's'' release date was pushed back yet again; on occasion the completed dub was screened at select children's festivals. The film was finally released on DVD and video in the US on April 15, 2003, alongside a rerelease of ''Kiki's Delivery Service'' and ''Spirited Away''. As with ''Mononoke'' and ''Kiki'', critical opinion was mixed about the new dub, but Cloris Leachman and Mark Hamill's performances as Dola and Muska drew praise. ''Laputa'' was reissued on American home video on March 2, 2010, as a tribute accompanying the home video release of ''Ponyo''. The film was released by Buena Vista on Blu-ray in North America on May 22, 2012, alongside ''Whisper of the Heart'' and ''The Secret World of Arrietty''. Shout! Factory and GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on October 31, 2017.

Differences between versions

Although the plot and much of the script was left intact, Disney's English dub of ''Laputa'' contains some changes:

* A significant amount of background chatter as well as one-liners were added (even more so than in Disney's dub of ''Kiki's Delivery Service''), filling in moments of silence and increasing the frenetic effect of certain scenes.
* Composer Joe Hisaishi was commissioned to rework and extend his original 60-minute electronic–orchestral score into a 90-minute symphonic orchestral score, to make the film more palatable to American audiences. The sound mix received a vast overhaul as well.
* Pazu and Sheeta, voiced by James Van Der Beek and Anna Paquin, respectively, are made to sound several years older, placing them in their mid-teens rather than their pre-teens.
* Several modifications were made to the Dola gang's dialogue regarding Sheeta, including a declaration of love by one of the pirates. In the original Japanese version, the dialogue presented Sheeta as a potential mother figure to the pirates, rather than a potential romantic interest.
* References to Robert Louis Stevenson's ''Treasure Island'' and Jonathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels'' were removed, the latter of which had also been removed from the original dub.

Although all these alterations were approved by Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki, some critics have called them into question. Regarding the soundtrack, Miyazaki himself is said to have approved of Hisaishi's reworking; his compliments were echoed by several reviewers.

The 2010 DVD rerelease reverts some of these changes. The updated score and sound mix are replaced by the originals in the Japanese-language audio, retaining the updates in the dub. Some of the added dialogue is removed in the dub, restoring silence where it is in the original Japanese version. However, the English subtitles are not updated to reflect the trimmed dialogue, which sometimes results in text being displayed when no characters are speaking. These changes are also seen in the 2012 US Blu-ray release. For the Japanese, Australian, and British Blu-rays, the updated score is used, and the subtitles are properly timed, literal translations from the original Japanese, rather than the improperly timed dubtitles.

The 2017 Blu-ray rerelease by GKIDS, besides offering the original Japanese, features the 2010 edit of the English dub but presents the option of playing it with either the original or the new score. For subtitles, the correctly translated from Japanese to English subtitles are added. The HBO Max release of the English dub only uses the original score. In the film's release on Netflix, the Japanese audio features the original audio mix and score, while the English audio features the updated audio mix and score. Subtitles are only available for the original Japanese audio.

Title

The name "Laputa" comes from Jonathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels''. Certain English- and Spanish-language releases have opted to omit the name "Laputa" due to it resembling "la puta" ( "the whore") in Spanish.

In 2003, the film's title was shortened to ''Castle in the Sky'' in several countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, and Spain. In Spain the castle was named ''Lapuntu'' in the first dub in 2003, although in the second one made in 2010 retains the original name ''Laputa.'' In the Catalan dub in 2012, the meaning of ''Laputa'' was said with the tonic syllable in "La".

The film's full title was later restored in Britain, in February 2006, when Optimum Asia – a division of London-based Optimum Releasing (StudioCanal UK since 2011) – acquired the UK distribution rights to the Studio Ghibli collection from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

Additionally, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the pre-Disney dub was screened in the UK as an art-house film, under the alternative title ''Laputa: The Flying Island''. It also aired at least twice on British television, but with some scenes cut.

Music

Just as with ''Nausicaä'', Joe Hisaishi composed the soundtrack of ''Laputa''. Miyazaki and Hisaishi went on to become close collaborators, and Hisaishi has since provided the music for all of Miyazaki's feature films. Three months before the film's theatrical release, the image album — a collection of demos and musical sketches that serve as a precursor to the finished score — was published by Tokuma on compact disc. A third version of the soundtrack, rearranged for full symphony orchestra and recorded by the Tokyo City Philharmonic, released in 1987 on compact disc.

For the second English dub produced by Disney, Hisaishi was called upon to rewrite the soundtrack to be more suitable for audiences in America. The new soundtrack was recorded by the Seattle Symphony and first featured in the 2003 North American home media release.

The credits sequence features an original vocal song titled "Carrying You" performed by Azumi Inoue, with music by Hisaishi and lyrics by Miyazaki. The song was released in 1988 as a compact disc single, featuring an additional chorus version performed by the Suginami Children's Choir.

Themes and style

Innovations in steampunk

Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers, in ''The Steampunk Bible'', consider the film a milestone in the steampunk genre, calling it "one of the first modern steampunk classics." Archetypal steampunk elements in ''Laputa'' include airships, air pirates, steam-powered robots, and a view of steam power as a limitless but potentially dangerous source of power. Philip Boyes of ''Eurogamer'' also considers it an influential work in the dieselpunk genre.

Connections to ancient mythology

Miyazaki, through the dialog of Colonel Muska, credited Laputa as having informed Biblical and Hindu legends—thus tying the world of Laputa to the real Earth (including Western and Eastern civilizations)—as do Miyazaki's choices of the medieval castle architecture on the ground; the Gothic and half-timbered buildings in the village near the fort; the Welsh mining-town architecture, clothing, and ground vehicles of Pazu's homeland; and the Victorian ambiance of the pirate ship. The film also features the use of ancient Babylonian cuneiform script on Laputa's interactive panels and tombstones; and makes references to the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', including "Indra's arrow", while the name Sheeta may be related to Sita, the protagonist of the ''Ramayana''.Ryoko Toyama
''Laputa: The Castle in the Sky'' FAQ
, ''Nausicaa.net'' The flying city of Laputa has an architectural design resembling the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon, including ziggurat-like structures, and with murals resembling ancient Egyptian and Assyrian art.

Reception

Critical responses

According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "With a storytelling palette as rich and brilliant as its animation, ''Castle in the Sky'' thrillingly encapsulates Studio Ghibli's unique strengths." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

In 2001, the Japanese magazine ''Animage'' ranked ''Laputa: Castle in the Sky'' 44th in their list of ''100 Best Anime Productions of All Time''. In a 2006 poll of 100 best animations of all time by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs conducted at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival, ''Laputa'' was the second highest-ranked animated film (after ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'', and third highest-ranked animation overall on the list (below ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' and ''Nausicaä''). In a 2008 animation audience poll conducted by Oricon in Japan, ''Laputa'' was voted first place, above ''Nausicaä'' in second place. Andrew Osmond of '' All the Anime'' calls ''Laputa'' the "best steampunk film" of all time. The film was ranked at number 10 on the list of ''Greatest Japanese Animated Films of All Time'' by Japanese film magazine kinema Junpo in 2009.

Accolades

* Ōfuji Noburō Award; Mainichi Film Award
* First Place; Pia Ten (Best Films of the Year)
* First Place; Japanese Movies; City Road
* First Place; Japanese Movies; Eiga Geijutsu (Movie Art)
* First Place; Japanese Films Best 10; Osaka Film Festival
* Eighth Place; Japanese Films; Kinema Junpo Best 10
* Second Place; Readers' Choice; Kinema Junpo Best 10
* Best Anime; 9th Anime Grand Prix
* Special Recommendation; The Central Committee for Children's Welfare
* Special Award (to Miyazaki & Takahata); Revival of Japanese Movies
* Best Design Award; Anime

Cultural legacy

''Laputa'' has had a strong impact on Japanese popular culture.

The most tweeted moment in the history of Twitter was during one airing of ''Laputa'' on Japanese TV on August 2, 2013, when fans tweeted the word "balus" at the exact time that it was said in an important moment of the movie. There was a global peak of 143,199 tweets in one second.

''Laputa'' has also had an influence on popular music; the popular jazz-funk band Hiatus Kaiyote has a song called 'Laputa' and its lyrics directly reference the film. Another example of a song directly referencing the film is a song titled 'Laputa' by the indie rock band Panchiko.

Animation and manga

The success of ''Laputa'' led to a wave of steampunk anime and manga. A notable example is the anime series '' Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water'' (1990). The success of ''Laputa'' inspired Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax to create ''Nadia'', their first hit production, loosely adapting elements from ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'', with Captain Nemo making an appearance. In turn, ''Nadia'' was influential on later steampunk anime, such as Katsuhiro Otomo's film production ''Steamboy'' (2004). Other steampunk anime and manga followed in the wake of ''Laputa'', including Miyazaki's own films ''Porco Rosso'' (1992) and ''Howl's Moving Castle'' (2004), Sega's anime series ''Sakura Wars'' (1997), Square Enix's manga and anime franchise ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' (2001), and the manga and anime series ''Elemental Gelade'' (2002).

Manga author Katsura Hoshino, known for the manga and anime series '' D.Gray-man'', was fascinated by ''Laputa'' to the point where she decided to seek work as an animator when growing up, before she ended up writing manga. Anime filmmaker Yasuhiro Yoshiura described his film ''Patema Inverted'' (2013) as his venture into "the world of ''Laputa'' and the boy-meets-girl story". Anime filmmaker Makoto Shinkai, known for the hit anime films ''Your Name'' (2016) and ''Weathering With You'' (2019), cited ''Laputa'' as his favourite animation. The anime series ''No Game No Life'' (2014) references the film in episode five.

''Laputa'' influenced a number of animated films from Disney and Pixar. For example, Disney films such as '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' (2001), and Pixar films such as ''WALL-E'' (2008) and '' Up'' (2009). The French animated film ''April and the Extraordinary World'' (2015) was also influenced by ''Laputa''.

Video games

''Laputa'' has influenced numerous video games, particularly Japanese video games, with its success leading to a wave of steampunk video games. Game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi cited ''Laputa'' as an inspiration behind his ''Final Fantasy'' video game series, particularly citing it as an influence on the series' airships. Sega AM2 game designer Yu Suzuki cited ''Laputa'' as his original inspiration behind the hit arcade game ''After Burner'' (1987).

Konami's well regarded shoot 'em up ''Detana!! TwinBee'' (known as ''Bells and Whistles'' outside Japan) featured an air castle stage, and the stage's background music is called "Sky Fortress Laputa", clearly taking influence from the film. ''Steel Empire'' (1992), another acclaimed shoot 'em up originally released as ''Koutetsu Teikoku'' on the Sega Mega Drive console in Japan and considered to be the first steampunk video game, was inspired by ''Laputa'', helping to propel steampunk into the video game market. This influenced ''Final Fantasy VI'' (1994), a Japanese role-playing game developed by Squaresoft, which had a considerable influence on later steampunk video games. Sega's video game franchise ''Sakura Wars'' (1996) also followed in the wake of ''Laputa''.

''Laputa'' also inspired a number of other video games, including the ''Mega Man Legends'' series (whose Japanese version, coincidentally, would feature voice acting by Mayumi Tanaka azuand Keiko Yokozawa heetaas Rock/Mega Man Volnutt and Roll Caskett, respectively), '' Zack & Wiki'', and Japanese role-playing games such as the ''Lunar'' series, ''Valkyrie Profile'' (1999), ''Skies of Arcadia'' (2000), '' Steambot Chronicles'' (2005), and ''Dark Cloud 2'' (2002). ''Laputa'' also influenced the airships in the ''Mario'' and ''Civilization'' franchises. It also inspired Mojang to add the Iron Golem mob to Minecraft.

Notes

References

External links

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*
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*

''Laputa: Castle in the Sky''
at Nausicaa.net
*

天空の城ラピュタ (''Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa'')
at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)

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1980s children's animated films
1980s children's fantasy films
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Dieselpunk films
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Films directed by Hayao Miyazaki
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