Defining Favourites: Castle in the Sky (1986)

A fun adventure for children on the surface, but a poignant commentary on human beings' relationship with technology and nature allows this Hayao Miyazaki masterwork to stand tall.

Photo: Toho

Welcome to my Defining Favourites, a section dedicated to essays about films that I feel confident in calling favourites in some way or another - akin to Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies” reviews. These essays are for paid subscribers, so if you would like to read more beyond the free preview, please consider subscribing.

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by Isao Takahata
Starring Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada (Japanese version)
Starring James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Mark Hamill, Cloris Leachman, Mandy Patinkin, Andy Dick (English dub)
Premiere Date: August 2, 1986
Running Time: 124 minutes

Castle in the Sky is Studio Ghibli’s first film under the official moniker, and it also remains one of Hayao Miyazaki’s best films. Perhaps it might be more straightforward compared to the likes of some of Miyazaki’s more beloved films, yet Castle in the Sky is still no less enthralling as any great adventure classic would be. It may just as well represent how an artist as accomplished as Hayao Miyazaki was able to see the world through the eyes that young children would want, with every minute of it encapsulating the same wonder that they’ll experience when having a novel read out to them and ultimately trying to live within it. It’s perhaps one of the most imaginative films of Miyazaki’s canon, like any great film for children would be.

Even though Hayao Miyazaki had opted for something more simple so that children could enjoy what he was bringing to the screen in Castle in the Sky, this film is still very laden with the pacifist and environmentalist themes which have best defined Miyazaki’s career. Perhaps it’s more present as subtext which informs the adventure which Miyazaki is bringing forth, but we can always feel that they’re all an innate aspect of what allows such stories the lasting legacy which they carry. At first glance, Castle in the Sky is a great children’s adventure movie because that’s simply what Hayao Miyazaki wanted to make: but it’s also a stepping stone for getting a younger audience to pay attention to these things happening within our world.