Falling from the airship, Sheeta’s descent is slowed by the amulet and she lands, unconscious, in a small mining town where she is rescued and befriended by Pazu (Mayumi Tanaka/James Van Der Beek). All sides are trying to get their hands on a blue crystal pendant that Sheeta wears, the pirates for its monetary value, the government agents, led by Colonel Muska (Minori Terada/Mark Hamill) because he believes it will lead him to the near-mythical floating city of Laputa, a huge flying island that hasn’t been seen for many years. Young orphan girl Sheeta (voiced by Keiko Yokozawa in the original Japanese, Anna Paquin in the 1998 Walt Disney dub, the one now most easily found) escapes her government captors when the airship she’s being transported in comes under attack from Captain Dola (Kotoe Hatsui/Cloris Leachman) and her air pirates.

Though Takahata directed films for the company, most notably the extraordinary and, for the time, atypical Hotaru no haka/Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Ghibli has become synonymous with Miyazaki who directed eight feature films under the company’s banner, beginning with Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The success of Nausicaä inspired Miyazaki to establish Studio Ghibli with fellow director Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki, taking its name from the Italian “ ghibli“, derived from the Libyan Arabic word qibliyy which roughly translates as “coming from the qibla 1” but which is also used for the desert wind more commonly known in English as scirocco. Of course if none of this interests you then it is still worth seeing for Miyazaki's imagination and style, which is impressive and hard to believe that it is 20 years old this year.The first of the Studio Ghibli films, Laputa: Castle in the Sky was the third feature film directed by the company’s co-founder, Hayao Miyazaki following Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro/Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) and Kaze no tani no Naushika/Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), the latter based on Miyazaki’s manga of the same name. These are grown within a engaging story told with pace and a good rate of action. Overall this may not have the emotional depth of Spirited Away but it has strong characters and good relationships. Everyone works well together and they deliver their characters well to support the narrative and they match the impressive visuals well.

Hamill takes the bad guy role well and shows his experience at animation even if he is a little hammy at the odd point. Just as good is Leachman's Dola blessed with a good character in the first place, her voice is spot on despite sounding a little like Mrs Skinner on the Simpsons. She probably isn't that weak but she is shown up by an engagingly fresh and natural delivery from Van Der Beek not something I expected to be saying when I learnt he was doing the voice of Pazu. Sadly the weakest link is Paquin, she sounds unnatural and a little wooden too often. The voice cast in the English dub are mostly very good. The characters bring out nice relationships as well which adds value to the story but unfortunately points made late in the film about the environment and such are heavily made and clunky. The pace of the film is perfectly pitched and things move forward really well and I can't imagine an audience of children or adults will be bothered by the running time. It struggles at times with the weight of coincidence needed to make the film move forward but the manner of delivery covers up these little problems by producing regular action and fun characters. As writer he has also done well to craft a story that is engaging and enjoyable. The sheer visual style and imagination is quite breath-taking and I could not quite believe that this was made by Miyazaki only 7 years after the vastly inferior (but still OK) Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (or The Castle of Cagliostro as it was in the UK). Hard to believe that this film is twenty years old and yet looks as fresh and is as engaging as anything else you will see today.

Escaping Pazu's town together is only the start of their adventure together. Not only do the pair have to deal with the pirates but also the government, led by sinister agent Muska, have their own dark reasons for getting hold of Sheeta. Pazu takes her in and they become friends but quickly learn that the pirates after Sheeta have not given up their chase. Fortunately the enchanted and mysterious crystal she is wearing round her neck saves her and floats her to the ground where she is found by young Pazu, who is rushing to get back to his boss in the mine with food. When the airship she is on is attacked, Sheeta tries to escape from her would-be captors but falls to her death through the clouds.

Castle in the sky (1986)