Laputa - Castle in the Sky (PG) Review

Overall Rating

A tremendous action-adventure-fantasy story with brilliant animation.

None.

In castle in the shy a young boy called Pazu befriends Sheeta, a mysterious girl who floats down from the sky one night clutching a magic crystal. Together they must find the secret of the crystal and her past and keep it safe from government agents and air pirates who desire it's hidden power... the power to discover the location of the lost floating sky-castle of Laputa.

An action film for older children and adults due to some scary scenes during the battle for Laptua.

Hayao Miyazaki is the celebrated co-founder of Studio Ghibli in Japan and has been producing and directing some of the best animated features in the World since 1980.

Not as serious as some of Miyazaki's other films, this is a great action-adventure with a generous helping of humour added in the form of the comical Dola Gang of air pirates. Incredible battle scenes and fantastic flying scenes mix with beautiful scenery and great story-telling to make the world of Laputa come alive. This film is somewhat unusual for a Miyazaki film as it contains one of his few true villains, Mushka, a man with no redeeming features, bent on gaining the power of Laputa at any cost.

Although available in the UK from Buena Vista / Disney it is recommended to get the Region 1 US release as the subtitle translation is better on that version. The English dub is ok (for kids that can't read fast enough) and is the same on both the UK/US release.