Roots from the many trees grown inside begin to break away from the stonework, brick, and metal while dust clouds seep out of each entrance ways and windows, billowed by the strong winds outside. Archways and columns collapse in on themselves whilst the castle’s robot guards cease to function, allowing the falling rubble to bury them the ones already airborne fall into the depths of the blue ocean below. Muska is left blind from the light while Sheeta and Pazu fall inside a protective tree trunk that covers the entirety of the ruin. Outside walls show signs of buckling under the immense strain of power emanating from the castle’s core, creating cracks and fissures on every surface. Stones with Laputian runes become electric with the same blue light, breaking off from there foundations.
As blue light from the stone engulfs all three characters a montage of the castle’s foundations tearing apart begins. What follows is one of Studio Ghibli’s finest moments of animation, and that’s saying something given this company’s repertoire of work. The pair raise their hands with the stone clasped inside and shout “Balse!”. Pazu tells Sheeta to whisper to him the spell which her grandmother taught her, a spell to never be spoken out loud.
Taking her amulet back from Muska, Sheeta and Pazu reunite but, at gunpoint, Muska threatens to kill her unless they return the magical stone. Muska informs her that he too has Laputian heritage and attempts to force her into helping him dominate the world by using the castle’s unstoppable weaponry. Whilst the two explore the castle’s highly advanced but ancient ruins, government and military forces invade, capturing Sheeta. The ancient civilization once ruled the world with its advanced technology but eventually fell to ruin, leaving on a few descendants from the ancestral line left. That journey eventually leads them to Laputa, a magnificent floating castle belonging to an ancient race of people Sheeta descends from. The two of them embark on a journey to escape the evil Agent Muska, all the while discovering Sheeta’s true origins and hidden power. Whilst escaping from the clutches of her government kidnappers she befriends Pazu, a young boy from a small mining town.
The story revolves around Sheeta, a young girl gifted with a powerful amulet of mysterious origins. His 1986 film “ Laputa: Castle in the Sky” was one such feature and still stands today as one of his most touching, visually brilliant and escapist pieces from the director’s work to date. Partly due to lacklustre marketing efforts from foreign distributors, the director’s home at Studio Ghibli only began an appreciative worldwide revival from the mid to late 1990s with many of his earlier features being re-dubbed and released for American audiences. But prior to 2001’s Spirited Away, where Western audiences were given a proper introduction to the director, thanks in no small part to Disney itself, Miyazaki’s earlier efforts had sometimes gone unnoticed outside of his native Japan. Animation legend Hayao Miyazaki is a name that rarely requires introduction, rivalling perhaps only Walt Disney in terms of success and the long-lasting impact his films have had on audiences worldwide.