Miyazaki Madness, Part 3: "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" is adventure movie perfection
The birth of Studio Ghibli, and a movie for the ages
On Thursdays, I’m publishing reviews of classic movies, including pieces that have never appeared online before taken from my book 200 Reviews, available now in Paperback or on Kindle (which you should really consider buying, because it’s an awesome collection!). In this series, we are examining the filmography of my all-time favorite movie director - and newly minted two-time Oscar winner with his win for The Boy and the Heron - Hayao Miyazaki! We will be looking at all of his theatrical feature films along with the movies he wrote but did not direct, for a total of 15 weeks of Miyazaki Madness! The series continues today with Miyazaki’s third feature - and the first under the newly-formed Studio Ghibli - 1986’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Enjoy…
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
1986, Dir. Hayao Miyazaki
Originally written August 1st, 2013, first published in 200 Reviews
Laputa: Castle in the Sky is one of, if not the, greatest adventure films ever made. Featuring all the spectacle, action, and perfectly paced thrills of a true adventure classic, but with a story that is simultaneously grander, deeper, and emotionally and philosophically richer than most entries in the genre ever aspire to, it is also one of Hayao Miyazaki’s greatest and most enduring masterpieces.
What strikes me most, every time I revisit the film, is the absolutely perfect pace. Pace is, of course, a tremendously difficult element to master in filmmaking, as a wholly engaging pace not only requires all elements to work in perfect harmony with one another, but for those elements to be arranged in such an order that each will have maximum impact. Miyazaki has demonstrated an incredible aptitude for pace throughout his career – in truth, my conception of what the term means comes from watching and studying his films – but Laputa is, to me, the brightest example in his entire filmography of how pace informs the viewing experience.
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