Castle in the Sky (1986)
"Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta" (original title)

A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writer:

Hayao Miyazaki

Stars:

Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Cloris Leachman

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Paquin	...	Sheeta (voice)
James Van Der Beek	...	Pazu (voice)
Cloris Leachman	...	Dola (voice)
Mark Hamill	...	Muska (voice)
Richard Dysart	...	Uncle Pom (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	General (voice)
John Hostetter	...	Boss (voice)
Michael McShane	...	Charles (voice)
Mandy Patinkin	...	Louis (voice)
Andy Dick	...	Henri (voice)
Corey Burton	...	Additional Voices (voice)
John DeMita	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Debi Derryberry	...	Young Sheeta / Madge / Additional Voices (voice)
Eddie Frierson	...	Henri (1989 Dub) / Old Engineer (1989 Dub) / Additional Voices (voice)
Susan Hickman	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Storyline

A young boy stumbles into a mysterious girl who floats down from the sky. The girl, Sheeta, was chased by pirates, army and government secret agents. In saving her life, they begin a high flying adventure that goes through all sorts of flying machines, eventually searching for Sheeta's identity in a floating castle of a lost civilization.

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Plot Keywords:

girl | pirate | army | floating | mine | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [us]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

2 August 1986 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Laputa

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,315,182 (France) (17 January 2003)

Gross:

$3,048,494 (France) (31 January 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nibariki, Studio Ghibli, Tokuma Shoten

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hayao Miyazaki:  [Pigs]  A pig is seen being shooed out of a little girl's house.

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Goofs

When Pazu sets off with Dola and her sons to rescue Sheeta from Muska and the army, he is wearing goggles that he had put on moments earlier. When they take off on their Flaptors, one moment the goggles are above Pazu's eyes, then a bit later on, as they rise into the air, they are covering his eyes, only to be back above his eyes again a bit later.

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Quotes

Dola: All right, me hearty, once you've taken off, you'll have to use the phone to communica...
[a phone rings, Dola answers it]
Sheeta: You mean *this* phone?
Louis: She *is* good...

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Crazy Credits

The end credits show the remains of the castle Laputa floating on Earth's orbit.

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Connections

References Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

User Reviews

Pretty damned amazing

Thanks to the success of SPIRITED AWAY, I was recently able to obtain this title. In fact, thanks to SPIRITED, it is now available just about anywhere videos are sold, along with PRINCESS MONONOKE and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE. (The warm and fuzzy MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO remains widely available, of course.) This one is a bit different, being a sci-fi adventure, but it retains many of the themes close to the director's heart so that it bears close ties to some of his other works. While not his best work by any means (that honor would fall to PRINCESS and SPIRITED), this is well worth viewing at least once, and possibly a second and third time. Kids of course will watch it over and over again. The music is by far the best of any of his existing films. It absolutely soars. (No pun intended, for those familiar with the plot.)