I Know, I Know, It's A Cartoon...

I really, really hate to admit this because I don’t need any help making myself seem like a nerd, but I have been watching a lot of anime lately. Before you stop reading, and I know it may be tempting, consider this: The best way, in my humble opinion, to learn what a culture really values, sincerely enjoys, and is utterly terrified of is by watching their films. Every Japanese movie I have ever seen has been either a chilling horror flick or anime. I suppose it is a way of telling a great story while subtly teaching morals to a younger generation without being preachy, and that subtlety is what makes Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky such a good movie.

When I was probably five or six, I remember watching another one of his movies, called Kiki’s Delivery Service. There was a preview before it which read Coming Soon in 1999! before showing a one minute trailer for Castle in the Sky. As a little girl, I remember desperately wanting to see it, but being too afraid to rent it. (Air pirates and cannons are scary!) Recently, a friend of mine asked me if I like Miyazaki movies, and that sent me back about ten years to when watching cartoons all the time was socially acceptable. I rediscovered Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service before stumbling upon (you guessed it!) Castle in the Sky. I didn’t plan on actually enjoying it, but I watched it as sort of a portal back to my five year old life. I was pleasantly surprised when, after about three minutes, I was hooked.

The first thing I really noticed about this movie was the animation. It’s gorgeous. It’s clear and sophisticated and detailed. The plot is fairly original, too, which made it easy to watch. The story follows a young girl named Sheeta who is in possession of a magical crystal, the missing link between our world and Laputa, the floating castle. She befriends a boy named Pazu and a motley gang of air pirates as they try to discover Laputa before the evil government representatives do. The plot is second in importance to the characters, though, especially those of Sheeta and Pazu. Both orphans, they don’t have anyone but each other to depend on from the moment they meet. The audience roots for Pazu from the start because of the way he treats Sheeta. He is very caring and it is obvious he would give anything for her. Sheeta herself is strong and smart, a fearsome combination in any movie. Together, they make an adorable set of friends. If anything bad had happened to either of them, I probably would have cried (and I don’t cry at movies).

Something else really worth mentioning is the score. Written by Joe Hisaishi, it is haunting and beautiful in all the right places. Most importantly, it knows when to disappear, and let there be silence. In the Disney release, the score is different from the original (still good, but different) and it intrudes into some of the empty space. The mark of a good score is when the audience misses it in its absence. I am seriously considering buying the entire CD.

One final thing that stuck me about this movie was the fact that, unlike so many children’s movies today, it did not treat the audience like a bunch of feeble-minded babies. It did not jam its kind little moral down the viewers’ throats. There was no Aesop’s Fables transparency, no cute little sum up, yet the moral was clearly imparted even without these things. It takes a good storyteller to master the art of nuance. There was more than one moral, too, and I think that every person who watches this movie will take something different away from it. That’s why I loved it so much; while the story was a bit predictable, the details were refreshing and surprising. Maybe if all cartoons were as delicate, complex, and sincere as Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, I wouldn’t be so embarrassed to admit my frequent viewing.

"Take root in the ground, live in harmony with the wind, plant your seeds in the Winter, and rejoice with the birds in the coming of Spring."

Watch the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3437035801/