--- title: "Castle in the Sky" year: 1986 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/castle-in-the-sky" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 9 published: "2026-09-17T06:23:12.095744+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T06:23:12.606662+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Castle in the Sky (1986) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki · 2h 05m · MPA PG · Adventure, Fantasy, Animation, Action, Family **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 75 from 9 reviews *In a sentence:* A girl falls out of the sky, and everyone spends two hours trying to put her back > Miyazaki’s flying-island adventure is the plainest story he has told and one of the best-built. The villain is cardboard and the middle hour sags aboard a pirate airship, but the flying, the machines and the sky have not dated at all. ## Synopsis Sheeta (Keiko Yokozawa), a girl held aboard an airship by government agent Muska (Minori Terada), slips out of a window during a night raid by Dola (Kotoe Hatsui) and her pirate sons, and falls. The blue stone at her throat slows her, and she drifts down into a mining town of brick chimneys and iron trestle bridges, where Pazu (Mayumi Tanaka), a boy apprentice, catches her. Pazu’s late father photographed Laputa, a city floating in the clouds, and Pazu means to find it. By morning the pirates and the army arrive for the stone, and a chase along the railway ends in the old mine, where Uncle Pomme (Fujio Tokita) shows them what the stone can do. ## Review *Castle in the Sky* is the first film made under the Studio Ghibli name, and Hayao Miyazaki, writing and directing, opens with the simplest thing he knows how to do: a boy, a girl, a stolen jewel and a lost city in the clouds. He plays it straight. There are air pirates, an army with a flying fortress, a villain in a suit, and a mining town of brick chimneys and iron bridges that looks like a Welsh valley someone has taught to fly. It is the plainest story Miyazaki has told and one of the best-built. The opening is as good as anything he has done. A girl slips out of an airship window at night, and falls. Then the falling stops. Sheeta (Keiko Yokozawa) drifts down through cloud, unconscious, lit from below by the stone at her throat, and Hirokata Takahashi’s camera holds her small and pale in the centre of the frame while the dark rushes past. Pazu (Mayumi Tanaka), a boy apprentice at the mine, sees her coming and catches her, and finds she weighs nothing until the light goes out. We have seen this scene many times and we still held our breath. It says everything the film has to say about flying without a line of dialogue. The town is the best-drawn place in the film. Miners come off shift black to the eyes, Pazu’s boss Oyakata (Hiroshi Ito) settles arguments with his fists, and the railway runs on trestles over a gorge with no railing anyone would trust. When Dola (Kotoe Hatsui) and her sons arrive for the stone, and the army arrives behind them, Miyazaki stages a chase along those tracks that Yoshihiro Kasahara cuts fast and clean, one thing going wrong at a time, so that we always know where the train is and where the drop is. Dola herself, a pink-plaited grandmother in goggles who calls her enormous sons idiots, is the film’s great comic creation. Joe Hisaishi’s score is the other reason the flying works. He gives the sky a rising theme on strings and something close to a music box for the girl, and he lets the machines have the brass. The sky itself, layers of cloud with light coming through them, is painted, and Takahashi photographs it so that the aircraft, small and shabby and covered in rivets, look properly small against it. The army’s flying fortress is a slab of iron with too many guns, and the film’s dislike of it is plain from the first shot. Muska is the trouble. Minori Terada voices him well enough, soft and reasonable until he shouts, but the character wants the lost city because there is a weapon in it, and there is nothing more to him. Miyazaki’s later villains are people with reasons; this one has a suit and a plan. The middle hour, aboard Dola’s airship while Sheeta cooks and Pazu keeps watch, is warm and funny and too long, and at 125 minutes the film asks a lot of a child’s patience. We noticed the time once, at about ninety minutes, and then the last act arrived and we forgot it. We will not describe that last act, except to say that the city of Laputa is one of the sights of animation: a garden under a dome, a black tower, and something metal walking slowly through the grass. It is on every poster and it still surprised us. The film’s best idea is that the thing everybody has been fighting over is mostly moss and birds’ nests. Set beside *Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind*, this has fewer ideas and a much better shape. Adventure films are supposed to move, and this one does; it has a chase in the first twenty minutes and a bigger one in the last twenty, and it knows where everyone is standing in between. It is a PG, and fairly: people are shot at, and a good many of them fall a long way. Show it to a child of about nine who thinks cartoons are for younger children, and watch them during the fall. *Fi1m score 82, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like Castle in the Sky, and the praise gathers around the same things: the flying sequences, the faux-Victorian machinery and steam-driven contraptions, the droll air pirates, and a first act that several reviewers admire for how briskly it gets the story moving. Many treat it as early Miyazaki, a film whose invention points towards what he would do later. Several call it his most straightforwardly enjoyable adventure, and its balance of action and quieter passages comes up more than once. The reservations are mild and consistent. A few reviewers find it more formulaic and less thematically rich than the later Ghibli films, and Colonel Muska is noted as an unusually conventional villain for this director. The New York Times worries that two hours may test both adults’ patience and children’s attention. The spread is narrow but for one outlier: the Los Angeles Times, reviewing in 1987, dismisses it as a generic anime adventure with sleepy pacing and clumsy dialogue, a view no later critic shares. ### Reviews we read (9) - **Film Comment** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Laputa: Castle in the Sky Miyazaki’s most purely enjoyable movie, highlighting its faux-Victorian details, droll air pirates, and exhilarating flying scenes in a broad retrospective of his work. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/organic-machine-the-world-of-hayao-miyazaki/) - **Slant Magazine**, Chuck Bowen (80/100, inferred): The review praises this early Miyazaki adventure as an exciting and poignant picture whose dreamy brilliance and swift invention already foreshadow his later work, while noting it remains more beholden to formula. It singles out the beautiful economy of the first act and the lingering, chilling details of the world that give the film its texture and originality. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/castle-in-the-sky/) - **The New York Times**, Caryn James (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's detailed fantasy world and dazzling colors as a joy to watch, highlighting its blend of science fiction and fable with strong animation quality. However, the two-hour story about a lost princess and flying island may strain adults' patience and children's attention spans. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/18/movies/review-film-animated-adventure-fantasy-from-japan.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Charles Solomon (30/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a generic science-fiction adventure that slavishly follows Japanese anime conventions with clichéd elements like oversized eyes, steam-powered machinery, and inept dialogue. It criticizes the somnambulant pacing and threadbare storyline, suggesting it will bore average viewers despite appeal to hardcore fans. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-14-ca-3957-story.html) - **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Castle in the Sky as Studio Ghibli’s undying classic and the most finely honed piece of storytelling in Miyazaki’s history, singling out its balance of action, introspection, and moving moments in a Blu-ray retrospective. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/looking-back-at-laputa-castle-in-the-sky/) - **HeyUGuys**, Jon Lyus (4.5/5): The critic praises it as a stirring adventure full of imagination and visual invention, highlighting its exciting set pieces and influence, though noting it's less charming than some later Ghibli films. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/laputa-castle-of-the-sky-blu-ray-review/) - **Collider**, Andre Dellamorte (85/100, inferred): The review praises Castle in the Sky as one of Miyazaki’s best films and a masterwork, highlighting its adventure, excitement, beautiful designs, and strong storytelling that builds stakes effectively. [Read](https://collider.com/castle-in-the-sky-blu-ray-review-whisper-of-the-heart-blu-ray-review/) - **Eye for Film**, Scott Macdonald (80/100, inferred): It's a charming and effective adventure with breezy execution and inventive set-pieces, though lacking the thematic depth of later works; praised for its whimsical adventure and entertainment value. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/laputa-castle-in-the-sky-film-review-by-scott-macdonald) - **Polygon**, Tasha Robinson (75/100, inferred): The piece examines how Castle in the Sky stands out in Miyazaki’s work for its traditional villain in Colonel Muska, while noting the film’s unique focus on military themes and flight alongside Ghibli’s evolving approach to antagonists. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/animation-cartoons/2020/5/25/21269323/castle-in-the-sky-studio-ghibli-movies-hayao-miyazaki-villains-explained/) ## Details - **Director:** Hayao Miyazaki - **Director:** Hayao Miyazaki - **Screenplay:** Hayao Miyazaki - **Cinematography:** Hirokata Takahashi - **Editor:** Yoshihiro Kasahara - **Music:** Joe Hisaishi - **Producer:** Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki - **Cast:** Keiko Yokozawa as Sheeta (voice); Mayumi Tanaka as Pazu (voice); Minori Terada as Muska (voice); Kotoe Hatsui as Dola (voice); Fujio Tokita as Uncle Pomme (voice); Ichiro Nagai as Shogun Mouro (voice); Hiroshi Ito as Oyakata (voice); Machiko Washio as Okami (voice) - **Runtime:** 2h 05m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 1 April 1989 - **Genres:** Adventure, Fantasy, Animation, Action, Family - **Budget:** $3 million - **Box office:** $5 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s_wR3uuWec ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Hulu: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind* (1984), Fi1m 85: Miyazaki’s previous film: messier, angrier, and full of the same gliders and poisoned machines. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/warriors-of-the-wind.md) - *The Iron Giant* (1999), Fi1m 88: Brad Bird’s Cold War fable about a boy and a weapon that would rather not be one. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-iron-giant.md) - *Time Bandits* (1981): Gilliam’s boy, a gang of thieves and a map; British, scruffy and just as fond of falling. - *The Secret of Kells* (2009), Fi1m 76: Irish hand-drawn adventure about a boy, a forest and a book worth protecting. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-secret-of-kells.md) - *Fantastic Planet* (1973): French animation with a stranger sky and a colder heart; for when the children are asleep. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. 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