Pazu's life changes when he meets Sheeta, a girl whom pirates are chasing for her crystal amulet, which has the potential to locate Laputa, a legendary castle floating in the sky.Pazu's life changes when he meets Sheeta, a girl whom pirates are chasing for her crystal amulet, which has the potential to locate Laputa, a legendary castle floating in the sky.Pazu's life changes when he meets Sheeta, a girl whom pirates are chasing for her crystal amulet, which has the potential to locate Laputa, a legendary castle floating in the sky.
- Awards
- 1 win
Mayumi Tanaka
- Pazu
- (voice)
Keiko Yokozawa
- Sheeta
- (voice)
Kotoe Hatsui
- Dola
- (voice)
Minori Terada
- Muska
- (voice)
Fujio Tokita
- Uncle Pom
- (voice)
Ichirô Nagai
- Shogun Mouro
- (voice)
Hiroshi Ito
- Oyakata
- (voice)
Machiko Washio
- Okami
- (voice)
Takuzô Kamiyama
- Shalulu
- (voice)
Yoshito Yasuhara
- Lui
- (voice)
Sukekiyo Kameyama
- Anli
- (voice)
Ryûji Saikachi
- Old Engineer
- (voice)
Takahiro Hirai
- Chinese minion
- (voice)
Shinya Ôtaki
- Egyptian minion
- (voice)
- (as Shinya Ohtaki)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLaputa, the flying island, was a setting in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels, published in 1726. Hayao Miyazaki says in interviews that he was unaware that "la puta" means "the whore" in Spanish. If he had known the translation, he would not have used it as a title. Swift, incidentally, is considered the inventor of "black comedy" and, as a well-educated man and satirist, very likely knew the meaning of the Spanish term (in the novel, the Gulliver character lists Spanish as one of the many languages he's fluent in).
- GoofsIn the punchout scene between Shalulu and Pazu's boss, there are instances where we don't hear any auditory reactions, much less punches, when the camera is showing long shots of the crowd in either the Japanese version or the Magnum-English dub. (Disney's version, predictably, adds in more walla and punching sounds for that scene.)
- Quotes
Uncle Pomme: The earth speaks to all of us, and if we listen, we can understand.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits show the remains of the castle Laputa floating on Earth's orbit.
- Alternate versionsAn English dub of this film was produced by the Walt Disney Company in 1999 (originally intended to be released that same year), but wasn't released on DVD until 2003. The English dub shortens the title to "Castle in the Sky," removing the word "Laputa," since it means "the whore" in Spanish. The voice cast includes James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Mark Hamill, Cloris Leachman, Mandy Patinkin, Andy Dick, and Michael McShane.
- ConnectionsEdited into Miyazaki Dreams of Flying (2017)
- SoundtracksKimi wo Nosete
(Carrying You)
(insert song)
Lyrics by Hayao Miyazaki
Music by Joe Hisaishi
Performed by Azumi Inoue (Tokuma Japan)
Featured review
I first saw this film when I was about 8 years old on TV in the UK (where it was called "Laupta: The Flying Island"). I absolutely loved it, and was heartbroken when it was repeated a while later and I missed it. I was enchanted by the story and characters, but most of all by the haunting and beautiful music. It would have been the original English dubbed version which I saw - sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Streamline Dub" (the dub was actually by Ghibli themselves and only distributed by Streamline) which is sadly unavailable except as part of a ridiculously expensive laser disc box-set.
Unfortunately I feel that the release has been partly spoiled by Disney. The voice acting is OK but the dialogue doesn't have the same raw energy that the "streamline" dub or the original Japanese had, and I think James Van Der Beek sounds too old to play the lead. They have made some pointless alterations, such as changing the main character's name from "Pazu" to "Patzu", and added some dialogue. But worst of all I feel that they have ruined many scenes with intrusive music - the opening scene of the airships for example was originally silent but has been spoiled thanks to Disney's moronic requirement that there be music playing whenever anyone is not speaking, which I find annoying in many Disney films.
This film still blows away most recent animated films, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The plot is simple yet captivating and the film shows a flair which is sadly missing from most modern mass-market, homogenized animation.
Unfortunately I feel that the release has been partly spoiled by Disney. The voice acting is OK but the dialogue doesn't have the same raw energy that the "streamline" dub or the original Japanese had, and I think James Van Der Beek sounds too old to play the lead. They have made some pointless alterations, such as changing the main character's name from "Pazu" to "Patzu", and added some dialogue. But worst of all I feel that they have ruined many scenes with intrusive music - the opening scene of the airships for example was originally silent but has been spoiled thanks to Disney's moronic requirement that there be music playing whenever anyone is not speaking, which I find annoying in many Disney films.
This film still blows away most recent animated films, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The plot is simple yet captivating and the film shows a flair which is sadly missing from most modern mass-market, homogenized animation.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Laputa
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $3,300,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $523,664
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $197,172
- Nov 18, 2018
- Gross worldwide
- $6,218,229
- Runtime2 hours 4 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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