Castle In The Sky (1986) Dir: Hayao Miyazaki

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The world of Studio Ghibli and its chief creator, the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki, is a beautiful place. The many iconic films in its vast filmography are full of vivid colour, stunning scenery, and nuanced emotions. This, the first official Studio Ghibli film, because 'Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind' technically predates Ghibli's existence, consistently ranks number one or number two on my list of their films.

The magical soundtrack always makes me so emotional. This is particularly true during the climactic moments of the film, in which the crescendo of both the story and the music come together in perfect harmony to deliver an eternally emotive and bitter-sweet culmination to the story of the kingdom of Laputa. It's akin to 'Princess Mononoke', another favourite of mine, in its effectiveness.

The animation is breathtakingly beautiful, as is the world building. It's typically imaginative, unendingly sentimental, and full of eye-catching colours. It's almost impossible not to be drawn into the worlds that Miyazaki creates, and with good reason. Each one feels incredibly unique and expansive, whilst retaining some stylistic integrity and continuity across each film. The titular castle is one of my favourite location designs in cinema.

The story takes the audience on a fantastical, thrilling and undisputedly Miyazaki journey. One can recognise many familiar themes from the man's other works, including man versus nature, anticapitalism, grief and loss, orphaned protagonists, hope and resilience, anti-war and anti-war profiteering, among a litany of others. Add to that some wonderfully memorable characters, and you have yourselves a certified classic piece of Japanese cinema.

As ever with the Studio Ghibli films, I watch this with the English audio dubbing, in this case, the 2003 Disney dub, which does happen to be the familiar one to me, unlike when I recently revisited 'My Neighbour Totoro', which was admittedly a slightly jarring experience. This dubbing has a great array of talent behind it.

Anna Paquin voices the protagonist with a keen concoction of energy, innocence, and determination. She helps to bring across her character's resilience, compassion, and vulnerability excellently. Equally, James Van Der Beek's portrayal of of the tenacious and protective 'Pazu' is thoroughly animated in nature. The pair combine to provide two superb and endearing protagonists.

In the main supporting roles, both Cloris Leachman and the legendary Mark Hamill provide two of the best voice acting performances in any Studio Ghibli production, in my opinion at least. Hamill in particular is immense, which should come as no surprise to those familiar with some of his other voice acting credits. Both he and Leachman are exquisite, and bring an extra measure of life to the film that can't be provided by just any actor.

Finally, I'll also give some very quick mentions to some of the wonderfully enjoyable members of the English audio supporting cast, who may only have a few lines, but prove to be memorable and praise-worthy either way; Richard Dysart, Jim Cummings, John Hostetter, Michael McShane, Mandy Patinkin, and Andy Dick.

Overall, when one thinks of Studio Ghibli, there are a select few films that come to mind more than most, and this is without a doubt one of those few. It's a brilliant piece of fantasy cinema, which has a stunning amount of soul to it. I will never grow tired of this beautiful story, and it's one of the first films I'd show my children once they were old enough.