Soon joined by scrappy young Pazu, a boy who works at a local mining plant, Sheeta attempts to evade opposing parties of airborne pirates and ruthless government forces.ДЄs usual, Miyazaki festoons his work with odd, gratuitous flourishes of beauty. The directorвЂ™s first wholly original film, Laputa: Castle in the Sky opens in medias res with a young heroine mysteriously escaping an aerial skirmish aboard a dirigible. Then, with Babel-like or Icarus-like comeuppance, MiyazakiвЂ™s pessimism and ecological concerns are roused as technology fails, men fall back to earth, and the simplicity of the earlier images is reasserted - all before the story really gets underway. Like LeonardoвЂ™s designs, they arenвЂ™t always practical, but this doesnвЂ™t detract from their coolness. Like Leonardo da Vinci, who covered sketchbook leaves with plans for gliders and flying machines, MiyazakiвЂ™s fascination with flight comes out in this sequence, which hints at a historical progression from simpler machines to massive plants, to dirigible-like airships, to immense airborne structures, armadas and even flying islands and cities. He doesnвЂ™t begin with plot or characters, but with images, with premises, with possible worlds. Of course if none of this interests you then it is still worth seeing for Miyazaki's imagination and style, which is impressive and hard to believe that it is 20 years old this year.That opening credit sequence, with its woodcut-like depictions of fantastic technology representing an alternate 19th century - massive structures fusing windmills, derricks, gears, pulleys, steam engines, paddle wheels, propellers and such - reveals something of how MiyazakiвЂ™s invention works. These are grown within a engaging story told with pace and a good rate of action. Overall this may not have the emotional depth of Spirited Away but it has strong characters and good relationships. Everyone works well together and they deliver their characters well to support the narrative and they match the impressive visuals well.

Hamill takes the bad guy role well and shows his experience at animation even if he is a little hammy at the odd point. Just as good is Leachman's Dola В– blessed with a good character in the first place, her voice is spot on despite sounding a little like Mrs Skinner on the Simpsons. She probably isn't that weak but she is shown up by an engagingly fresh and natural delivery from Van Der Beek В– not something I expected to be saying when I learnt he was doing the voice of Pazu. Sadly the weakest link is Paquin, she sounds unnatural and a little wooden too often. The voice cast in the English dub are mostly very good. The characters bring out nice relationships as well which adds value to the story but unfortunately points made late in the film about the environment and such are heavily made and clunky.

The pace of the film is perfectly pitched and things move forward really well and I can't imagine an audience of children or adults will be bothered by the running time. It struggles at times with the weight of coincidence needed to make the film move forward but the manner of delivery covers up these little problems by producing regular action and fun characters. As writer he has also done well to craft a story that is engaging and enjoyable.

The sheer visual style and imagination is quite breath-taking and I could not quite believe that this was made by Miyazaki only 7 years after the vastly inferior (but still OK) Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (or The Castle of Cagliostro as it was in the UK). Hard to believe that this film is twenty years old and yet looks as fresh and is as engaging as anything else you will see today. Escaping Pazu's town together is only the start of their adventure together. Not only do the pair have to deal with the pirates but also the government, led by sinister agent Muska, have their own dark reasons for getting hold of Sheeta. Pazu takes her in and they become friends but quickly learn that the pirates after Sheeta have not given up their chase. Fortunately the enchanted and mysterious crystal she is wearing round her neck saves her and floats her to the ground where she is found by young Pazu, who is rushing to get back to his boss in the mine with food. When the airship she is on is attacked, Sheeta tries to escape from her would-be captors but falls to her death through the clouds.

Castle in the sky (1986)