Castle in the Sky (1986)

An airship carrying Sheeta, a young orphan girl who has been abducted by government agent Muska, is attacked by Captain Dola and her air pirate sons who are in search of Sheeta’s small blue crystal pendant. In the resulting struggle, Sheeta falls from the airship but her descent is slowed by a mysterious power within the amulet. She safely lands in a small mining town where she is discovered by a brave young orphan boy named Pazu, who takes her into his home to recover. Pazu tells her of a mysterious floating island named Laputa which is visible in a picture taken by his father. Later, they are pursued by Dola’s pirates, and then by Muska’s soldiers. Eventually, the two fall into an abandoned mine, where they encounter the local eccentric Uncle Pomme, who informs them that Sheeta’s amulet is made of ‘volucite’ crystal (‘Aetherium’ in the American release), a material used to keep Laputa and the other flying cities aloft.^[4]

Upon leaving the mines, Sheeta tells Pazu that her full name is ‘Lucita Toel Ul Laputa’. They are then captured by Muska and taken to the fortress of Tedis, where Pazu is imprisoned in a dungeon tower while Sheeta is imprisoned in a more lavish room. Muska shows Sheeta a dormant Laputan robot and reveals his knowledge of her secret name, which he interprets to be that of the Laputan royal line and Sheeta cries. Muska then threatens Pazu’s life to obtain Sheeta’s cooperation. For his own safety, Sheeta orders Pazu to leave and Muska offers him money to leave and forget about Laputa and Sheeta starts crying.

A distraught Pazu returns home, where he is ambushed by Dola and her sons. After hearing Pazu out, they prepare to intercept and capture the crystal, allowing Pazu to join them. As preparations proceed, Sheeta recites an apotropaic verse and unexpectedly activates the amulet and the robot, which follows Sheeta, destroying the fortress along the way until it is overcome by the military’s airship Goliath. Pazu arrives and rescues Sheeta, but Muska obtains the amulet. The pirates, accompanied by Pazu and Sheeta, return to their airship, Tiger Moth. They pursue the Goliath, which is following directions indicated by Sheeta’s amulet to locate Laputa. Pazu worked in the engine room while Sheeta became the ship’s cook, Dola made Sheeta change into new cloths. This, however, caused the pirates to fall in love with her. At night, Pazu got up to for his night shift at the lookout. Sheeta saw him and joined him on the lookout. Where she revealed that her Grandma taught her many other verse too, including the spell of destruction. The” Tiger Moth “then had a close run with the airship “ Goliath” and was nearly shot down. Dola, afraid that they would miss Laputa, Gave Pazu and Sheeta instruction on how to turn the lookout into a kite. Above the clouds, Sheeta and Pazu noticed that the sun is rising from the west, revealing that they are actually heading North. After searching for a while, They found a swirl of clouds. Pazu told Dola that Laputa is located inside the cloud, but Dola insisted on heading away from the clouds. The airship “ Goliath ” then appeared and open fire on the “ Tiger Moth ” Dola agrees to head into the clouds, but the “ Tiger Moth ” was shot down in a series of gunfire from the airship “ Goliath ” right before it can head into the cloud swirl. One of which hit the cable mechanism an snapped the steel rope connecting the lookout to the airship. The two childrens , separated from Dola’s pirates, headed into the clouds and landed on Laputa. Only to discover the city to be ruined and overgrown.

Dola’s pirates are captured and Muska’s soldiers plunder the city’s treasures. Upon gaining entrance to the city’s central sphere, a vast repository for all of Laputa’s scientific knowledge, Muska captures Sheeta and his agents open fire upon Pazu, who escapes and frees the pirates. In the center of Laputa, which contains the immense ‘volucite’ crystal keeping the city aloft, Muska identifies himself as “Romuska Palo Ul Laputa”, another member of Laputa’s royal line, and uses Sheeta’s crystal to access the advanced Laputan technology. He betrays his own soldiers and destroys the Goliath by unleashing Laputa’s weapon of mass destruction. During the mayhem, the horrified Sheeta retrieves the crystal amulet and flees, but Muska pursues her. Hearing Pazu’s voice, Sheeta gives the amulet to him through a gap in the wall and is cornered by Muska in Laputa’s throne room.

During her confrontation with Muska, Sheeta explains that the people of Laputa left the castle because they realized that man was meant to live on earth and not in the sky. Muska refuses her arguments, shoots off her braids and threatens to kill her unless the crystal amulet is given to him. Pazu requests to be allowed to talk with Sheeta; Muska grants them one minute (three in the original Japanese version). Sheeta and Pazu recite a “Spell of Destruction”, which causes the castle to disintegrate, causing Muska to fall to his death. After surviving the collapse, Pazu and Sheeta reunite with Dola and her pirates and leave Laputa behind. When they part with the pirates, Pazu flies Sheeta home as he had promised her, to start a new life together.

During the end credits, the remnants of Laputa float in orbit, maintained by the volucite crystal embedded in the roots of the central tree.