I've always liked adventure much more than action, and this movie gives me what I want. It's story-driven, has a setting I can relate to (it's basically European; I'm American), heroes I like, and a lot of adventure that's paced well with moments for dramatic breathers.
It's basically standard adventure. Nothing that really examines human nature, or even has particularly realistic characters. Heck, it's basically a fairy tale, with fairy tale characters and motivations.
Children Are Innocent, so our two child protagonists are kind and don't do anything bratty or mean or even argue with each other. Pazu is very quick to immediately jump to the call of adventure because why not? A random girl I met needs my help! ADVENTURE! Okay, there's a second motivation: she appears to have knowledge of the infamous Laputa, a kingdom in the sky that Pazu's dad had spent much of his life looking for. COINCIDENCE!
The main bad guys are evil with the typical greed motivation, and the Anti-Hero sky pirates are rather quick to change from being willing to ransack Pazu's home while leaving him tied up, to letting him come with them to rescue Sheeta and find Laputa together. That's quite a huge change from our Bad But Not Evil bad guys!
It's not just the characters who are simple, but for the most part, so is the Cliché Storm story. Floating castle? Mysterious civilization mostly gone, with ancient powerful technology left behind? A mysterious pendant that's somehow important? A lot of these are well-worn Japanese clichés that have been seen in countless cartoons and video games since. And while the story has a handful of twists and surprises, it's very easy to understand for even a little kid.
There are few surprises, mostly just a lot of fun with some breathers and mild character drama. The characters are implausibly acrobatic (and unafraid of heights), in particular Pazu, whose leaps and grabs miles above the Earth would make him an excellent contestant on American Ninja Warrior. The army, and Muska, are straight-up generically evil, and totally willing to shoot and kill kids.
And yet the story sometimes stops to let our heroes catch their breath and occasionally admire the beauty. Check out the kingdom of Laputa itself. Have a short chat about their shared orphan status, and their lives. It makes our simple heroes feel more human, and it's something I always appreciate.
The adventure itself is filled with the usual fun adventure stuff: chases, going into hiding, falling from long heights, being cornered by the bad guys, captures, rescues, escapes, etc. It's all handled well, and it keeps the story moving.
And that's basically what this is: an adventure story that has the usual adventure tropes, some nice relaxed moments, stereotypical but enjoyable characters, and good pacing. It does nothing especially new, but it does old things well. And I like it a lot for that reason alone.
A well-paced, fun Cliché Storm fairy tale adventure
I've always liked adventure much more than action, and this movie gives me what I want. It's story-driven, has a setting I can relate to (it's basically European; I'm American), heroes I like, and a lot of adventure that's paced well with moments for dramatic breathers.
It's basically standard adventure. Nothing that really examines human nature, or even has particularly realistic characters. Heck, it's basically a fairy tale, with fairy tale characters and motivations.
Children Are Innocent, so our two child protagonists are kind and don't do anything bratty or mean or even argue with each other. Pazu is very quick to immediately jump to the call of adventure because why not? A random girl I met needs my help! ADVENTURE! Okay, there's a second motivation: she appears to have knowledge of the infamous Laputa, a kingdom in the sky that Pazu's dad had spent much of his life looking for. COINCIDENCE!
The main bad guys are evil with the typical greed motivation, and the Anti-Hero sky pirates are rather quick to change from being willing to ransack Pazu's home while leaving him tied up, to letting him come with them to rescue Sheeta and find Laputa together. That's quite a huge change from our Bad But Not Evil bad guys!
It's not just the characters who are simple, but for the most part, so is the Cliché Storm story. Floating castle? Mysterious civilization mostly gone, with ancient powerful technology left behind? A mysterious pendant that's somehow important? A lot of these are well-worn Japanese clichés that have been seen in countless cartoons and video games since. And while the story has a handful of twists and surprises, it's very easy to understand for even a little kid.
There are few surprises, mostly just a lot of fun with some breathers and mild character drama. The characters are implausibly acrobatic (and unafraid of heights), in particular Pazu, whose leaps and grabs miles above the Earth would make him an excellent contestant on American Ninja Warrior. The army, and Muska, are straight-up generically evil, and totally willing to shoot and kill kids.
And yet the story sometimes stops to let our heroes catch their breath and occasionally admire the beauty. Check out the kingdom of Laputa itself. Have a short chat about their shared orphan status, and their lives. It makes our simple heroes feel more human, and it's something I always appreciate.
The adventure itself is filled with the usual fun adventure stuff: chases, going into hiding, falling from long heights, being cornered by the bad guys, captures, rescues, escapes, etc. It's all handled well, and it keeps the story moving.
And that's basically what this is: an adventure story that has the usual adventure tropes, some nice relaxed moments, stereotypical but enjoyable characters, and good pacing. It does nothing especially new, but it does old things well. And I like it a lot for that reason alone.