History Anime / CastleInTheSky

* PinPullingTeeth: Combined with DidNotDoTheResearch when Dola pulls out a German "potato masher" style stick grenade and pulls the pin with her teeth. Potato masher grenades didn't have pins. They used a pull cord in the handle instead.

** It should also be noted that it is exclusively called Laputa in Australia. There aren't many Spanish people there and Australians tend to drop things from words or titles due to laziness.

Inspired by one chapter of ''[[GulliversTravels Gulliver's Travels]]'', ''[[LaputaCastleInTheSky Castle in the Sky]]'' is a fantasy action-adventure tale raised to StudioGhibli standards. Two orphans battle sky pirates and evil government forces trying to seize the legendary floating city of Laputa. This was HayaoMiyazaki's third film, and the first to be created at Studio Ghibli, which was formed to produce the film.

* MarketBasedTitle: The word "Laputa" was dropped from the title in the US release because it means "the whore" in Spanish. Miyazaki took the name from ''[[GulliversTravels Gulliver's Travels]]'', likely without even realizing that Jonathan Swift had chosen the name for that very reason. However, most international releases of the film kept the word anyway.

* RatedMForManly: Mr. Duffy A.K.A The Boss especially during his shirt-ripping muscle flex competition with Lui.

* EvilPlan: Muska wants to TakeOverTheWorld using Laputa's as a KillSat. To this end he enlists a local military and kidnaps Sheeta so he can find and use the place.
* FantasticNuke: Muska's plan is to take over and convert Laputa into a KillSat of sorts. Luckily the robots that guard the city aren't having any of it...[[spoiler:until Muska takes control of them and kills every one of the soldiers on Laputa.]]

* GhibliHills: Natch. Although it's worth noting that the landscape looks a bit... worn. Pazu's hometown is a mining village, surrounded by deep chasms riddled with tunnels and endless wooden scaffolding, and the green grass on the surface is punched full of craters. Another Ghibli film that references an apocalyptic past -- particularly obvious when one considers the parallels between [[spoiler: the [[KillSat superweapon]] in the heart of the Castle and nuclear weaponry.]]

* DisneyVillainDeath: Muska [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness disposes of the general and his men]] by dropping them from Laputa to the ground [[spoiler: KarmicDeath which is how Muska himself dies after the city is destroyed]].

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: AnnaPaquin, who voices Sheeta in the English dub, slips into her New Zealand accent frequently.

* {{MIB}}: ThoseTwoGuys who follow Muska around

The dub, originally recorded in 1998 but continually delayed for unexplained reasons (though the re-scoring and a sudden shift from direct-to-video to theatrical release that never happened are the most commonly cited), was screened at select childrens festivals before finally debuting on DVD in April 2003, alongside ''SpiritedAway'' and ''[=~Kiki's Delivery Service~=]'', gradually garnering new fans. This dub is one of only two Ghibli films (the other being ''Kiki's Delivery Service'') which Disney "Americanized"; future Ghibli releases only featured new voicework instead of the extensive musical reworking that ''Castle in the Sky'' and ''Kiki's Delivery Service'' underwent. A 2010 re-release of the film replaced the re-scored soundtrack with the original and also removed some of the additional chatter added to the dub (again to fill-in some of the more silent moments). Inexplicably, though, the faithful subtitle track on the 2003 DVD release was mysteriously replaced with a {{dubtitle}}.

* BigEater: All the pirates, which means that HilarityEnsues when Sheeta is tasking with cooking for them.

* [=~Everything's Better With Princesses~=]

* FantasticNuke: Muska's plan is to take over and convert Laputa into a KillSat of sorts. Luckily the robots that guard the city aren't having any of it.

* FridgeHorror: [[spoiler: Muska's eventual fate. Imagine falling thousands and thousands of miles to your death-- ''while completely blind.'']]

* GhibliHills: Natch. Although it's worth noting that the landscape looks a bit... worn. Pazu's hometown is a mining village, surrounded by deep chasms riddled with tunnels and endless wooden scaffolding, and the green grass on the surface is punched full of craters. Another Ghibli film that references an apocalyptic past -- particularly obvious when one considers the parallels between [[spoiler: the superweapon in the heart of the Castle and nuclear weaponry.]]

* [=~Hey, It's That Voice!~=]:

* {{I Was Quite a Looker}}: Dola has a portrait of herself as a young lady in her bedroom. She was very pretty.

* {{Jerk with a Heart of Gold}}: Dola. Pazu even comments at one point that Dola "is much nicer than she pretends to be." (At which she does a brief double-take, although by that point she has warmed up to both Pazu and Sheeta.)

* {{No Export for You}}: Ironically, the soundtrack of the US score is only available for purchase in Japan even though the English dub is not sold over there.

* {{Out of the Inferno}}: The Laputian robot when escaping the castle.

* PinPullingTeeth: Combined with DidNotDoTheResearch when Dola pulls out a German "potato masher" style grenade and pulls the pin with her teeth. Potato masher grenades didn't have pins. They used a pull cord in the handle instead.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: AnnaPaquin's voice acting varies between shades of her native New Zealand and a more conventional American accent.

* PowerGlows: Aetherium, the AppliedPhlebotinum of the story.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Aetherium, which Sheeta's necklace is made of, has anti-gravity powers.

* DulcineaEffect: A strange girl drops out of the sky with a mysterious pendant and she's getting chased by suspicious-looking men and even the army. Does Pazu ask any questions? Never!

[[caption-width:250:Flying machines? Brave young heroine? [[AuthorAppeal It must be Miyazaki]]!]]

* {{After the End}}: Laputa is a relic of an earlier, but more advanced, civilization. The environment on the Earth's surface also seems to display signs of past violence - see 'Ghibli Hills.'
* ActionMom: Dola may not be a HotMom ([[IWasQuiteALooker anymore]], if her portrait in her room is anything to go by), but she still leads her pirate clan (consisting of mostly her sons). And she's no [[ArmchairMilitary Armchair admiral]] either.
* AntiHero: Dola

* {{Determinator}}: Pazu

* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Pirates Love Their Mamas]]: At the end of the film in the dub, one of the pirates exclaims: "ALL good pirates listen to their mom!".

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The nasty drill general despises Muska...and this proves to be not without reason when [[spoiler: Muska causes him and his crew to die a Disney Villain Death.]]

* FloatingContinent: But of course...

* {{Jerk with a Heart of Gold}}: Dola. Obviously. Pazu even comments at one point that Dola "is much nicer than she pretends to be." (At which she does a brief double-take, although by that point she has warmed up to both Pazu and Sheeta.)

* [[MyNameIsNotDurwood My Name is not Dola]]: Played in the dub with via titles. While Pazu and Sheeta keep calling Dola by her name, and all the pirates constantly call her Mom, she keeps insisting they call her Captain.

* NerdGlasses: Papa

* {{Out of the Inferno}}: The Laputian robot.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: The Laputian robots.
* PinkMeansFeminine: Dola, who colors a lot of the pirate stuff pink.

* PunchClockVillain: The General and the Army . They're all-too willing to plunder Laputa's treasures, [[spoiler:but they turn on Muska once his plan is revealed]].

* RoyalBlood

* SteamPunk: Possibly mixed with a little FeudalPunk?

* WorldTree: Laputa is built around a huge, millennial tree.

** It should also be noted that it is exclusively called Laputa in Australia. We don't have many spanish people here and Australian's tend to drop things from words or titles due to lazienmess.

* WaveMotionGun: Laputian robots have these.

* ActionMom: Dola may not be a HotMom (anymore?), but she still leads her pirate clan (consisting of mostly her sons). And she's no [[ArmchairMilitary Armchair admiral]] either.

Dodging another attempt by Dola's gang to capture Sheeta's crystal, the kids manage to escape... right into the hands of the military. Taking the children prisoner in a castle, Muska convinces Sheeta to cooperate in his search for Laputa by threatening harm to Pazu. Sent back to his village, Pazu is immediately captured by Dola's gang who immediately set off on yet another attempt to seize the crystal. Reluctantly making common cause with Dola in order to rescue Sheeta, Pazu joins the pirates. Meanwhile a despondent Sheeta recites a "magic spell" her grandmother taught her to recite in times of trouble. The spell activates her pendant, triggering a beam which points the way to Laputa ''and'' a dormant Laputian robot hidden in the dungeons below. Responding to Sheet's request for aid the robot [[CrushKillDestroy causes such destruction]] that Pazu and Dola manage to rescue Sheeta in the confusion but Muska ends up with the pendant. Muska and the local Army commander promptly set out for Laputa aboard the Goliath, an enormous [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld aerial battlecruiser]].

'"Castle In The Sky'' could be considered a fairy tale... one with SteamPunk, flying castles, secret princesses, and magic. The film opens with a family of {{Sky Pirates}} led by the matriarch Dola attacking an airship intent on stealing a [[OrphansPlotTrinket blue crystal amulet]] from a girl named Sheeta. Sheeta, who had already been kidnapped by the evil StateSec Colonel Muska, uses the opportunity to escape and falls to what appears to be certain death until her pendant ignites and starts gently floating her back to Earth. Her descent is spotted by a young miner named Pazu, who catches her and takes her home, eager to determine if this mysterious floating girl is somehow connected with the fabled [[FloatingContinent floating castle Laputa]], which his father once saw, though [[TheJorEl no one believed him]] or his photograph.

Loosely based on one chapter of ''[[GulliversTravels Gulliver's Travels]]'', ''[[LaputaCastleInTheSky Castle in the Sky]]'' is a fantasy action-adventure tale raised to StudioGhibli standards. Two orphans battle sky pirates and evil government forces trying to seize the legendary floating city of Laputa. This was HayaoMiyazaki's third film, and the first to be created at Studio Ghibli, which was formed to produce the film.

** More than parallels. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFI9fFOcpZI Here's]] the [[spoiler:superweapon]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd1IFjBNNVo here's]] the Castle Bravo nuclear test. They're very similar.