Line #4 YMMV/CastleInTheSky


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: The original "Laputa" was a floating island of idiot-savants, named for a vile Spanish epithet and intended as a scathing TakeThat satire against scientists and British royalty. (The satire was so very dire that part of that chapter of ''Literature/GulliversTravels''--in which Laputa went around dropping rocks on nations it didn't like--had to be censored in its original publication. When Creator/IsaacAsimov did an annotated version of the book, he was so nettled by it, centuries later, that he felt the need to spend much of a page in fine print coming to scientists' defense!) But the book was centuries old and in another language when it inspired Miyazaki to make his movie. Whether or not Miyazaki knew about the work's satirical origins, his version of "Laputa" was played straight as a place of higher science and learning--and he also titled his movie after that island's unfortunate name. Though oddly enough, whether [[ShownTheirWork intentionally]] or [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting not]], the "dropping rocks on nations it didn't like" thing [[KillSat made it (more or less) into Miyazaki's version as well]].
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is the General really having an EvenEvilHasStandards moment when he tries to kill Muska after seeing him test fire Laputa's superlaser? Or did he just decide that Muska had [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]]?
3	* AssPull: Both Sheeta and Pazu survive ''[[NoOneCouldSurviveThat an entire castle-city falling on top of them!]]'' Even the giant tree is unscathed, not even its roots are torn or damaged by the [[CollapsingLair falling debris and resulting chaos.]] It's even lamp-shaded by Sheeta, saying the tree is "[[DeusExMachina protecting them]]".
4	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The film has some awesome, adventure-inspiring music including the [[https://youtu.be/Yy8MEO_2AYo main theme]] and this hauntingly beautiful [[https://youtu.be/-kR2dokH6-Y variation]] when [[spoiler:Laputa is destroyed]]. Hisaishi was never quite pleased with his original score – good at it is, it's very sparse and is almost entirely synthesizer due to lack of time/budget during original production – so when Disney afforded him the opportunity (with Miyazaki's blessing) to rescore the film with a full orchestra, he took it... and the result is ''gorgeous'' across the board. Unfortunately, [[NoExportForYou most Americans were denied hearing this reworking]]... until 2017, when Gkids reissued the film, providing viewers with a chance to view the dub with either score.
5	* CompleteMonster: [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Romuska Palo Ul/Ur Laputa]], known as [[BigBad Colonel Muska]], is a ruthless government secret agent who tried to take the flying city of Laputa by force, being actually a descendant of the Laputean monarchy just like [[LivingMacGuffin Sheeta]]. Along the way, he commits many heinous crimes such as kidnapping Sheeta and Pazu, threatening to [[WouldHurtAChild kill Pazu]] if Sheeta didn't give him [[MementoMacguffin the amulet]] that held the power to control Laputa. When he finally conquers Laputa, however, he [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide becomes mad with power]] and proceeds to toss his own henchmen from the floating city, all while laughing about it, and intends to use the flying castle's power to wipe out everything in his way so that he can [[TakeOverTheWorld become ruler of the world]]. He also threatens to shoot Sheeta's ears off after she tried to convince him that the people left Laputa because it was uninhabitable, and when Pazu arrived on the scene, Muska threatens the lives of both children unless they surrendered the crystal back to him. Throughout the film, Muska showed manipulative and emotionally abusive tendencies, a sense of entitlement, greed, hunger for power, revulsion of "disgusting" natural wildlife that he wanted to have burned down, and a willingness to hurt or even kill children if it got him closer to [[ItsAllAboutMe what he wanted]].
6	* EvilIsCool: Muska stands out as probably the only truly depraved and evil Ghibli villain, and pulls it off with such style and charisma it's hard not to be a little impressed when [[NearVillainVictory he finally takes control of Laputa]].
7	* GeniusBonus:
8	** The 1964 black comedy masterpiece ''Film/DrStrangelove'' also contained a ragtag bunch of misfits in a plane trying to reach Laputa (in Russia) [[spoiler: which was also the location of a Doomsday device]], a comically-over-the-top choleric general, and a mad scientist with dark glasses [[spoiler: who was hiding his allegience to a defunct [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany evil empire]] behind an assumed name]].
9	** When Pazu and Sheeta are in the garden of Laputa, they find a stone memorial carved with a foreign, almost alien-looking language. That language is actually cuneiform, one of if not the absolute oldest known written languages, dating back to Ancient Mesopotamia; this adds to the impression of Laputa being extremely ancient.
10	** The change from "Laputa" from "Lapuntu" made in the first Spanish dub, while done by the obvious reasons mentioned throughout this page, is not casual either. In ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', the protagonist actually mentions this second name as a possible etymology for the first.
11	--->"The Word, which I interpret the Flying or Floating Island, is in the original Laputa; whereof I could never learn the true Etimology. Lap, in the old obsolete Language, signifieth High, and Untuh a Governor; from which they say by Corruption was derived Laputa from Lapuntuh".
12	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The film is so popular in China that [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-as-chinese-tourists-stay-home-a-world-that-has-grown-dependent-on-them-feels-their-absence/2020/02/07/0ff7a37e-46a4-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html one of the most popular tourist destinations for Chinese]] is an Italian village that resembles the titular location.
13	* MagnificentBastard: [[LovableRogue Captain Dola]] is a tough-as-nails, boastful [[SkyPirate pirate]] who pillages the skies for wealth and treasures beyond compare with her own family for crew. Having learned of the existence of a necklace capable of leading one to the lost, floating city of Laputa, Dola stages on attack on a military escort blimp, tearing through the defenses and only losing the necklace when the young girl Sheeta slips away with it. Tracking down Sheeta through use of disguises and allying with her friend Pazu to rescue her from [[BigBad Colonel Muska]], Dola recruits the children to her crew and uses them as guides to find Laputa for herself. Even when caught by Muska's men, Dola escapes with Pazu's help, imparts a useful weapon to him in return, and goes on to loot Laputa for as many riches as her crew can carry, walking away from the adventure immensely rich and having gained the friendship of Sheeta and Pazu for her gruff, yet lovable, maternal nature.
14	* MemeticMutation:
15	** Website/NicoNicoDouga goers often use [[spoiler: Muska walking around blinded, screaming "My eyes!"]] in their {{Voice Clip Song}}s.
16	** In fan art, Muska is seen to be able to do [[MemeticBadass literally- freaking]] -anything.
17	** FountainOfMemes: Muska is regarded as one of the most quotable anime villains - in Japan, at least. His line "Look! The people are like garbage!" (said while watching [[spoiler:soldiers fall to their deaths]]) is a fan favorite.
18	** "Balse!", the [[spoiler: Spell of Destruction used by Sheeta and Pazu]]. ("Balus" in the Disney dub.) It's so popular that fans post this to social media sites at the exact moment it is said in the movie whenever it airs in Japan, sometimes causing them to crash from demand.
19	** A fried egg on toast is often called Laputa Pan in Japan, after its appearance in this movie.
20	* MoralEventHorizon:
21	** [[spoiler: Muska causing the General and his men to fall to their deaths, followed by his straight up EvilLaugh as he tells them to "enjoy the ride."]] That is if [[WouldHurtAChild threatening and attempting to kill Pazu]] didn't do it for you.
22	** General Muoro and his lackeys showed their complete willingness to torture Sheeta to squeeze the secrets out of her and also tried to kill Pazu. Which also makes Muska's [[spoiler: massacre of them a case of PayEvilUntoEvil]].
23	* {{Narm}}:
24	** Muska is kind of hard to take seriously as a villain when he looks like evil Elton John.
25	** The word "Laputa" has a nasty homophonic meaning in [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike Spanish language]], namely that it sounds identical to "la puta" ("the whore"), and as a consequence, it's quite difficult to watch a faithful Spanish dub while keeping a straight face. The first and most famous European Spanish dub changed its name to a more fantastic "Lapuntu" (just like Spanish translations of ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' have traditionally made slight changes into the name, often "Laput"), but the second European Spanish and the Latin American one didn't, so you get the picture in those. The Latin American in particular is more unintentionally hilarious due to the intonation used to say the name of the island.
26	* SignatureScene:
27	** Pazu's first encounter with Sheeta, with Sheeta slowly floating down towards him while unconscious, is the most well-known scene in the film.
28	** The scene where the gardener robot gives Sheeta a flower.
29	** The scene where [[spoiler: Sheeta and Pazu say the Spell of Destruction, "Balse!"]], is also an iconic moment.
30	* SpecialEffectsFailure:
31	** Whenever a character yells in the Japanese dub, there's an audible echo to the line.
32	** The Tokuma dub lacks crowd noise in certain scenes and characters aren't always heard speaking when their mouths are moving.
33	* SubbingVersusDubbing: Although the Disney dub has its fans, there have been fans of the original who have taken issue with the dub's more liberal translation, additional dialogue and the leads sounding considerably more mature than their Japanese ocounterparts. Joe Hisaishi's rescore, too, despite receiving praise from the director, also received controversy. Disney would later re-release the dub without the extra dialogue and music, which then [[DuelingDubs caused fans of the 2003 cut of the Disney dub to express their misgivings]].
34	** Thankfully averted for the GKIDS Blu-Ray release where viewers have the choice to watch the dub with either the original score or the reorchestrated one, minus most of the additional lines.
35	* TearJerker: The broken-down robot soldier who's unintentionally reawakened by Sheeta, only to be destroyed while it tries to protect her (mere moments after she realizes that's what it was doing and stops being afraid of it). After all, it was only trying to do its job of protecting someone who asked for help in the face of an unknown military that expressed open hostility toward it at every turn. Depending on how aware it actually was of the situation, it may have not even understood what it was doing was wrong, only to die in the line of duty while fighting to protect its queen.
36	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
37	** The first Spanish dub, which replaced "Laputa" with "Lapuntu" for the reasons mentioned above and used the Disney translation and rescore, was divisive at its time for those changes, so a new dub more faithful to the original was granted in 2010, apparently by Ghibli's intercession. The problem? While the new dub retained the damn word along with the original script and score, it also came with a completely different voice cast that was instantly noted to be extremely poor in acting and cast choices (the new voices of Pazu and Sheeta, for instance, were panned for the strange feat of sounding both annoying and flat at the same time). The fans's reception for this new dub was so negative that the old one was VindicatedByHistory and the Lapuntu controversy was since mostly forgotten.
38	* ToyShip: Obviously Pazu and Sheeta; there are lots of moments where we see them holding hands and gaze and/or hugging each other. They roll around in the grass together, tied together by a rope, arm around waist, for quite a while upon arriving in Laputa.

Context YMMV / CastleInTheSky