This will be the beginning of Hayao Miyazaki month, where I will discuss a different Hayao Miyazaki film each month. If you never heard of Hayao Miyazaki, I first talked about him when I reviewed Howl’s Moving Castle, and his animated films are as complicated as they are fantastic.

Unlike last month’s Marvel films, I’m going to start from greatest to least. Castle in the Sky isn’t just my favorite Hayao Miyaazki film, it is my favorite animated film of all time. That’s right, I am saying that this film is better than anything that Disney or Pixar can put out.

Just to let you know, this actually is essentially a Disney film as the big mouse house has bought rights to Studio Ghibli, the studio that has made all of Miyazaki’s films. This film even starts out with John Lassiter, the head of Pixar, saying that the viewer is in for an experience. Oh man, is he right.

Castle in the Sky was made in 1986, and although the animation could easily be done better today, I don’t even care. The story is so good and imaginative that it feels like a classic fairy tale. In watching this, I felt like I was watching Star Wars for the first time.

Castle in the Sky begins in a world that is too primitive to be in the present, but too advanced to be the past. This is a commonality in a lot of Miyazaki’s films, and I’m guessing that they are not supposed to even take place on Earth. It opens on an airship that is the size of a small city, where a young woman named Sheeta is traveling under the captivity of a villainous Muska.

When the airship is attacked by air pirates, Sheeta tries to escape the clutches of Muska, but falls to the earth below. Fortunately, Sheeta has a necklace that levitates her before she splats on the ground, and a young man named Pazu finds her.

Muska and the pirates both chase after Sheeta, and Pazu doesn’t seem to mind helping her escape them. The scenes with Sheeta and Pazu escaping are essentially action setpieces that are beautifully done and creative chases. As I said before, modern-day 3D animation would have made them look better, but this 2D aesthetic really works for the story that they are telling.

Unfortunately, Muska captures Sheeta, and it is then revealed why they are interested in her in the first place. Sheeta’s necklace is leftover technology from a legendary floating city known as Laputa. Muska believes that Sheeta’s necklace will lead him to that titular Castle in the sky, and he is right. Pazu then joins up with the pirates and their leader Dola to save Sheeta, and the film just gets bigger after that.

One of the things that I like about this movie is the characters are hysterical. Pazu has this boundless optimism, and Dola the pirate leader is as bossy as she is likeable. The film slows down several times to develop these characters, as well as give time for the viewer to drink in the scenery.

However, when it is time for action, Castle in the Sky has a lot of it in an epic scale. It has heroes and villains, and it is so much fun to watch. By the way, most Miyazaki films don’t really have a villain figure, but this one does. Muska is voiced by the fantastic Mark Hamill, who has played both Luke Skywalker and voiced the Joker as well as other voices that have put him as one of the greatest voice actors of this generation.

Yes, Castle in the Sky feels a bit more straightforward and is more adventure than the complex character dramas that I will discuss later this month. It is an action/adventure story that is worth seeing and recommend highly. It is by no means perfect, and it does have a sub-theme of respect mother nature as the villain seems to just hate trees. However, you hardly suffer through those parts.