Watching Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, I couldn’t help but think of Avatar. In Castle in the Sky, an engineer’s apprentice named Pazu (James Van der Beek), finds a young girl, Sheeta, (Anna Paquin) floating down from the sky, wearing a glowing pendant. Together, they discover both are searching for a legendary floating castle, Laputa, and vow to unravel the mystery of a luminous crystal around Sheeta’s neck.

The luminous crystal in the world of Castle in the Sky is a hot commodity — much power goes to any one person who possesses it. In Avatar, humans travel to Pandora for the pursuit of unobtanium, a precious metal worth millions. Naturally, there’s two sides of conflict; greedy people who want this precious element action, and the main characters that want to preserve nature the way as it is. We all know who wins. The only thing missing from Castle in the Sky is blue people.

Despite the lack of blue people, I still found Castle in the Sky to be an entertaining movie. The one issue I had with it is the same issue I had with Avatar — the power of the precious element and it’s capabilities aren’t really made known. It probably wasn’t all that necessary, but still. I would’ve liked to know that people were fighting for a crystal that does more than make people fly. Also, James van der Beek’s voice doesn’t really suit a prepubescent boy.

Overall, Castle in the Sky is yet another Miyazaki film I recommend.

Bonus Features
• The World Of Ghibli – Visit Castle In The Sky In This Imaginative Interactive Experience!
• Introduction By John Lasseter
• Storyboard Presentation Of The Movie

STREET DATE: March 2, 2010
Suggested retail price: $29.99 US; $35.99 Canada
Rated: ‘Not Rated’ US; ‘PG’ Canada
Run time: 125 minutes
DVD aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Language: English, French and Japanese (US); English, Japanese (Canada)

For more information or to purchase, head here.