Castle in the Sky

Castle in the Sky (Tenku no shiro Rapyuta, 1986) is Hayao Miyazaki's adventure anime, free to watch online on iFILM. It opens with a girl named Sheeta drifting down out of the night sky into the arms of a young miner, Pazu.

Sheeta wears a glowing crystal pendant, and everyone wants it. Sky pirates led by the rowdy matriarch Dola, the army, a sharp-suited government agent named Muska. The stone turns out to be the key to Laputa, a lost island that floats among the clouds and that the world stopped believing in long ago. The two kids decide to reach it first, before its buried power becomes a weapon.

This was the first feature released under the Studio Ghibli banner, scored by Miyazaki's longtime collaborator Joe Hisaishi. Hand-drawn clouds, clattering flying machines, a story balanced between fairy tale and ruin. Stream Castle in the Sky (1986) online on iFILM.