Home / Films / Laputa

Directors / Miyazaki

(30/03/2009)

It's the second time I've seen this film, at home, on DVD...

A little controversy arises from the fact that 'Laputa' or 'la puta' is a very impolite term for a whore in Spanish - a fact that Miyazaki apparently did not know (why would he?) The title comes from a story in Gulliver's Travels, written in 1726 by Jonathan Swift, where Gulliver discovers an island called Laputa which floats in the sky.

I'm a big fan of Studio Ghibli anime films though this is not one of my favourites. I don't normally bother to write about films I don't really like because I can't see the point: some people love the film, and if I don't, then that just means I'm not seeing what they are seeing. There is no point in trying to analyse why I don't like a film; I'd rather read why someone else loves a film than write why I don't.

So normally I wouldn't comment on it. I'm including this one however because someone recently said it was their favourite Studio Ghibli film and I re-watched it to see what I had missed the first time.

And well, whoops! I seem to have missed it again. I still don't like it that much, though it's quite entertaining and I don't begrudge the time I spent watching it. I liked bits of it, and enjoyed the characters of the pirates, but the whole idea of a castle in the sky just doesn't interest me that much.

Well, as I said, there's no point saying more so I won't.