This is a children’s story. But more importantly this is a children’s story that is capable of capturing the imagination of an adult. From the music to the action, it is all very fanciful and hypnotic. Sort of along the same vein as Peter Pan.

This is another movie by Miyasaki. It was made in 1986 so the animation will appear dated. The main characters are drawn more like characterizations when comparing it to modern Anime movie made by Studio Ghibli. This means that the characters actions/reactions are not as realistic as they could have been. This is most evident in the fight scenes. Characters do not walk normally but kind of zip around. I call it the Hanna Barbara shuffle or it can be described as a cartoon with a low frame rate. It isn’t a bad thing necessarily but the animation is not up to par with other works by studio Ghibli.

The writing and the story
I love the story. It has a good pace to it, it is interesting, and it has good character building. The action is intermixed with slower portions of the film and the blend is almost perfect. As an audience member you will not find yourself getting bored with any one scene because it was too long. Some sort of action happens on a regular basis and the action scenes are well done.

You start off with 2 orphans. One of the orphans is called Sheeta. She is a girl and has a noble feel about her. Pazu is a down to earth character. He is male and fairly young. Pazu is the type of person that always has a smile on his face and causes others around him to smile. He is very charismatic. Sheeta and Pazu are being chased by 2 groups, one of which are the pirates. There is a mystery involved and the two orphans go on a quest to solve it. During this time a group of pirates and the military are after them. And that’s all I am going to say about the story.

Character building
I was rather pleased with the character building. They started out the movie by concentrating on Pazu and Sheeta. Within about half an hour you have a pretty good grasp on their personalities. You really start to sympathize with both of these characters. Both characters do have a sad back-story, like most orphans, and I feel that did a good job in making these characters seem like real people through the dialogue. You really start to sympathize with these two characters and want them to succeed in their quest. I find this to be one of Miyasaki strengths.

In about 1/3 of the way through the movie the story starts to focus on one of the “bad guys.” The dialogue and scenes do a really good job of getting to know these “bad” characters, their ambitions, and their more nurturing side. I really feel they paced out the character development really well. I would describe it more as a puzzle being pieced together, not a speech that bores you.

The only criticism I have of the character building is it is almost based solely on dialogue. The physical aspect of character development was limited or nonexistent. I think this is because it is an older movie and they probably did not have the budget to do it the way they did in the more recent movies by Studio Ghibli.

Sound and music
The music is classically based but what I love about the music is it is very free flowing and child-like. During the flight scenes the strings are playing quickly and make your spirit want to soar. In so many parts of the movie the music has a happy feel to it. During the sad parts of the movie there is still a sense of hope that everything will turn out ok. It certainly is not dark like other anime. I also see this movie as a children’s movie and the music really hits this feeling home.
If I only had one word to use to describe the music I would say the music was “fun”.

Who is this for?
Children of all ages.

Rating
PG

The key players
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Screenplay: Hayao Miyazaki
Music: Joe Hisaishi
And Mark Hamil does the voice for the government official.

Duration
2:04

Summary
This is another great children’s Anime Movie by Hiroyuki Miyazaki and studio Ghibli. It is a children’s story that most adults could get into. It is well written and has a good story to it. If you want blood and guts then you may want to look elsewhere, but for a fun movie there are very few out there that can compete.

Other reviews you might be interested in.
My top 10 favorite Anime Movies
My 50 favorite movies

Recommended:
Yes