“All good pirates listen to their Mom!”

– Castle in the Sky

Hayao Miyazaki’s 1986 effort Castle in the Sky represents the famed writer/director at perhaps his loosest and most freewheeling. Helmed shortly after the founding of Studio Ghibli in 1985, the film follows the characters of Sheeta and Pazu (voiced in the Disney dub by James Van Der Beek, who died earlier this year, and Anna Paquin, respectively) as they seek a legendary, flying city called Laputa that is fueled by advanced technology. The film contains all the hallmarks that people have come to love about Miyazaki over the years. Like the ridiculous line included above suggests, it lacks the classy, spiritual and Oscar-winning edge that would come to define the filmmaker’s output later on, but remains wonderfully entertaining in its own way.

Castle in the Sky begins with an assault on an airship by a pirate family led by Dola. Their target is Sheeta, a young girl who has a mysterious crystal in her possession. Sheeta tries to escape during the attack but falls hundreds of feet in the process. Just before she hits the ground, she is saved by her crystal, which starts glowing and slows her descent. Sheena’s fall brings her into contact with Pazu, a young mechanic who takes her to his mining village. Dola and her gang soon follow in hot pursuit, in addition to the military and a clandestine operator known as Muska. All of them desire Sheeta’s crystal, as they believe it may lead the way to Laputa, and with it, untold riches and power.

As we have come to expect with Miyazaki, Castle in the Sky is filled with beautiful, fluid animation. His team renders this steampunk-adjacent world with stunning detail, and their artistry makes you believe immediately in its heightened reality of magical realism. The film’s characters also pop. Sheeta and Pazu are both revealed to have affecting origin stories, with each being orphans whose pasts are mysteriously connected to the flying city of Laputa. Their pursuers are similarly compelling, with Dola and her gang being far more loveable than they initially appear. The film also moves at a frantic, wild pace and exudes a fast, funny and frankly ridiculous tone. Spectacularly staged fist fights, railway chases, character hijinks and plenty of aerial action keep things cooking, especially in the first half.

Much of this is an absolute blast. Consider the scene where Pazu’s boss defends him and Sheeta from Dola’s pirate gang. As he gears up to fight by flexing his muscles, Miyazaki makes him comically and literally explode out of his shirt like the Incredible Hulk. This is followed quickly by one of the pirates doing the same thing. The characterization of the pirate gang in general is yet another example. Several of the members are Dola’s actual sons, and as it turns out, are rife with hilarious mother issues. Dola herself enhances the humor with her dry, acerbic wit and charisma. Wonderfully brought to life by Cloris Leachman, Dola is flinty and ferocious yet also secretly warm and loving. She also gets some of the best lines, such as one particular moment where she yells out a hysterical battle cry: “One for all and all for MOM!”

At times it all feels a bit too ridiculous. There is no doubt that Miyazaki was having fun with the material. I also have no doubt, that any viewer who plops down for a watch will too. But there is also no denying that Castle in the Sky‘s rollicking nature also comes with a slight cost. For one thing, its focus on Dola and the gang’s silly antics prevents it from delving fully into select character arcs like Pazu’s. While the character’s desire for vindication for his late dad is compelling enough, Miyazaki doesn’t fully flesh it out. The film’s thematic framework is another quality that takes a back seat. Castle in the Sky introduces classic Miyazakian preoccupations about halfway through its runtime, particularly the corrupting influence of power. But these aren’t further elaborated on until much later in the story. Together, these make the film’s midsection feel a touch hollow, like it’s missing some much-needed heft.

Mostly, this slight, mid-film sag is largely redeemed by the film’s climax, which features a thrilling and satisfying showdown over the fate of Laputa and potentially the entire world. The ol’ master stages this sequence with total aplomb, and pretty much everything about it works. The film’s finally lets its themes breathe a bit, illustrating with melancholic power how even the greatest technology in the world can’t save humanity from its penchant for destruction. Castle in the Sky‘s central villain also eventually comes into his own, injecting the film with propulsive energy and voiced brilliantly by the iconic Mark Hamill in the film’s best performance.

Muska may not be the best Miyazakian villain of all time, of course. He lacks the artful restraint and nuance the filmmaker’s later oeuvre would bring to “villainous” characters such as Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke. She personified how you can write a world where there are no good or bad people, only good or bad choices. Hamill still succeeds in giving him a layered and dynamic quality despite this. His Muska initially comes off as a somewhat reasonable if misguided and overzealous bureaucrat. But as the film goes on, he brings out a deeper, more unstable quality that is both memorable and even frightening.

Even though it ends on an undeniable high note, Castle in the Sky still doesn’t quite measure up to Miyazaki’s landmark films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. In those efforts, the director took a more meditative nuts and bolts approach to theme, character and world-building. These elements were woven more organically into the proceedings, which made nearly everything on-screen feel more intentional and impactful and immersive. The same can’t really be said for Castle in the Sky, which is clearly more preoccupied with having fun—not that there is anything wrong with that. Films, like any type of art, have many purposes, and chief among them is to entertain and to transport. When considered from that light, Castle in the Sky doesn’t just succeed but soars.