This film was on ATV World channel yesterday night. I recorded it and was able to capture some pictures in the second half of the film in my computer. It is a very vivid, colourful cartoon produced by Hayao Miyazaki.Below is the story of the film from Wikipedia:
According to legend, humans were fascinated with the sky; therefore they created increasingly sophisticated ways of lifting aircraft from the ground. This eventually led to flying cities and fortresses. Over time, the cities came crashing back to the ground, forcing the survivors to live on the ground as before. One city, Laputa, is said to remain in the sky, concealed within the swirling clouds of a violent thunderstorm. While most people consider it to be fictional, some believe the legend is true and have sought to find the ancient city. Airships still remain in common use.
Aboard an airship, a young girl, Sheeta, was escorted to an unknown destination by sinister-looking agents under Colonel Muska. The ship was attacked by a group of sky pirates; in the resulting disorder, Sheeta took a small pendant from Muska and escaped. The sky pirates, led by an old but vivacious woman
Dola, attempted to seize her and the pendant, but Sheeta accidentally fell from the ship. As she fell, the pendant radiated a blue light and she gently floated to the ground. A young boy miner, Pazu, witnessed this in amazement and caught hold of Sheeta. He took her back to his home, where she found a photograph of Laputa. Pazu explained that his deceased father, an aerial pilot and adventurer, took the photo, but was disbelieved by his contemporaries. Pazu believed the city existed and wanted to find it some day himself.Dola’s band of sky pirates arrived at Pazu's house, forcing the children to escape on a railway. Their path was eventually blocked by an armored train; the govern
ment agents inside attempted to capture Sheeta. With both pursuing parties fighting each other over the girl, the children fell from a collapsing rail trestle, but were saved when Sheeta's pendant activated once again, allowing them to float safely into an abandoned mine shaft. There they met an old miner, Uncle Pom, who told them of "volucite", the crystal that provided Laputa with its power. He revealed that Sheeta’s pendant was one of the largest and purest of such crystals in existence, and counselled Sheeta to remember that the crystal's power rightly belonged to the earth, and that she should never use it to commit acts of violence.Upon returning to the surface of the land, Sheeta told Pazu that she had inherited an ancient "secret name": Lusheeta Toel Ul Laputa (Laputian for "Sheeta, True Ruler of Laputa"). Government agents suddenly appeared and took them both into custody. They were taken to a fortress and separated.
The general in command of the fortress discussed with Muska the government-sponsored search for Laputa, and agreed that Sheeta and her crystal were the keys to its discovery. Muska revealed to Sheeta his knowledge of her true name, showed her a huge android robot which was believed to have been created in Laputa, and told her that unless she cooperated with him in the search of Laputa and unlocking the crystal's secrets, which he believed could be used to physically locate Laputa, Pazu was likely to be freed. Seeking to protect her friend, Sheeta told Pazu that she had ag
reed to cooperate with Muska and the army in search the of Laputa and asked him to forget her and Laputa. Stunned by this apparent rejection, Pazu returned to his village, only to find Dola's pirate family occupying his home. Pazu told Dola of his experiences; when the pirates learned that Sheeta, Muska, and the general would depart the fortress in search of Laputa and went on board the gigantic military airship Goliath, Pazu begged Dola to take him with her.In the fortress tower, Sh
eeta absent-mindedly recited a spell given by her grandmother, causing the crystal to illuminate a strange blue light that points to Laputa. The spell also re-animated the robot, which wreaked havoc all over the fortress, ca
using it to catch fire.The robot rescued Sheeta, demonstrating its loyalty, before it was destroyed by the Goliath airship. In the meantime, Dola and Pazu showed up and rescued Sheeta from the burning tower.
The children and Dola's p
irates pursued the Goliath aboard the pirate ship Tiger Moth, intended to find Laputa before the Goliath did. That night, as Sheeta and Pazu stand watched on the c
rows nest, they talked at length about their respective lives, touching upon Sheeta's study of magic words and mentioning one such spell, the Spell of Destruction, a power Sheeta had never used. Dola, who wais awake in bed, overheard their discussions through the intercom.Amid their conversation,
Pazu saw the Goliath rise from the clouds. The airship attacked, but the Tiger Moth escaped unharmed. The Tiger Moth entered a storm, and Dola told the children to keep watch above the clouds by turning the crows nest into a glider. Soon a massive cloud became visible. Pazu recognized it from his father's descriptions as Laputa's hiding place. As they tried to find a way in, the Goliath
attacked again and the glider Sheeta and Pazu were riding was blasted away from the pirate ship. The children landed in Laputa, only to find the city devoid of human life, having only a single robot among the ruins taking care of the grounds. This robot is implied to be "friends" with small animals. In the grounds is a gargantuan tree, whose roots have pervaded Laputa's base.The Goliath arriveed at Laputa, w
hereupon the soldiers plundered the city's vast treasures. The Tiger Moth was found wrecked on the surface, with Dola and the pirates being held captive. As Pazu attempted to rescue Dola, Sheeta witnessed Muska locating a hidden entranc
e to a large sphere that surrounded the city's core; she was subsequently captured and taken inside. Pazu freed the pirates and, after many difficulties, found another way into the sphere.Muska took Sheeta into Laputa's core, a chamber holding a gigantic Volucite/Aetherium crystal that serves as the city's power source, and revealed that he was also an heir to the throne of Laputa. He took control of Laputa and all its technology and demonstrated the power of the city to the army by beaming an immensely powerful blast toward the surface of the earth. He then activated hundreds of robots to wipe out the army and the Goliath while Dola and the pirates hid from the robots inside the remains of the Tiger Moth. Sheeta freed herself, stoles back the crystal and ran through the core with Muska in close pursuit. Eventually, she found Pazu and passed the crystal to him.
Muska cornered Sheeta in
the city's throne room. He brandished a handgun at her, blasting off her plaits and threatening to shoot off her ears next. Pazu then entered, holding a large gun and asking for a moment to talk to Sheeta, which Muska granted. Together, the two children decided to use the Spell of Destruction; with a single w
ord, the pendant released an enormous power surge that triggered the collapse of the city's core. Muska was blinded and subsequently fell to his death; Sheeta and Pazu were hurled into the tangle of roots from the giant tree. Afterwords they found their way back to the glider and left Laputa.The Dola pirat
es also survived Laputa's destruction aboard their moth fighters, and were overjoyed to be reunited with Sheeta and Pazu in mid-air. The pirates and the children bid each other a fond farewell and parted. Meanwhile, the remains of Laputa, held together by the tree, continued to rise, until they apparently established an orbit high above the earth.
