Howl's Moving Castle

the Jazz · Post by **the Jazz** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:30 am

Aside from the first 10-15 minutes being a bit slow, and the ending being incredibly contrived (so bad that it had to be intentional), this was a really entertaining movie. And the whole theater was laughing at the ending so I guess that was entertaining in its own way. I would definitely recommend this movie, although not to anyone who is already irritated by anime in general - it's not going to make any converts.

It's got that creativity that you expect from Miyazaki, a decent dub (could have been MUCH worse), and doesn't take itself quite as seriously as Spirited Away. There are some very funny moments in this one.

That's my take, anyway. It was worth the $10 to see it in theaters.

raisedbywolves · Post by **raisedbywolves** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 6:33 am

B+. Pretty and strange.

Post by jb » Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:14 am

<b>B-</b>. Pretty, strange, but slightly too arbitrary for my taste.

mico saudad · Post by **mico saudad** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 10:57 am

I watched Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke to get myself geared up to watch this movie. Both amazing movies.

This one had some great characters, a hopping scarecrow, a shrivelled senile witch with some pretty funny dialogue, and the main character was an old woman with an interesting perspective on aging.

Howl was a twat.
All of the resolutions were awful to the point of being painful.
The plot was weak, the villains poorly sketched, and the struggle ill defined.

Everything was gorgeous.
Chop off the last 20 minutes and let me have a hack at the plot and I think it could be beautiful. I hope Disney did this to this movie and that it wasn't a shortcoming of Miyazaki or his choice of story (it's based on a book by a pretty good children's author).

stueym · Post by **stueym** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 2:51 pm

abecedarian wrote:I watched Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke to get myself geared up to watch this movie. Both amazing movies.

Just watched Princess Mononke this afternoon which is a fantastic movie. Storyline was great fantasy fable, real action scene's (seriously the hero's arrow chops off arms and heads!!!!!) And Gillian Anderson voice in cameo as the Wolf God(dess).

You have to be in the right mood for 2 hours of fantasy story but it is worth the investment.

Picked this up at Target on special. They seemed to be selling a number of Disney branded Miyazaki movies for $9.99. A even weirder they are all in the kids section despite my comments about the adult themes in here.

the Jazz · Post by **the Jazz** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:34 pm

I must be the only person alive who was greatly disappointed by Princess Mononoke. The whole "save the forest or it will eat you" theme has been done to death, especially in anime, and the ending had all the depth I would expect from a Pokemon movie, just with prettier animation.

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:42 pm

the Jazz wrote:I must be the only person alive who was greatly disappointed by Princess Mononoke.

No, there are two of us. Actually, I'd just say I was "somewhat disappointed". It got piles of hype, and of course it was gorgeous, but it's eclipsed in nearly every way by some of Miyazaki's previous films, specifically Nausicaa.

EDIT: Holy crap, I just checked out Nausicaa on IMDB; it's older than I am.

Egg · Post by **Egg** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:20 am

I haven't caught Howl yet but I find that Nausicaa was kind of weak... like other of his 80s movies. Like Porco Rosso, Laputa, and whatnot, its just not as solid. But the manga for Nausicaa is golden! If you liked the movie, and not just because the redub had Patrick Stewart and Alison Lohman, I recommend you read the manga. Even though I heard he only wrote it in order to convince the producers to make the movie, I think it's way better.

And in response to the post about Mononoke being trite and like a trumped up Pokemon: That seems foolish to me. While I haven't seen the Pokemon movie, I know that PM was good. And part of what makes it brilliant is that the forest isnt all sainthood and benevolence. There are forces in the woods that are good and bad in different ways and the town people are good and bad too. It seems incorrect to say there was only one message. The city brings technology, feminism and liberal ideology to the table. They allow people to truly live. Miyazaki didn't make them like Captain Planet villains who simply destroy for the sake of destruction. Furthermore, I seem to recall the wolves having some very incorrect notions about how the world should work. There are good and bad sides to the characters in this story, and you have to ignore a good portion of the movie to interpret it as a onesided tale about how we should recycle.

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:54 pm

I haven't seen the Disney dub of Nausicaa, but if Patrick Stewart does a voice then now I have to.

I think when The Jazz said he didn't like the clichéd theme and the silly ending he was referring to the clichéd theme and the silly ending, as opposed to the character motivation or the depth of the antagonists. Like almost all of Miyazaki's movies, there are no "Bad Guys" in this one; just groups of people with conflicting goals. The Jazz is a big enough anime nerd that I'm sure he's aware of that.

Justincombustion · Post by **Justincombustion** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 2:00 pm

Puce wrote:
the Jazz wrote:I must be the only person alive who was greatly disappointed by Princess Mononoke.
No, there are two of us. Actually, I'd just say I was "somewhat disappointed". It got piles of hype, and of course it was gorgeous, but it's eclipsed in nearly every way by some of Miyazaki's previous films, specifically Nausicaa.

EDIT: Holy crap, I just checked out Nausicaa on IMDB; it's older than I am.

Make that 3. And Spirited Away...put me to sleep it was so boring.

the Jazz · Post by **the Jazz** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 2:24 pm

Puce wrote:The Jazz is a big enough anime nerd that I'm sure he's aware of that.

Uh... thanks?

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:30 pm

what a great, great, great fuckin' movie. that dude can sure tell a story. missing maybe some of the emotional elements of Mononoke or Totoro, but still gorgeous and fun.