Howl's Moving Castle

[Dasquian Belargic]

Also known as "Hauru no ugoku shiro". Has anyone else seen this? Since it was on general release, I decided to catch it today, since it looked quite similar to "Spirited Away" (same director/screenplay writer). It wasn't, in my opinion, as original or engaging as "Spirited Away", and kind of dragged near the end... though it had some amusing moments. Billy Crystal was amusing as the voice of Calcifer, and the other actors did fair jobs - though it was odd hearing Christian Bale's voice coming from such an effeminate pansy.

[Shawn]

More Studio Ghibli? Sign me up!

[Shawn]

I loved it. I wouldn't say it 'dragged near the end', but the second half definitely had a different tone than the first. I'm not sure how I'd rank it in comparison to Miyazaki's previous films, but I loved the characters and the setting. Once again, Studio Ghibli puts Disney to shame, proving they know how to truly make a film "for all ages".

My only real complaint is that it seemed to drop quite a few plot threads. It feels like they realized it was running too long and decided to wrap everything up early.

[Clea Darkrunner]

it was from a British book - and would have been much better if they'd used the second half as well as the first half.

I loved the animation, though. Marvelous! I went to see it twice.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Castle of Cagliostro instantly made me a Miyazaki fan, so I'm going to try and catch Howl's Moving Castle. I keep eyeballing Spirited Away whenever I stop in to WalMart, but I recently shelled out fifty bucks for Steamboy and the entire series of Blue Sub 6, so I'll be waiting a little bit longer before I buy SA.

[Sanis Prent]

Hey, isn't that from the maker of that princess movie, also from the maker of that dog movie, and that cat movie, and that pig movie, and that valley movie?


:)

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

you shut up :mad

[Sanis Prent]

:D

[Shawn]

Spirited Away is his best movie overall, I think. Howl's Moving Castle started off really strong, but didn't carry through. I'd be interested in reading the story it was based off of.