Howl's Moving Castle
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Movie Reviews of Howl's Moving Castle
Movie Review: Not Miyazaki's best but still awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
If there's one can't miss in the world of entertainment it would have to be Hayao Miyazaki. Pixar might be another but while Pixar does it with brilliant scripting and amazing visuals Miyazaki's strength is in his creativity. His movies always have a wonderful dream like quality reminiscent of Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland. Miyazaki's latest film is set in an industrial age fantasy world with wizards and flying war machines that rain fire on cities below. The lead character, Sofi, finds herself on a quest to remove a curse cast by the Witch of the Waste that has aged her from a young lady into a fat old woman. She ends up in the wizard Howl's magical moving castle (which more resembles a house) working as his cleaning lady. The other part of her curse is that she can't tell anyone about her curse.
`Howl's Moving Castle' is a very well done movie but I have to put it below most of Miyazaki's other works particularly his pervious film, Spirited Away, which I consider his best film ever. The moving castle itself is absolutely stunning but Howl is surprisingly generic looking having the typical anime look for a heroic lead male in his early 20's. I also wasn't thrilled with Billy Crystal's voice as the fire demon Calcifer. My biggest problem with the movie was that it dragged in the center parts and the ending was surprisingly abrupt and overly neat. Mind you I'm rating this film on a Miyazaki scale which is far beyond ordinary mortal director scale. Miyazaki has an amazing ability to show viewers something new rather than rehash old ideas. He has a real artist's touch for design and an attention to detail that's second to none.
I have never seen a mediocre Miyazaki film and I recommend them all including Castle in the Sky and Castle of Cagliostro (Miyazaki does seem to have an obsession with castles). Some fans may find the film a slight let down but I doubt many will regret adding it to their collection, I certainly don't.
Movie Review: 'Love Conquers All' is still not redundant
Summary: 5 Stars
Should Miyazaki be pleased or despairing that his handcrafted animations have reached their zenith just as their computer generated cousins threaten them with redundance? At age 64, he's probably beyond worrying. This is a celebration of the human touch, in a similar vein to Nic Park's whacky, Grommit. The care lavished on the subtle tonalities of colour and texture is one of their shared domains. Another, at least with,'Howl' is a predelection for an earlier, and now only a dimly familiar, period of the early C20th, where freeways were lanes, and cobblestones and woodgrain were yet to be superceeded by synthetics. And, inventor's magic reigns supreme. The parable in 'Howl' is about the transforming power of love, a power of the most potent magic. Witches cast spells and wizards are sought for counsel by kings. Wars churn along with machine-like inevitability, the consequential milieu of a bewildered populace. The animated heart, aflutter with infatuation, burdened by outward appearance, stretched by loyalty to compassion, promotes the narrative. Howl's Castle, an unlikely chunk of Boschlike junk on four legs(flashes of Frank Zappa's, 'Billy The Mountain', for me) is the resevoir of recouperation and regeneration for the wounded hearts, kept alive by a spirited flame. The narrative asserts that appearances deceive and that youthful ones in particular, can be an encumbrance. There are no such encumbrances with the appearance of Miyazaki's films, which are a liberating, elevating joy. His reach is considerable: from the aforementioned details out to superb panoramas, be they the incendiary glimmer of a distant city under nocturnal aerial seige, or a pellucid valley lake enthroned by ice-capped peaks. For me, the animator's artistry with halated colour and whimsical line is the fiat to the elusive powers of his characters. What facility! Together with 'Princess Mononoke' and 'Spirited Away', Miyazaki enters the pantheon of cinematic geniuses.Movie Review: The first time I enjoyed watching an old woman climb some stairs!
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me preface this review by saying that I have never read the book that this was based on, and I don't really care to. I've heard the book's very different and I think it would ruin my enjoyment of this fantastic film.
Okay, I love this movie, it may be my favorite Miyazaki movie of all time (though The Cat Returns and My Neighbor Totoro come pretty close). There's just something magical in this fantasy tale that really draws me in. First off, some people complain that this movie made no sense, but I really enjoy Miyazaki's narrative style; he doesn't spell things out for you plot point by plot point (the story is not very hard to understand anyway, I don't understand people's confusion). It really gives this movie good replay value; everytime I rewatch it, I learn/notice something new.
Secondly, the animation is beautiful. Just the sweeping scenes of the landscape was gorgeous and really helped you get a feel for the setting.
Thirdly, I felt the characters were very endearing. Especially Calcifer. I really loved his character (with Billy Crystal voicing), he is very humorous ("Sophie, it looks like it's gonna RAIN!"; this line just wouldn't be as funny if someone else voiced it). The other characters were also very likeable, and showed excellent character depth and development. Especially Sophie, who we see transform from a timid, mousy girl to a woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind.
Overall, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who's a fan of fantasy films.
P.S. The bonus features aren't too shabby; there's not an actual "making-of", but there is a very interesting interview with the English translator of the film, an interview with the English voice actors, and an amusing piece of footage following Mr. Miyazaki's visit to Pixar. Overall, the bonus features aren't too bad compared to some of the other Studio Ghibli films.
Movie Review: Great treat, especially for English audiences
Summary: 5 Stars
This is Hayao Miyazaki's last work of art before he retired. I really love every work done by him through Studio Ghibli, and this one does not disappoint. The story is based on Diana Wynne Jones' fantasy novel of the same title, it offers everything Studio Ghibli has to offer. The beautiful graphics, vivid characters, nice flow to tell a fairly complicated story without a hitch, and yes, the beautiful music by Joe Hisaishi.
There is not much I can add about this work of the master than already said/written million times.
But what is surprising about this Disney release is that the voice-over was done so nicely, I actually think IT IS BETTER THAN the original Japanese version. Beleive me, I watched both language versions, and I don't need the subtitle in either language to comprehend.
As opposed to Japanese track where Chieko Baisho did both young and old Sofi (where young Sofi sounded too old and old Sofi sounded too young), Jean Simmons was lively and convicing, and Emily Mortimer was just right for her younger self. Billy Crystal and Lauren Bacall were just so natural and wonderful, the whole film is not the same without them. Christian Bale sounded just like Howl should. Hin, of course, did not need any voice over.
If you didn't know better, you can be easily convinced this film was produced for English audience to begin with.
Yet, this is not a kiddy film that many U.S. audiences still expects. It is made for all ages, and different age groups will see this differently. Watch this ten years later and see if you find something new.
Thank you, Miyazaki, for all your work, and thank you, Disney for producing a nice English version. They could market Ghibli works more rigorously, though.
After all, these animation features are done with a great deal of effort and care of old Disney manner, something Disney forgot to do already.
Movie Review: Laugh out loud, loveable story with amazing art...
Summary: 5 Stars
Hayao Miyazaki has done it again. If you're a fan of "Spirited Away," then get ready for another wild ride. The story focuses on witchcraft and a young girl named Sophie who is the unfortunate victim of an old-age spell. It's quite comical watching this young girl learn to be an old woman and deal with her new physical image, as well as become engrossed in the magical world of the wizard she self-hired herself to work for - Howl.
And Howl's companion, a fire-demon character named Calcipher, is so awesome - he's a snappy little character full of attitude, who really comes to life with Billy Crystal's voiceover. Between the smart and witty comments between Calcipher and Sophie, this movie definitely made me laugh out loud, which I never do when watching animated movies!
The funny thing is I first saw this with the English voice-overs, then decided to watch a clip on [...] of the Japanese version, and there were 2 things I didn't like about it.
1. Calcipher's voice was so deep and sounded so non-animated in his voice tone - almost boring.
2. Sophie's voice, while in an old woman's physical form, still sounded like that of a young child. I think it was much smarter and added so much more to the character in the English dubbed version to give her the voice of an older woman, in this case, Lauren Bacall.
So in my opinion, when you watch it for the first time, watch the English version - the character voices are so much more rich with personality!
This movie is a true gem that will keep you entertained time and time again. I would highly recommend it to anyone. In fact, after I saw it for the first time, I made my boyfriend and roommate sit down and watch it with me again so that they would be able to be exposed to such a great film! See it today!