Howl's Moving Castle
I watched Howl's Moving Castle again (it was on Starz, and I can't resist watching a Miyazaki movie whenever I come across it), and after reading the book for the second time and now seeing the movie again, I was a little more disappointed with the way it turned out than I was the first time. For some reason the who's, where's, and what's of the story confused me when I read it the first time, so I didn't get he serious fucking up of plot, but this time it's like, holy shit they changed *everything* o_O I didn't even notice the first time that they changed Howl's teacher's name, to Madame Suliman of all things, made her into the big bad, and the Witch of the Waste into a GOOD person? They completely nixed the Michael-and-Martha (it was Martha Michael loved, right? I get her and Lettie crossed, but Lettie's the one Howl hit on, right? >>") storyline, changed Michael completely (which sucks, because Markl is cute, but Michael was one of my favorite parts in the book. His, Howl's, and Sophie's family relationship was the funniest thing ever), and I still have to rant about how much they changed Howl's character. Not just his background (it was so much cooler when he was from Wales), but his personality, too. I still haven't watched the subtitled version (need...to get...the DVD again), but Howl is so...personality-less, except for that one temper tantrum which is so far beyond out of the blue >>" I liked bitchy, vain, spoiled, womanizing, selfish Howl. He was far more interesting than that boring, watered-down, one-dimensional bird-thing that was "Howl" in the anime...
And you know, they completely ruined Sophie and Howl's relationship, too. It was all far too mushy. Howl and Sophie were all snark and argue and sarcasm (Sophie had SOOO much more spine in the book. She spent far too much time in the movie crying for Howl), and they had the "I totally hate you, you know" kind of love that is far more likable than the wussy, sappy "your hair looks like starlight" anime crap. And I totally resent that they turned Sophie into young-Sophie everytime they wanted her and Howl to have a "moment", 'cause damn it, the only "moments" Howl and Sophie need are the ones where they bitch at each other, and Sophie can do that well enough as an old person, thank you.
There really wasn't a plot, either, now that I think about it. One minute the Witch was bad, then Madame Suliman, then it's all Howl-and-Sophie stuff, then POOF! everyone's safe, feelings are revealed, and Suliman just good-naturedly decides to stop being the bad guy, so they don't have to resolve that plot point. WTF. Seriously. I love Miyazaki, but he DID NOT do that book justice. If it were his own movie, fine, but that was based on a really awesome book, and he totally fucked up both the plot and the characters. It's really not fair to fans of the book, you know... >>"
And you know, they completely ruined Sophie and Howl's relationship, too. It was all far too mushy. Howl and Sophie were all snark and argue and sarcasm (Sophie had SOOO much more spine in the book. She spent far too much time in the movie crying for Howl), and they had the "I totally hate you, you know" kind of love that is far more likable than the wussy, sappy "your hair looks like starlight" anime crap. And I totally resent that they turned Sophie into young-Sophie everytime they wanted her and Howl to have a "moment", 'cause damn it, the only "moments" Howl and Sophie need are the ones where they bitch at each other, and Sophie can do that well enough as an old person, thank you.
There really wasn't a plot, either, now that I think about it. One minute the Witch was bad, then Madame Suliman, then it's all Howl-and-Sophie stuff, then POOF! everyone's safe, feelings are revealed, and Suliman just good-naturedly decides to stop being the bad guy, so they don't have to resolve that plot point. WTF. Seriously. I love Miyazaki, but he DID NOT do that book justice. If it were his own movie, fine, but that was based on a really awesome book, and he totally fucked up both the plot and the characters. It's really not fair to fans of the book, you know... >>"