Howl and stuff

[marag]

We watched Howl's Moving Castle last night. I love the book, but I knew the movie was very different, so that didn't bother me. However, the movie left me bored. ::shrug:: It was...there. I liked Calcifer a lot and I thought the voice choices were very good, but the only reason I cared at all about the characters was because I knew them from the

Comments

[neonhummingbird]

I had the same reaction to Howls' -- the book was so good, but the movie didn't make any sense, which is sad. :(

[marag]

Yeah, I was sad, because I wanted so very much to love it and just couldn't manage to even like it. :(

[madripoor_rose]

I liked the art...the scene with the water washing over the stones on the shores of Star Lake was simply amazing. And I liked the steampunk details of the castle and the steam cars and those flying machines...but overall it was pretty eh. I couldn't figure out why Sophie's curse kept changing. Sometimes she'd look old, sometimes she'd look young, then suddenly toward the end she was young with gray hair....

[marag]

Yeah, it was pretty but that wasn't enough. I couldn't figure out what was up with the curse either. At first, I thought it was Howl seeing through the curse, but then it became random.

[madripoor_rose]

I just requested the book at my library's website, so maybe I'll like that better/it'll make more sense after reading the book.

[marag]

The book won't help, since only about the first quarter of the movie is related to the book! I do think you'll enjoy it, though.

Concerning Howl's

[jeffxandra]

The best part of seeing the movie first is the utterly unreal nature of the finale, with Turnip-head's reveal and then the character pogo sticks back to wherever...

It's very obvious that Miyazaki picked up the directing chores halfway through (it was someone else's movie first) and threw in the usual anti-war & pro-environmental themes he keeps in his back pocket when he's got nothing else to do.

Neither book nor movie particularly grabbed me, though the book was better.

Re: Concerning Howl's

[marag]

I'm a big fan of the book, as well as almost every other book by Diana Wynne Jones. Too bad I can't say the same about the movie!

[maiac]

Your comment about Howl's Moving Castle makes me glad I didn't see the movie. I love just about everything Diana Wynne Jones has written, so I'd be sure to be disappointed in the movie.

[marag]

I love her books so much! When I was a kid, I read Magicians of Caprona and loved it and reread it almost every year. I can't tell you how excited I was when I grew up and found out how many other books she had! As they've been issued in the US, I've been picking them up. ::happy sigh::

I'm especially fond of Dark Lord of Derkholm which is one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read.

[stranj100]

I never read the book and I enjoyed the movie. Maybe, it's because I went in with no expectations other than it is a Miyazaki film. I am a fan of his work.

[marag]

Maybe if I like anime I might have enjoyed it!