Batman Begins & Howl's Moving Castle.
Batman Begins: B-. I spent most of the movie either feeling bored, disgusted, or both. There was too much of the adrenaline-inducing stuff like car chases, fight scenes, scary nightmare effects. They spent way too much time on rather unimpressive stuff. The dialogue also bothered me very much because I felt it was corny. They would repeat lines as if they were significant, but they did it far too often ("finders keepers," for example). I did, however, enjoy Michael Caine (Alfred) and Morgan Freeman (Fox) very much. Christian Bale was nothing special, I don’t think. Same with Katie Holmes (melty-face!). I hear that this Batman movie was much better than any other previous one, but that doesn’t make it any more entertaining to me. My favorite part of the movie was the gadgets and batcave. I don’t have interest in watching it again.
Howl’s Moving Castle: B. Very, very, incredibly pretty. Breathtakingly so. It was very charming in the regular Miyazaki style. Whimsical and imaginative. I found myself smiling or taking a breath at how wondrous the world was. However, the storyline was very fragmented and didn’t make much sense, so the movie felt a bit long. The dubbing was also odd… although they all came from the same town, some would have a British accent and some wouldn’t. And the main character, who goes back and forth between young and aged, switches between accents. I think I like Spirited Away better. (Also, Christian Bale does the voice of the main dude… he’s terrible! Fine as an actor, but voice acting is not for him.)
Howl’s Moving Castle: B. Very, very, incredibly pretty. Breathtakingly so. It was very charming in the regular Miyazaki style. Whimsical and imaginative. I found myself smiling or taking a breath at how wondrous the world was. However, the storyline was very fragmented and didn’t make much sense, so the movie felt a bit long. The dubbing was also odd… although they all came from the same town, some would have a British accent and some wouldn’t. And the main character, who goes back and forth between young and aged, switches between accents. I think I like Spirited Away better. (Also, Christian Bale does the voice of the main dude… he’s terrible! Fine as an actor, but voice acting is not for him.)