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Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki Starring: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura "Howl's Moving Castle" is about a young woman, Sophie, who is cursed by the Witch of the Wastes to turn into an old woman, and to be unable to tell anyone what happened to her. She feels she has nothing to lose, so she goes to the wizard Howl's moving castle (a grotesque castle which walks around on legs) and insinuates herself into his household as a housekeeper. She befriends the fire demon Calcifer, who powers the castle, and who can see through her curse. They agree to help each other...Calcifer to break Sophie's curse, Sophie to help break Calcifer's contract with Howl. Howl can also see through the curse. He and Sophie (naturally) end up falling in love. I went to this movie with what I remembered of the book on my mind, and it was my loss. There are a lot of changes, and I was thrown by all of them as I was expecting characters to do things that they never did. That said, the book is more recognizeable here than some adaptations I've seen. (It's got "The Running Man" beat, for example.) What suffers most is the backstory regarding Sophie's family, and the character of the Witch of the Wastes (who is reduced from being the chief antagonist to a dangerous nuisance). Not to spoil anything, but the very nature of Howl himself is changed. But then perhaps if they'd stuck with the book on that count, people would have thought it lame. The movie chiefly concerns Howl and his role in a war which is never well explained, and the love story between Howl and Sophie. The war is a little hard to swallow. It seems kind of contrived, almost like an excuse for Miyazaki to include the scenes of flight which he is famous for. Regardless, it's the single biggest change from the book. This won't be relevant to most audiences, but I thought it curious, as I saw this movie in Korea, that it was in Japanese subtitled in Korean. Many children were in the audience, and I can't imagine that most of them were able to follow the subtitles. This is a true family film, as in it's one that the whole family can enjoy...not just some crap toy-hawking fluff eye candy which the kids will zone out on while it makes anyone over the age of 10 cringe with it's awfulness. Couples and teens and 20-somethings seemed to like it more than the kids did, actually. I suppose that's something that Ghibli's always been good at...better than anyone except maybe Pixar in fact: making movies for kids which even people without children can enjoy. Whatever it's flaws, I loved it. There are a lot of superficial similarities to Spirited Away, but that's easy to get past. RATING: 4.5 PROS: Gorgeous animation, beautiful design, likeable characters, and an interesting story CONS: Hard to follow at times (and it's more than just a language barrier here), butchers the book ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347149...tPW9u;fc=1;ft=1
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Jan 1, 2005 14:03
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