Howl's Moving Castle

[furtech]

Cut to prevent spoilerage!


I enjoyed the film, as I expected, but it's not one of my favorite Miyazaki films. The characters didn't seem as smoothly developed as in his previous films and the pacing was stiffer, like it felt constrained to follow the pace of the novel it was based on. I didn't see any reasons to like the main character: no endearing quirks, no insightful actions. And her love for Howl (and vice versa) seemed to be assumed or even come out of nowhere (I was a bit surprised at this at the end of the film). The "true love" bit with the scarecrow was even more out of left field! Still, I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time and was happy to have seen it on the big screen. I really wish I'd been able to see "Spirited Away" on the big screen!

Comments

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I really didn't like Howl's Moving Castle. I did read the book beforehand, and I think it was much better. As much as I love Miyazaki, he has this tendency to make no absolutely evil villains, and in the case of Howl's Moving Castle, he really ruined it by turning the Witch of the Waste into a kindly old woman. 9_9 Also, the scarecrow in the book was a menacing, frightening figure, not the Totoro cute thing Miyazaki turned it into. Ah well.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I actually kind of like the "no absolute evil" quirk of his, but in this case I do agree: the witch of the waste should have stayed nasty. I would not have minded if her motives were sympathetic, but bad would have been better bad.

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

I also like the "no absolute evil" and that his villains are three dimensional, but it works better when it's his own original property, I think.