2005-09-27

sesquipedality: (Default)
2005-09-27 07:20 am

Howl's Moving Castle

Beautiful, just beautiful, but then you knew it was a Studio Ghibli film, right? Eye candy for the nature lovers ([livejournal.com profile] lanfykins) and, perhaps surprisingly, those in love with steampunk ([livejournal.com profile] zenmeisterin, for example) and/or Victoriana (that'd be me).

The dub is of the (un)usual high quality one associates with Ghibli, and Miyazaki fans will doubtless enjoy it. Diana Wynne Jones fans on the other hand may well be disappointed by the extensive changes to the storyline, such as those brought about by Miyazaki's obsession with the pointlessness and destruction of war. (I agree with him - he just did it much better already in Mononoke.) However, the film retains much of the spirit of the book, and some of the best scenes have been retained.

Not a perfect film, but definitely worth seeing, especially if you're someone for whom the visual spectacle will make up for the deficiencies in the plot.