Watched a great movie tonight: Howl's Moving Castle! I'm not sure if it was so great because of the fact that i haven't seen a movie in a while, but I have this sneaky suspicion that it was just a great movie. This movie was chock full of all the things that make a movie great. Strong Characters, Symbolism by the boatloads, and throwbacks to the old fairy tales. Miyazaki is definitely my favorite anime director, even though I haven't yet seen all of his films. This movie is on even par with my previous Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away. I may even prefer Howl's Moving Castle to Spirited Away simply by way of proximity. I won't go into detail as to why the movie was so great, you'll have to see for yourself. I will, however, register its score on the Richard White SCALES OF JUDGEMENT: 9/10! The only reason this movie did not achieve the coveted 10/10 is due to the fact that it is anime, and by its nature leaves a little to be desired (in other words, it strange and sometimes a little disjointed). One observation that I have made about Japanese culture is that they are either: A) Extremely free with no creative restriction at all, or B) Extremely repressed and obsessed with fantasy. My vote is for B. I may have more on this train of thought later. Until then, watch Howl's Moving Castle. Even if you've seen it before!Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Howl's Moving Castle
Watched a great movie tonight: Howl's Moving Castle! I'm not sure if it was so great because of the fact that i haven't seen a movie in a while, but I have this sneaky suspicion that it was just a great movie. This movie was chock full of all the things that make a movie great. Strong Characters, Symbolism by the boatloads, and throwbacks to the old fairy tales. Miyazaki is definitely my favorite anime director, even though I haven't yet seen all of his films. This movie is on even par with my previous Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away. I may even prefer Howl's Moving Castle to Spirited Away simply by way of proximity. I won't go into detail as to why the movie was so great, you'll have to see for yourself. I will, however, register its score on the Richard White SCALES OF JUDGEMENT: 9/10! The only reason this movie did not achieve the coveted 10/10 is due to the fact that it is anime, and by its nature leaves a little to be desired (in other words, it strange and sometimes a little disjointed). One observation that I have made about Japanese culture is that they are either: A) Extremely free with no creative restriction at all, or B) Extremely repressed and obsessed with fantasy. My vote is for B. I may have more on this train of thought later. Until then, watch Howl's Moving Castle. Even if you've seen it before!
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3 comments:
Yes, naturally I bought this last week upon it's release and was very impressed as well. Did you watch the dub or the original Japanese audio? You know the original language is best, fool. Spirited Away remains my favorite Miyazaki so far, but Howl's is up there. My Neighbor Totoro was released on DVD at the same time as Howl's, and I got it as well. I think I enjoyed it even more. There is VERY little plot in that one (maybe a good thing, given how scategorical anime stories can be for the American audience)...it's a very simple story that I thought 100% perfectly captured childlike innocence and fascination and quite made me feel like a child. If I were using your 10-point scale of judgment I'd also give them both a nine. You must now see TOTORO!
I'd like to. John loves it to the point that he wants to buy a Totoro or whatever online. Not that I know what that is. He says it's a stuffed animal. He's a nerd.
Heck yeah! I'd own a Totoro in a heartbeat. If you don't see it before, maybe I'll bring ol' Totoro to the Friday gatherin'
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