[Film] Howl's Moving Castle

[karohemd]

What a rush. It was beautiful, funny, silly, OTT, sad, disturbing, cringeworthy, cute, hillarious and moving (and possibly some more things, too).
There were fewer WTF? moments than in Spirited Away but still some very odd scenes (some bits reminiscent of the Final Fantasy games series).

I recommend it to anyone who likes anime, steampunk, victoriana, gadgets, weird and wonderful characters etc.

The one person on my friends list who definitely has to go and see this is zenmeisterin. The setting is very similar to Girl Genius (i.e. some pseudo-Eastern European country in Victorian times with steam-powered cars, airships and all the other paraphernalia.

Comments

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Girl Genius? Really? OK, this goes onto the must-see list!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Er, and you, of course. Duh.

What you have to bear in mind is that it's a kids film.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

And?

Long-time Diana Wynn-Jones fan here. "Kids" film is fine with me.

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

Well, apparently it has little to do with the book (which I confess I have not read). Still well worth watching.

[zenmeisterin.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to see it since I first heard Studio Ghibli and Dianne Wynn-Jones were getting together ;-)

Current plan (well, planlet more accurately) is to round up some people with sticks after the London Changeling game on saturday (after I move into new flat) and go watch en masse...

[angusabranson.livejournal.com]

Did you get the place near me in the end?

[zenmeisterin.livejournal.com]

It looks like it though we have STILL not been given the keys. Movers are turning up there at 9am Saturday. If we have not been given keys by then we are utterly screwed. Estate Agent admin person dealing with it went on holiday and the Manager who we've been speaking to talks out of his arse and doesn't have a clue about anything at all...

We've been paying rent on the place since last Saturday mind you...

[nadriel.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I have to head home after the game straight away :-(

[georgechance.livejournal.com]

Was it true to the book? Or at least to the "feel" of the book?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it but according to lark_ascending, no. Japanese getting a Western book right would be odd, anyway.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

What he said. IIRC (and I read the book a long while ago when I was small), the book was squarely set in 80s Britain - Wales, to be specific. It wasn't in the least steampunk (it contained computer games), and there was a great deal more bathos, grime and single-parent families, as opposed to impossibly pretty anime wizards and grand battles between magical practitioners. It was much more a straight demons'n'wizards hero's-journey fantasy, and less a Spirited Away-style trip into a surreal new world. Howl in the original book came over as a bit of a chancer, not the tortured if somewhat self-centred bishounen in the film..

[rivetmike.livejournal.com]

Was it me or was there a few lines that just seemed out of place in a kids films? Specifically the "She looks pretty when she's scared" one.....

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

True, there were a few odd ones. Then again, they're Japanese...

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

OOH have you got all of Girl Genius? I never did finish borrowing it off toothycat!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I don't, unfortunately, but it's all online (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com), anyway.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

Was I then only person who thought the castle was reminiscent of Brian Froud working on Ivor the Engine?

:D