ok, I just uploaded a review to amazon about "Howl's moving castle"...but seeing as how I know how much Kiyone loves my reviews I thought I would include it here... enjoy.
"Howl's Moving Castle" film.
Before I start this review let me just state that I love Miyazaki films, and in this case I did what many people swear up and down you shouldnt do, namely I read the book before watching the movie so that I could compare and contrast where to begin. I think at this point it would be faster to tell you which elements from the book have been kept vs. which elements from the story have been changedbut Ill do my best.
First, the similarities
-There was a girl named Sophie who lived and worked in a hate shop who came under a curse from the Witch of the Waste. She did age to her later years and left home to travel, where she came across a scarecrow. After this she did find the castle lived in by Michael (whose name in the film is changed to Markl) and the Wizard, Howl, and the fire demon, Calcifer.
-Howl does have a curse on him and Calcifer is intrical to the curse and also to Howls survival.
-The scene where Howl dyes his hair and throws the tantrum is spot on in comparison to the book.
-They do move house at one point and Calcifer must be removed from his hearth.
-The many portaled door does lead to various places Porthaven, Kingsbury, the Waste outside Market chipping (Sophies home town) and to Howls home in Wales. In the film the latter one lead to the wreckage from the war.
Ok thats about where the similarities stopnow the differences...
-For one thing, Howls curse does not affect him. It does not change his appearance to resemble that of a bird, and it never really is an issue that he is cursed until he starts fulfilling all of the necessary parts to enable the curse on his head. The curse was cast by the Witch of the Waste, but Howl did start it when he caught a star in his youth (Calcifer) and combined the star with his heart.. Something that Miyazaki went into greater detail then Jones.
-The curse was not brought onto Howls head by Sophie giving it to him from the Witch of the Waste. He actually attained it from his nephew Neil who got it from his teacher, Miss Angorian, as a class assignment, which of course was just her way of getting it to him at his weakest point. Now, Michael actually unearthed it, because at some point it got exchanged with the spell he was supposed to be studying and he and Sophie spend some time trying to collect the elements of the spell before Howl realizes what it is and that they are only quickening his doom.
-Sophie did stand the scarecrow up and breath life into him by talking to him, but after that she was scared of him. He ended up trying to get her attention because he was the Prince under an enchantment, but every time he tried to get close to her she (and the other people in the castle) did their best to keep him out and away, thinking he intended to harm them.
-Sophies appearance doesnt alter from youth to aging woman. This was confusing to me, as there doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to this in the film, no lynch pin as to why she suddenly looks younger, unless it ties into her feelings for Howl that really seems to be the only connectionwhen shes in love she flashes younger I dont even think she gained her youth back in the end of the book even though the contract with Calicifer was broken at least there was no mention of Sophie being young suddenly.
-Michaels name has been changed to Markl in the film, but that is not the only difference. Michaels age has also changed. Hes a young man in the book, I believe 15, and he is in love with Sophies sister Martha, who was disguised as her other sister Lettie.
-In the same vain Howl is in love with Sophies sister Lettie, who is disguised as Martha but Howl knows that she is Lettie because he can see through the enchantment. He spends a good time pursuing her in his enchanted suits (meant to aid in his charming young ladies) and his guitar until his heart is stolen away from Miss Angorian.. Who doesnt even appear in the film.
-Ok, the whole love sub plot at all um, they didnt fall in love in the book Howl was a lecher who was pursuing numerous women and in the book he first fell in love with Sophies sister, Lettie, and then his nephew Neils teacher, Miss Angorian. Sophie ends up living with him in the end and thats about it. There was no walking on air scene in the beginning as a prelude to the two falling into romantic lovethere was no feelings at all beyond that of familial.
-The sub plot of the war in exchange for Howls amorous pursuits Hmmm This may have been done for two reasons. One was so that Howl can fly about, showing off his bird form, and make himself look more sympathetic all around because he gives a damn about something besides himself. Two, Miyazaki loves animating huge air ships and mechanical things, tanks and what not whats a Miyazaki film without an air battle? Well, the war added this typical Miyazaki element except that there was no war sub plot in the book at all. It seems like they exchanged the lecherous plot with the war to make it more dynamic and take time away from Howls obsessions about himselfbut that was part of the beauty of the book was that they werent that technologically advanced, it was more about the magic than the might. And, Im sorry, but Howl being a vain and selfish man was one of the reasons I loved him. His tantrums and drama had me giggling like crazy, and if he werent such a drama queen he would have been uninteresting andwell.. Like Howl was in the movie, a touch flat.
-Howl was not conscripted to aid the Kings in the war he had different duties from each one that never quite seemed explained until you knew that he had to find the Prince Justin who had gone missing.
-Howls teacher was named Mrs. Pentstemmon, and she and Howl loved each other like mother and son. In fact when she dies Howl attends the funeral in disguise true, but he mourns her for some time afterwards. In the movie her named was Mrs. Suliman (who was talked at much in the book but ended up being cursed in the end) and she took both the Witch of the Waste and Mrs. Angorians places in the latter part of the film as the villain. In the book the witch did not come to live with them and, though she wasnt the ultimate bad guy in the end she did cause them all quite a bit of grief.
Ok, I know there was more, but I will have to reread the book and see the film again in order to catalogue them all. The last 100 pages I read in one day and then I watched the film in the evening, so some of the details are fuzzy. I do plan on reading the book again soon. It was wonderful and I think its going to become one of my comfort books, as my friend Amy likes to call them. That being said, I have very mixed feelings about this adaptation of such a wonderful book. Obviously, I adored the book, it was a tremendous treat and even though there were all of these differences between the two I actually enjoyed the film as well. Perhaps I would have liked it more had it been a touch more faithful to the book, but this is always the issue with adaptations, you either get an exact duplicate or creative license. Well, Miyazaki is one of my favourite creative minds to date, so I always enjoy his work and this did have all of the elements of a great Miyazaki film. The animation and the scenery is gorgeous, the relationships with the characters is wonderful the storyline, even though it is severely altered from the book, is interesting, although a bit off. The thing I wish he would have kept in was all of those little touches that made the book so wonderful and made me think it was a perfect thing for Miyazaki to adapt there are little nuances peppered throughout the book that seem so indicative of him to begin with had I not known he was adapting it I would have thought he should have however he left out a lot of the good stuff that made this book so wonderful. Im torn, I really am.
I find I will have to consider the film and the book as two completely separate entities in order to enjoy both of them. Fans of his work will love this movie, as it is visually stunning and one of the best works he has put out, but I cannot get over some of the alterations and for me this brings the movie from a perfect to less than perfect. 4 out of 5 stars for now. Im sure Ill learn to love the film in time, but now I am still too intimate with the book to love the film.
"Howl's Moving Castle" film.
Before I start this review let me just state that I love Miyazaki films, and in this case I did what many people swear up and down you shouldnt do, namely I read the book before watching the movie so that I could compare and contrast where to begin. I think at this point it would be faster to tell you which elements from the book have been kept vs. which elements from the story have been changedbut Ill do my best.
First, the similarities
-There was a girl named Sophie who lived and worked in a hate shop who came under a curse from the Witch of the Waste. She did age to her later years and left home to travel, where she came across a scarecrow. After this she did find the castle lived in by Michael (whose name in the film is changed to Markl) and the Wizard, Howl, and the fire demon, Calcifer.
-Howl does have a curse on him and Calcifer is intrical to the curse and also to Howls survival.
-The scene where Howl dyes his hair and throws the tantrum is spot on in comparison to the book.
-They do move house at one point and Calcifer must be removed from his hearth.
-The many portaled door does lead to various places Porthaven, Kingsbury, the Waste outside Market chipping (Sophies home town) and to Howls home in Wales. In the film the latter one lead to the wreckage from the war.
Ok thats about where the similarities stopnow the differences...
-For one thing, Howls curse does not affect him. It does not change his appearance to resemble that of a bird, and it never really is an issue that he is cursed until he starts fulfilling all of the necessary parts to enable the curse on his head. The curse was cast by the Witch of the Waste, but Howl did start it when he caught a star in his youth (Calcifer) and combined the star with his heart.. Something that Miyazaki went into greater detail then Jones.
-The curse was not brought onto Howls head by Sophie giving it to him from the Witch of the Waste. He actually attained it from his nephew Neil who got it from his teacher, Miss Angorian, as a class assignment, which of course was just her way of getting it to him at his weakest point. Now, Michael actually unearthed it, because at some point it got exchanged with the spell he was supposed to be studying and he and Sophie spend some time trying to collect the elements of the spell before Howl realizes what it is and that they are only quickening his doom.
-Sophie did stand the scarecrow up and breath life into him by talking to him, but after that she was scared of him. He ended up trying to get her attention because he was the Prince under an enchantment, but every time he tried to get close to her she (and the other people in the castle) did their best to keep him out and away, thinking he intended to harm them.
-Sophies appearance doesnt alter from youth to aging woman. This was confusing to me, as there doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to this in the film, no lynch pin as to why she suddenly looks younger, unless it ties into her feelings for Howl that really seems to be the only connectionwhen shes in love she flashes younger I dont even think she gained her youth back in the end of the book even though the contract with Calicifer was broken at least there was no mention of Sophie being young suddenly.
-Michaels name has been changed to Markl in the film, but that is not the only difference. Michaels age has also changed. Hes a young man in the book, I believe 15, and he is in love with Sophies sister Martha, who was disguised as her other sister Lettie.
-In the same vain Howl is in love with Sophies sister Lettie, who is disguised as Martha but Howl knows that she is Lettie because he can see through the enchantment. He spends a good time pursuing her in his enchanted suits (meant to aid in his charming young ladies) and his guitar until his heart is stolen away from Miss Angorian.. Who doesnt even appear in the film.
-Ok, the whole love sub plot at all um, they didnt fall in love in the book Howl was a lecher who was pursuing numerous women and in the book he first fell in love with Sophies sister, Lettie, and then his nephew Neils teacher, Miss Angorian. Sophie ends up living with him in the end and thats about it. There was no walking on air scene in the beginning as a prelude to the two falling into romantic lovethere was no feelings at all beyond that of familial.
-The sub plot of the war in exchange for Howls amorous pursuits Hmmm This may have been done for two reasons. One was so that Howl can fly about, showing off his bird form, and make himself look more sympathetic all around because he gives a damn about something besides himself. Two, Miyazaki loves animating huge air ships and mechanical things, tanks and what not whats a Miyazaki film without an air battle? Well, the war added this typical Miyazaki element except that there was no war sub plot in the book at all. It seems like they exchanged the lecherous plot with the war to make it more dynamic and take time away from Howls obsessions about himselfbut that was part of the beauty of the book was that they werent that technologically advanced, it was more about the magic than the might. And, Im sorry, but Howl being a vain and selfish man was one of the reasons I loved him. His tantrums and drama had me giggling like crazy, and if he werent such a drama queen he would have been uninteresting andwell.. Like Howl was in the movie, a touch flat.
-Howl was not conscripted to aid the Kings in the war he had different duties from each one that never quite seemed explained until you knew that he had to find the Prince Justin who had gone missing.
-Howls teacher was named Mrs. Pentstemmon, and she and Howl loved each other like mother and son. In fact when she dies Howl attends the funeral in disguise true, but he mourns her for some time afterwards. In the movie her named was Mrs. Suliman (who was talked at much in the book but ended up being cursed in the end) and she took both the Witch of the Waste and Mrs. Angorians places in the latter part of the film as the villain. In the book the witch did not come to live with them and, though she wasnt the ultimate bad guy in the end she did cause them all quite a bit of grief.
Ok, I know there was more, but I will have to reread the book and see the film again in order to catalogue them all. The last 100 pages I read in one day and then I watched the film in the evening, so some of the details are fuzzy. I do plan on reading the book again soon. It was wonderful and I think its going to become one of my comfort books, as my friend Amy likes to call them. That being said, I have very mixed feelings about this adaptation of such a wonderful book. Obviously, I adored the book, it was a tremendous treat and even though there were all of these differences between the two I actually enjoyed the film as well. Perhaps I would have liked it more had it been a touch more faithful to the book, but this is always the issue with adaptations, you either get an exact duplicate or creative license. Well, Miyazaki is one of my favourite creative minds to date, so I always enjoy his work and this did have all of the elements of a great Miyazaki film. The animation and the scenery is gorgeous, the relationships with the characters is wonderful the storyline, even though it is severely altered from the book, is interesting, although a bit off. The thing I wish he would have kept in was all of those little touches that made the book so wonderful and made me think it was a perfect thing for Miyazaki to adapt there are little nuances peppered throughout the book that seem so indicative of him to begin with had I not known he was adapting it I would have thought he should have however he left out a lot of the good stuff that made this book so wonderful. Im torn, I really am.
I find I will have to consider the film and the book as two completely separate entities in order to enjoy both of them. Fans of his work will love this movie, as it is visually stunning and one of the best works he has put out, but I cannot get over some of the alterations and for me this brings the movie from a perfect to less than perfect. 4 out of 5 stars for now. Im sure Ill learn to love the film in time, but now I am still too intimate with the book to love the film.
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Have you ever noticed that there is a seeming connection between many Miyazaki storylines and russian folklore?
No, I have not done any research.