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February 25, 2005
Howl's Moving Castle
Just watched 宮崎駿/Hayao Miyazaki's latest—ハウルの動く城/Howl's Moving Castle and it didn't disappoint. (Well... I did think the ending was a bit too deus ex machina for me, but that's a minor quibble. I mean it is a fantasy after all.) I won't know how I'll rank this amongst Miyazaki's masterpieces until I've had some more time to mull it over and watch it again. I do know this: I was spellbound by this magical tale for 2 hours.
Unlike most of his other works (i.e. My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke), this movie's not an original story. Instead it's based on Diana Wynne Jones' novel of the same name. I've never read it (or even heard of it until today) and supposedly this is a loose interpretation. Anyway, in this story you'll find: a young girl in a 90-year-old's body, a fire demon who powers a moving castle (my favorite character!), a kid who can transform into a tiny old man with a huge beard, an old witch with a neck that looks a little like Jabba the Hutt, a wizard who turns into a giant bird (voiced by 木村拓哉/Takuya Kimura, last seen canoodling with 王菲/Faye Wong in another wonderful film, 2046), a scarecrow that hops around, flying battleships, and so many other wonderful and weird things that make up Miyazaki's trademark style. I think it's best to just go in with a clean slate and enjoy the magical ride so I won't rehash the plot (kind of hard to do anyway given the complex multi-layered story).
Howl's doesn't open in the States until June 10th in NY/LA (blame Disney).
Official sites: Japan | Korea | Taiwan | France
Japanese trailer [13.4mb QuickTime file]
French trailer [13mb QuickTime file]
Taiwanese trailer [5.1mb QuickTime file]
And if you read Chinese, this is the best fan site I've found so far (well, in English or Chinese anyway): 移動城堡台灣興趣版
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if you're interested in peeking behind the curtain...
http://tinyurl.com/3k8f5
follow-up...
http://tinyurl.com/3ke9r
Posted by: ccz at February 26, 2005 9:50 AM
Thanks.
I've always wanted to visit the Ghibli Museum (www.ghibli-museum.jp), but never planned far enough ahead to get the tickets. Though I just found out recently that I don't necessarily have to purchase tickets in advance, I could just go the Mikata JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) office where they have same-day tickets available—jiburi tiketto!—for foreigners. (I wonder why they don't tell you that on the official website? I guess they rather you get the tickets in advance from your own country.) Next time in Tokyo, then (hopefully later this year).
Posted by: Yusheng at February 26, 2005 2:51 PM
i really like this movie.
Posted by: yanyan at May 13, 2006 11:15 PM
i love this movie, it's like the best. i've seen it twice and im seeing it again tonight. ^-^
~wendy~
Posted by: wendy at June 20, 2007 10:59 AM
dude..this movie rocks...XD
i can watch it over and over again...mwuahahaha XD
Posted by: Pajkou at October 17, 2007 9:43 AM