[c u r i o us]

Hey Soompiers! who here watched Howl's Moving Castle?
I got to see it for the first time yesterday and fell in loooove with it,
i actually watched it two times ina row :X (once in japanese and once in english)
Out of all of Miyazaki's works that i've seen, i think this one is his best
whaddya guys think?

here's a picture of the movie cover:


summary:
A plain young hatter named Sophie has her life changed when an evil witch transforms her into an old woman. Unable to face her family in such a condition, Sophie runs away in search of a way to become young again. Along the way, Sophie helps a turnip headed scarecrow, who repays her by leading her to the moving castle owned by the dreaded wizard Howl. There she befriends Howl's apprentice Markl, Howl's fire demon Calcifer, and eventually, Howl himself. Sophie then becomes the castle's cleaning lady in an effort to not only find the solution to her problem but to save Howl from his own terrible secrets as well.
credits to AnimeNewsNetwork.com



ahhh and howl's so good looking

for those who watched it,
didn't you guys get confused at first of why sophie kept going back and forth with her age throughout the movie? or is it just me? lol, but i got it afterwards

anyways yeah, enough of my rambling,
tell me your thoughts!
-jenny

[JanGnaGooLUeGe]

i have to say..me too..^^"
i watched it in korean and it was awseme.. fell in love with it
they drew each character nicely.. especially the grandma.. the effects she had was very complex and vivid..
<3

[4realz]

I actually didn't enjoy it as much as his other works. I watched it once and that's enough. The theme of the movie was very profound though, just like most his movies.

[SpicyTOFU]

It was pretty good.
I don't really get some parts of it though...
Should read the book...
: /

[disgruntled_ricecooker]

It's an entertaining movie but I felt that some scenes were dragged on (i.e. Sophie cleaning the castle). It would've helped if there was more background about the war and one thing I didn't like was that they kind of dismissed it at the end like nothing. The imagery and music go well together and the overall result is breathtaking. I do not like the Witch of the Waste (even in her helpless saggy form) and the funniest scene was Howl acting like a baby when his hair color changed.

As for Sophie's back and forth transformation, I think it has to do with her passion and love for Howl. Notice how she immediately reverts to her original age during the scene with Suliman. She was complimenting Howl that time. Whenever she is old, I think it has to do with her insecurity because when she is old she will have nothing to lose. She doesn't consider herself to be beautiful and seems unhappy with being a hatter.

[c u r i o us]

^yeah they should've added more background about the war, and i was hoping that Calicifer was going to explain why sophie had to break their curse fast, or was that explained? lol, iono, it felt like he didnt cause he said it was "confidential information" when sophie asked why.

i liked the scene with the hair color change also and that little scene with the dog when he scrambles around to get up on his four legs when sophie puts im down at the top of the stairs, haha

SpicyTOFU: there's a book on this??

[disgruntled_ricecooker]

^ I don't recall the curse being explained. Yes, the movie was based on a book written by British author Diana Wynne Jones. There some notable differences in the story like Markl (I think his name is Michael in the book) being a teenager rather than a kid and the original descriptions of Calcifer and the Witch of the Waste contrast the anime (Calcifer having green flames and the witch being skinny and beautiful). When the project was completed, Miyazaki personally flew to Jones to give her the first viewing.

[NEVERland]

^This movie was based off a book.

The story line was kinda weird. I don't think this was his BEST piece. I think Princess Mononoke is but this isn't about that. lol...

I love this movie tho. <3...XD....

[aria]

I absolutely LOVE Howl's Moving Castle =D It's one of my favorite Miyazaki films. I actually preferred the movie to the book because I felt that although the book went into detail, it was poorly written.

YAAAY Howl love <3333

[c u r i o us]

ohh interesting, i feel like reading the book now haha

the house is so cool though! with all the different portals @_@
here's a picture of howl and sophie together (:

<333

[precious4e]

ooh totally loved this movie....ranks up there with Totoro, Spirited Away, and Mononoke Hime for me.. i want to watch it again some time soon!

[Kuchiki]

YOU CAN'T IMAGING HOW DISSAPOINTED I WAS AFTER WATCHING THE MOVIE......
If you have the chance to read the book....you will feel the exactly same thing...dissapointment.
It is a beatifull book, I red it because I found out that his next movie was base on it, I love it so I had many expectations about this movie but..... he change so sooo many things that I wanted to go and kill him myself for doing that adaptation (ok..not kill him, considering sen to chihiro he can a second chance) ...but ¡he change howl's and sophie's personalities !!!! (the ones in the book were much more funny and interesting, and their interaction too)
Go and buy it, because is a really nice book...most of you won't regret it.
(sorry for any writing mistake )

[Will_Yu]

i loved this movie, i watched it in japanese first, then skimmed through it in english, and i thought the english version was horrible =/

[lee-chan]

I LOVED It! The scenery and the animation is really good. theres a book? I want to read it! Miyazaki really has interesting films such as Spirited Away. I love sophie and howl

[prechuz_azn]

I watched it!
I liked it but not to the extent that I'd "love" it.
I for one found the story sort of boring and very meaningless.
I'm a lover when it comes to Mr.Miyazaki's Spirited Away .

[DivineX]

hmm.. the movie was ok i guess.. haven't read the book yet but i still prefer Spirited Away though

[kennesu]

Watched with korean subs first then I read the novel and then I watched the english dubbed version.

Loved it each time. The book is quite different but it was interesting to see what the movie was based off of. I really enjoyed the movie.

I really liked the english dub too. I think John Lasseter is doing a good job bringing Miyazaki-san's works to America. Jean Simmons as old Sophie was perfect, I think. Even though it took me a while to get used to the dub. Billy Crystal as Calcifer was annoying at first but it was good.

Overall, I'd say it's not as prolific as his other works but it is one of my favorites though.

[instantnoodlez]

I really liked this movie, but it felt like a really long movie..maybe because i was watching it in the anime club at my university so I wasn't really comfortable.

Some parts were really confusing for me like when her hair was changing back to black and then in some parts she looked young but still had white hair...her whole transformation thing was confusing all the way through and I didn't understand why the witch put a spell on her in the first place. I'm probably going to go watch the english dubbed version so maybe I can understand it better.

The art was beautiful as always and I loved the characters.

[Iridescence]

I read the book.. and there really wasn't much information about the war. And when there was some, it was really vague, if I do recall. So, yeah. I don't think you can really blame Miyazaki for not giving information.

[iNtRiguE.]

hehe really nice movie work of art me&&my s/o went to see it on our first date!

p.s. 27/o9/o5 watta perfect day