howl's moving castle (1 Viewer)

[icecreamdisco]

man, this was so good for the first half - lovely characters, gorgeous to look at, generally packing a palpable sense of adventure. i thought it was gonna wind up being my favorite miyazaki film, then it gets a little bogged down by its overbearing pacifist message, and then closes with ONE OF THE LAMEST ENDINGS EVER! not only was it awkwardly abrupt but unintentionally hilarious - the entire audience i saw it with cracked up, and sadly i didn't blame them. i mean,

Spoiler

"lets end this dumb war!"

"if there's one thing you can always count on, it's that hearts change!"

c'mon!!!

i'd still recommend it, but that ending kinda stunk up what preceeded it a bit and left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[icecreamdisco]

Hah, and you expected any different from Miyazaki?

yeah, but usually it's kinda 'take it or leave it' - it doesn't get in my way of enjoying the film. here it was like a baseball bat in the face. he might as well have had captain planet swoop by in another coda and say "REMEMBER KIDS, SAVE THE TREES!".

my neighbour totoro is still his best for my money.

 

[nwatts]

it gets a little bogged down by its overbearing pacifist message

Hah, and you expected any different from Miyazaki?

I'm keen to see it, but *everyone* has commented on the disappointing conclusion. And considering I felt the end of Spirited Away was slightly rushed, I'm not looking forward to the end of this.

 

[Benny_]

Castle of Cagliostro is my favourite Miyazaki, followed closely by Porco Rosso, and then in third place comes My Neighbour Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. Miyazaki's later works.. Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away I feel have been a bit overrated, so I'm not that keen to go see Howl's Moving Castle, I missed a great chance to see it at uni movies actually.

 

[icecreamdisco]

i think mononoke is slightly overrated too, but spirited is my second favorite behind totoro.

 

[nwatts]

I'd have to say Mononoke is my favourite, but Porco is a very close second, with Spirited Away being a very close third!

 

[Benny_]

Do you guys watch Miyazaki subbed or dubbed? In 99/100 movies I prefer subtitles, so the dubbing in SBS's Miyazaki month has been driving me nuts.

 

[nwatts]

Do you guys watch Miyazaki subbed or dubbed? In 99/100 movies I prefer subtitles, so the dubbing in SBS's Miyazaki month has been driving me nuts.

Subbed.

I'd die before willingly watching a Miyazaki dubbed.

 

[icecreamdisco]

i deliberately watched the dubbed version of howl's, mainly 'cos emily mortimer, lauren bacall and christian bale were doing the voices. besides, the subtitles can severly distract from miyazaki's imagery. billy crystal got on my nerves though.

 

[thecurtainfalls]

howl's was okay. i saw it with subtitles because i really can't stand watching miyazaki, or almost any other anime that has been dubbed.
like you said, the first half was beautiful but the ending was kinda meh. My neighbor totoro is definitely Miyazaki's best!

 

[AlleyCat]

i always liked spirited away the most, with my neighbour totoro a close second, until i saw the version on sbs the other night with that girl from the ring doing sen's voice. it totally ruined it for me it was so yandee-doodle dandy. and i think that after the first few minutes of subtitles you get used to them. anyway, i refuse to watch a dubbed miyazaki film as of now.

on topic, i agree with the opiginal poster about the ending of howl's, it was rather sacharrine and artificial.

 

[Lundy]

I haven't had the chance to see this. I only recently 'discovered' Miyazaki and I'm in the process of watching all his previous work first. Spirited Away is most definitely my favourite so far, followed closely by Porco Rosso . He's such an astounding visionary.

 

[Comrade nathan]

i'd still recommend it, but that ending kinda stunk up what preceeded it a bit and left a bad taste in my mouth.

I found that most of Hayao Miyazaki movies end lame, but i still like them.

 

[Benny_]

That's what sets Porco Rosso and Castle of Cagliostro apart, fantastic endings. Actually Laputa isn't bad either.