After my disappointment with Porco Rosso (the animation, as usual, was beautiful, but I didn’t care for the story – particularly the ending), I was pleased to find Howl’s Moving Castle more to my taste. As usual, the imagery blew me away, and this time the story drew me in as well. The movie’s quite long (especially compared to Rosso, which I watched twice in one night – once in Japanese, once in English) but I didn’t really notice until near the end (when my body was saying “hey, isn’t it close to bedtime?”). The English-speaking voices look like they’ll be fun, so I’ll probably watch it with the English language track another night this week. (I always like to watch Anime in the original Japanese with subtitles. Depending on the English-speaking voices, I may watch it in English as well.)
I think I’m coming down with a cold, so I’ll hit it with Nyquil-clone tonight and hit the sack early. Here’s hoping I can nip it in the bud! Really don’t want to be sick during Spring Break, which starts this Friday for us.
You should read the original Howl book by Diana Wynne Jones (if you haven’t already). I re-read it recently and really enjoyed it. However, it is quite different from the movie. Many of the characters are the same but there is no war overlay. It has more subplots going on and explains things much better. I had forgotten how much I liked it (I read it 15+ years ago).
I haven’t read the book, but I think I’ll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the recommendation!
Ohhh, Miyazaki. Porco Rosso is, probably, the least of his films. I enjoy it still, but it’s not as amazing as, say, Kiki’s Delivery Service or My Neighbor Totoro. That said… Castle of Cagliostro is my all time fave of his works. And it’s his first, but it’s… so awesome.
So far Kiki’s Delivery Service is my favorite. I haven’t seen the other two you’ve mentioned and will have to add them to my collection. 🙂
Note: Castle of Cagliostro isn’t a Studio Ghibli film. And is actually a sort of action-adventure tale rather than a family action-adventure fare. It’s a Lupin III movie. And I looooooves it.