Howl's Moving Castle [S. Worthen

- Calcifer was just right.
- The war made no sense. No really. I tried to make it make sense. But it really didn't.
- For related reasons, neither did the King's Wizard, nor her effect on the Witch of the Waste.
- The romance between Howl and Sophie is much more effectively developed in the movie than in the film for me. Really. Knowing that

curtana disagreed with my conclusion, I really looked for its development when I reread the book this week and saw the movie a second time. And I stand by my assertion. Yes, absolutely, Book Sophie and Howl have fabulous banter. But in no other way can I ever see a relationship developing between them in the book. Even knowing its coming, even looking for clues, it still seems to come largely out of the blue for me in the book.
- Someone -

curtana again, I think - observed how Miyazaki's coal-burning trains failed to pollute the landscape - and in particular, Sophie's window, which she depended on for sewing light, and which one would think would require exceedingly regular cleaning in order to maintain that degree of clarity.
- I'm so happy Miyazaki kept the green slime scene!
- There seemed little purpose to the scene between Sophie and Lettie in the movie - just to give us more backstory on Sophie?
- I love the scene of the castle appearing through the mist behind the herd of sheep.
- In the Japanese version of the movie, old and young Sophie are voiced by the same actress. I'm looking forward to hearing that eventually.
- The second time through, I heard Martha mentioned, albeit in a rather irrelevant context.
- "I'm the missing prince from the neighboring kingdom." ??!! As if someone would ever actually say that.
- The Witch gave up that heart a little too easily, I thought.
- The credits end with a waltz. I walked out of the theater wanting to dance.

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Entry on the differences between the dubbed and the subbed versions of this movie: http://www.livejournal.com/users/rushthatspeaks/161078.html

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Not having read the book, I thought the initial scene with Lettie worked very well to establish Sophie's character as being almost like an old woman living in a young woman's body -- it was entertaining in itself and didn't feel like a sidetrack to me.

Franz and I laughed a lot over the 'neighboring country' line, not to mention the Willy Wonka stylization. Those silly Japanese.

The whole thing made me feel so serene. There was a contagious peacefulness to the music, the scenery, and the bearing of the characters.

I really want to read the book now, but it seems that all copies in Toronto have been bought up, so I'll have to order it.

If I wasn't leaving so soon I could loan you my copy!

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I agree with you on these points. Book!Howl is more (for lack of a better word) grouchy, but I thought the connection that he and Sophie forged in the movie was more touching, more convincing.

And I loved the green slime scene. ^-^;;

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Howl's Moving Castle

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October