Had a surprise trip to the local theater tonight. My friend called me asking if I was doing anything, the next thing I know, I'm at the theater, about to see Howl's Moving Castle. Second Studio Ghibli movie I've seen, and I loved it. Movie had some twists I wasn't expecting, beautiful animation, and a story that kept me wanting to find out what's happening. Really liked the time travel aspect, and the cast of characters ranging from Sophie whose age is always changing, Calcifer, to the Witch of the Waste, and Markl, to the scarecrow, to Howl himself. It got dark at times, there were happy moments. Even cried a few times. Beautiful soundtrack too. [...] Hope it's ok to tag you @TheJGG, since I finally got to see another Ghibli movie.
Tag me whenever, I'm always up for Ghibli talk. I myself am not in love with Howl's Moving Castle, I'd say it's the Ghibli equivalent of Xenoblade 2. Very good movie, it can be as good as the others but the low points are not great. While the story, animation, music, VO etc are all great, the pacing is all over the place, and the overall message is so confusing. Is it an anti-war film? Is it a film about memory? Discovering yourself? Finding inner strength? Deals with the devil? Old age? It tries to be all of these things and ends up being a master of none.
But again, the reason I'm less enthused is because of how good Miyazaki's other films are. So it's less about how this movie is bad and more about why this movie is good, and his others, better. I really hope you can get to some more Ghibli movies in future! There's so much joy to be had in those films.
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@TheJGG Oh, so it's not just me who was underwhelmed by Howl's Moving Castle! I agree about the pacing, and after a while I just couldn't follow the plot at all. I do want to read the book it's based on though, I think it's quite different to the film but hopefully it would give me a better grasp of the overall story, and then maybe I'd enjoy the film more if I rewatched it afterwards.
@Rambler Oh ok, very cool. I didn't know some places did that. Guess there's a market for everything, even those who go out late at night and want to enjoy a movie.
@TheJGG Will do! I see what you mean, it did confuse me a couple of times as the castle did move from different areas, went from peacful to war torn, and Sophie's age was changing (really old one moment, young the next, then a bit older, and really old again).
Thanks, I'm hoping to one day see Kikki's Deliver Service. Wanted to see this one the most because I remember the trailers from when I was younger, so it was an early exposure to something by Ghibli. I really want to watch more of these movies.
Brighter side of things, got to see a Ghibli movie in a theater, it was unplanned too. I went to eat dinner, friend called me, next thing I know I was at the theater, lol.
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@Link-Hero Interesting, I didn't know that! I can certainly sympathise with his views but changing the focus of a film in the middle of production is never a good idea.
Have you guys heard what's been happening with the MCU version of Blade as of late? It's, uh....not looking great to be honest (I will not be denied of Marhershala Ali's Blade goddamnit!).
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People are complaining films which haven’t been filmed are terrible and shows no one has seen yet are really good. We are living in the future times like in Minority Report where we see all before it happens.
@Fizza Yeah, when they changed the Blade logo from monochrome to red, I immediately cried because I knew that this was major sign that the movie would suck.
The new Indiana Jones should be amazing, they have cast Phoebe Waller Bridge who is one of the most audacious and inventive actor/writers of the last few years with her work on Fleabag and Killing Eve. She will bring her prowess to her role where she pretends to be scared of CGI snakes, put on a horrible American accent and try her best to make you think a relationship between her and Harrison with a 50 year age gap is perfectly not eww.
The new Indiana Jones should be amazing, they have cast Phoebe Waller Bridge who is one of the most audacious and inventive actor/writers of the last few years with her work on Fleabag and Killing Eve. She will bring her prowess to her role where she pretends to be scared of CGI snakes, put on a horrible American accent and try her best to make you think a relationship between her and Harrison with a 50 year age gap is perfectly not eww.
@Rambler At least Phoebe is in her 30s unlike the first film where it turns out Indy has been taking 15 year old girls from their Dads for ahem reasons....
@Rambler At least Phoebe is in her 30s unlike the first film where it turns out Indy has been taking 15 year old girls from their Dads for ahem reasons....
Exactly! WTF were they thinking? Listening to too much Led Zepplin and Aerosmith?
@TheJGG Oh, so it's not just me who was underwhelmed by Howl's Moving Castle! I agree about the pacing, and after a while I just couldn't follow the plot at all. I do want to read the book it's based on though, I think it's quite different to the film but hopefully it would give me a better grasp of the overall story, and then maybe I'd enjoy the film more if I rewatched it afterwards.
@TheJGG@Dogorilla I'm also not the biggest fan of Howl's Moving Castle for similar reasons. Out of all of Studio Ghibli's movies, it's on the lower end of my list, and I've seen almost every one of their films. It has poor pacing, a confusing plot, a conflicting message, and a rushed ending where everything somehow gets resolved at breakneck speed. The continual shoehorned anti-war theme throughout the movie is my biggest gripe, and what I've learned about it outside of the film made me dislike it more.
For anyone in the unknown, the movie originally wasn't going to have anything war-related but was altered for a specific reason. Back in 2003, Miyazaki got very upset about United States' invasion of Iraq. So much so that he changed the second half of the movie in the middle of production to add an anti-war message. The book does have a war in it, but barely gets cited since it isn't important to the story. So Miyazaki used the tiny bit of dialogue that mentions war and used it as an excuse to become a big focus of the film. This explains all the flick's pacing and writing issues.
Link-Hero in particular, you got it to a tee. It's really bizarre how the movie has this war going on the whole time yet it has nearly no impact on the story at all. Sure, Howl gets summoned under two aliases to fight for two different countries but I dunno. The "breakneck speed" is also spot on, and it kinda ruins the movie.
Miyazaki's own personal feelings ended up overriding and hurting the film, and I believe the anti-war message is more subtle and more beautiful in The Wind Rises. I think that's his third-best film behind Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. @Sunsy Kiki's Delivery Service is marvellous and made me laugh so much. Not even that hard! But it was incredibly easy to appreciate the messages of the film, independence prominently.
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