Review: Howl's Moving Castle

On a whim, I decided to take the sis out to a movie last night. Seeing as though there is crap-all on at the big cinemas, and I am still saving seeing Wallace & Gromit and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I thought I'd see what was on at Electic Shadows. There's a new film from the maker of Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki. It's (weirdly) called, Howl's Moving Castle. And seeing as though I enjoyed the first movie, I thought it might be nice to see this one. Even better was that Wednesday night is tight-arse night at Electric Shadows, so only 8 bucks each! It's a beautiful movie. From the start to finish. The animation is gorgeous. The landscapes and sceneries are so well drawn. The colour is great and the story is wonderful. It's hard to describe, but it's a fantastical story with a big dose of imagination and it makes you smile, laugh and tear up. I mean, really, what more can you want from a movie? Japanese animation has probably gotten a bad wrap and is not seen as a mainstream form of entertainment, but this is not Manga, and it is not Pokemon. The movie is even distributed by Disney! There are the voices of Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall and Billy Crystal (in the dubbed version). Perhaps the original Japanese version would give it a different feel, but once you get used to hearing Billy's nasally voice as the fire demon Calcifer, the dubbed voices work well. There's even the voice of Jena Malone. She's the cute girl in that, 'oh-so awesome' film, Donnie Darko. So, anyway, if you find yourself bored with the usual tripe trotting out of Hollywood at the moment, do yourself a favour and go and check out this movie. Let your imagination go with it and you'll smile.

Posted by Mick @ 9/29/2005 09:06:00 am