Howl's Moving Castle (U.S. Opening June 10)

[Kusoyaro]

Opens limited this Friday. A list of theaters is here. I can't tell if it's a complete list. Maybe check Fandango to be sure.

That's almost certainly not a complete list, if there's no New York location listed. And besides, Landmark is just one chain of indie theaters. There are plenty of multiplexes that will be showing the movie, even if it's only in limited release.

[TaranT]

Opens limited this Friday. A list of theaters is here. I can't tell if it's a complete list. Maybe check Fandango to be sure.

That's almost certainly not a complete list, if there's no New York location listed. And besides, Landmark is just one chain of indie theaters. There are plenty of multiplexes that will be showing the movie, even if it's only in limited release.

I'm not so sure. This is the worst time of the year for a small film to find an open screen. Brad & Angelina open Friday, "Batman Begins" is next week, then Nicole & Will, followed by "War of the Worlds" for the July 4th weekend.

It might have been better if they had waited until August or September.

[ryuu_hime13]

It's weird...there aren't any listings for Miami, but my theater had one of those giant cardboard poster things up advertising the movie a while back. I guess I'll just have to see for myself tomorrow.

[Kusoyaro]

It's showing at my local multiplex tomorrow.

[Kusoyaro]

At my theater had one of those giant cardboard poster things up advertising the movie a while back.

That's what my had too...and it's playing the day it opens.

[Anime2Envy]

Anyone get to see this on the big screen yet? Was it any good?

[madbunny]

Anyone get to see this on the big screen yet? Was it any good?

It's Miyazaki! The odds are strongly in his favor.

It was way better seeing it on the big screen. The El Capitan theater down in Hollywood is playing the Subtitled version a couple days of the week, so if you're in the hollywood area that's the way to go.

Honestly I sort of prefer the Japanese voices for some of the characters, but all in all it's an excellent movie. If you have read the book you will recognize the basic plot points, but it's different enough that you can still enjoy it on it's own.

[Kusoyaro]

Saw it today in the theater. It has the typical magical Miyazaki touch, but the story didn't do much for me. It felt like a string of arbitrary events that were vaguely tied to the moving castle and an ongoing war (that is never really explained). Things seem to happen because, well, they do. Why does Sophie get turned into an old lady for most of the movie? Because a witch walks into her shop, turns her into an old lady, then runs away. That's that. Also, scenes from prior movies seem to be rehashed more than usual. There's a scene where Howl, as an animal, collapses to the ground, turns human, and then Sophie turns his head to see if he's okay...this scene is identical, in emotion, circumstance, even in the angle of the head-turn, to the one in Spirited Away.

Another thing that might bother people, that I touched on briefly above, is that instead of the usual spunky Miyazaki heroine, we have to deal with Sophie as a frail old woman for the most of the movie. That gave the movie a different feel, but by the end, she just ends up looking like Nausicca anyway

I'd see it in theaters just for the visuals, because there are some very good ones, and there are still many, many moments of outright wonder and joy. Just try not to pay too much attention to the plot...it's confusing, open-ended, and has very little payoff in the end.

[dokool]

I saw it with my girlfriend on Friday, subtitled (!) at the Ritz East in Philadelphia (for any locals - they're doing 2 subbed and 4 dubbed screenings each day).

I actually saw it on opening day in Tokyo with my family, so this was my second time around (as well as my second time seeing it on opening day), but having subtitles actually allowed me to understand quite a bit more than I did the first time

I enjoyed it - some of Miyazaki's best animation yet, but I do agree with others in that the story suffered a bit. I actually may go back and see the dubbed version, because the cast looks pretty balanced. I love Calcifer's original seiyuu, and if anyone could pull it off it'd be Billy Crystal.

Overall, though, when compared to other Miyazaki movies... ***1/2 out of *****. Miyazaki's always at the top of the game even when he isn't at the top of his game. <i>Howl</i> is good, but the story is too convoluted to match, say, Nausicaa. I still expect that he should clear some room next to his Spirited Away Oscar, because he'll probably be getting more gold come March.

[TaranT]

It's showing at my local multiplex tomorrow.

Good call. It's actually showing on five screens in our local metro area (4 dub, 1 sub).

Just try not to pay too much attention to the plot...it's confusing, open-ended, and has very little payoff in the end.

My conclusion, as well. It's just poor storytelling, unless there's some kind of 4-hour director's cut that fills in the holes. I could say Miyazaki has turned too derivative, but I've been saying that since Mononoke. Even the soundtrack to Howl was uninspiring and often a shadow of previous Ghibli music.

The artwork was good, sometimes very good, but occasionally it had a look of poor quality (for a Ghibli production). The persistent film jitter was annoying, but that's probably not the fault of Ghibli. Just another hazard of video editing, I suppose.

Call it two stars out of four. I'll get the DVD, but I won't go back to the theater for another round.