howl's moving castle

just came back from watching 'howl's moving castle'
at cineleisure this evening. It's an animated film by Hayao Miyazaki (a man
known as Japan's Walt Disney, who directed, among other animated films,
'spirited away') that I've
been eagerly waiting to see since it was first released last nov in
Japan. I was absolutely delighted to find on wed that cineleisure has
started showing sneak previews for it throughout this week, and it
didn't take me long to get tickets. And man, it was definitely worth
the wait.



its easy to want to compare howl with spirited away, since they're both
fairly recent films by the same director. But it doesn't seem
especially right to do so since they are quite different films with
different themes. It'd probably be fairer to judge howl on its own than
against the standards of its illustrious predecessor.



having said that, I think howl has a lot of strengths, ranging from the
artwork (which is hand-drawn to almost unbelievable standards; just
check out the gently bobbling lake surface), to the soundtrack by Joe
Hisaishi, who has provided the music for innumerable miyazaki films
through the decades. The plot has its weak spots, such as a lack of
background details (although this is a common prob with films drawn
from texts, and I imagine it could have been a whole lot worse than it
turned out), but makes up for it with plenty of twists and turns to
keep ppl engaged, and more than enough gags to entertain them along the
way. I was so engrossed I didn't even check my watch once during the 2
hour-long screening, something which rarely happens nowadays.



one possible shortcoming of the film (or of mine?) is that I
couldn't really establish if it has any serious points to make. I was
too busy being entertained to pick out any really strong themes. One
possible theme could be the desire for the freedom to live the way one
chooses. But I gotta watch the film again to understand it properly.
Not that I'd mind.



overall I think howl is a good film, bordering on great. It offers more
than enough to keep u entertained for its entire duration, and also
provides a hint of seriousness beneath its light-hearted veneer for the
more critical audience. Add the rich artwork and score, and u have a
film that can be heartily recommended to everyone. Go watch it, you
won't be disappointed.