Watch this film
Jun. 11th, 2005 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zdashamberI commend to your attention Howl's Moving Castle, the latest film by Miyazaki.
The animation is, as ever, beautiful. The score is beautiful. Howl is pretty fucking hot. ;)
The scene where you get a shot of his naked butt? Choice. ;)
Hem. Right, then. Who of you have read the book? The movie is interesting in relation. The first part is a pretty straight-on adaption (Miyazaki adds a sort of Great War, which had me weeping and remembering "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"), and then about halfway through it takes a 90° turn. The important thing is, they've got the romance dead right. That's what the story of Howl's Moving Castle really is, so far as I'm concerned, so the surface differences between Miyazaki and Wynne Jones are fascinating and welcome.
I regret you can't all see the subtitled version right away. The dubbed translations have some weak moments, and the English voices of Howl and Sophie are... Well, Howl sounds like a 40-year-old smoker, which is creepy in a bad way. But the dubbed version does some things nicely; there's better explanation of what's going on so there's less to follow to its natural conclusion in your own mind and you can focus on watching more. And Billy Crystal is great as Calcifer. I mean, I picture Calcifer with a far deeper voice, but Crystal has the attitude very well.
The translation I was most saddened to see Disnified in the dubbed version is when Howl first drags in from flying, late in the night... As best as I recall, the subtitles went so:
The animation is, as ever, beautiful. The score is beautiful. Howl is pretty fucking hot. ;)
The scene where you get a shot of his naked butt? Choice. ;)
Hem. Right, then. Who of you have read the book? The movie is interesting in relation. The first part is a pretty straight-on adaption (Miyazaki adds a sort of Great War, which had me weeping and remembering "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"), and then about halfway through it takes a 90° turn. The important thing is, they've got the romance dead right. That's what the story of Howl's Moving Castle really is, so far as I'm concerned, so the surface differences between Miyazaki and Wynne Jones are fascinating and welcome.
I regret you can't all see the subtitled version right away. The dubbed translations have some weak moments, and the English voices of Howl and Sophie are... Well, Howl sounds like a 40-year-old smoker, which is creepy in a bad way. But the dubbed version does some things nicely; there's better explanation of what's going on so there's less to follow to its natural conclusion in your own mind and you can focus on watching more. And Billy Crystal is great as Calcifer. I mean, I picture Calcifer with a far deeper voice, but Crystal has the attitude very well.
The translation I was most saddened to see Disnified in the dubbed version is when Howl first drags in from flying, late in the night... As best as I recall, the subtitles went so:
Calcifer: You stink of smoke and blood.Deep, funny, romantic, and gorgeous. Howl's Moving Castle is a good way to spend two hours.
...
Howl: I was attacked tonight by my own kind, wizards who had changed into monsters.
Calcifer: They'll be crying when they find they can't change back.
Howl: No. They'll forget how to cry.