28th August 2009, 6:06 PM
The original story from Howl's Moving Castle was from an American author, though. It's the most "Western" style of his movies, I'd say, so to someone used to western fantasy most of it makes sense... I mean sure, there's plenty of strange stuff as with any good fantasy work but it's not both strange AND foreign, really. I thought Howl's Moving Castle was great, but a lot of people seemed to dislike it compared to many of his older movies... "not Japanese enough" or whatever, as if American stuff is somehow worse...
If you want to see some more Japanese Miyazaki stuff, watch Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away, I would say. Lots of his movies are great though... his very first one was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which is absolutely brilliant and really should be a must-watch (just like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away). But yes, you're right that Howl's Moving Castle has some strange stuff in it, for sure. It's just perhaps a bit more familiar than the pure flight of fancy that is the plot of Ponyo.
Spirited Away's weirdness was mostly about the various creatures and characters from Japanese mythology that you meet along the way, though. Princess Mononoke was a tale set in ancient Japan. But Ponyo... it's just WEIRD. A bit of it's because of the 'foreign culture' aspect, but most of it's not, that's just setting. It's just a very strange story. It's also aimed at a younger audience than many of his recent films, which as I said probably contributed to the oddness because because perhaps he didn't feel constrained by some restrictions he might have felt in a film for older people... I don't know. Maybe other people would disagree about what I think of it, go see it for yourselves. :)
Oh, the movie is also 100% hand-drawn animation. Most major anime shows and movies now use CG frequently, for action scenes and such, etc, but this movie is entirely hand-drawn. It's very impressive work and just looks beautiful.
There was just one real plot flaw I noticed, though. I don't know if I want to mention it though because it's a significant spoiler and I don't think anyone else here has seen the movie... but trying to figure out how/why that can be explained (involving the main antagonist's actions in the second half of the film) is kind of annoying me. :) I mean, I can kind of understand it, but you'd think he'd be a bit more annoyed... oh well.
If you want to see some more Japanese Miyazaki stuff, watch Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away, I would say. Lots of his movies are great though... his very first one was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which is absolutely brilliant and really should be a must-watch (just like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away). But yes, you're right that Howl's Moving Castle has some strange stuff in it, for sure. It's just perhaps a bit more familiar than the pure flight of fancy that is the plot of Ponyo.
Spirited Away's weirdness was mostly about the various creatures and characters from Japanese mythology that you meet along the way, though. Princess Mononoke was a tale set in ancient Japan. But Ponyo... it's just WEIRD. A bit of it's because of the 'foreign culture' aspect, but most of it's not, that's just setting. It's just a very strange story. It's also aimed at a younger audience than many of his recent films, which as I said probably contributed to the oddness because because perhaps he didn't feel constrained by some restrictions he might have felt in a film for older people... I don't know. Maybe other people would disagree about what I think of it, go see it for yourselves. :)
Oh, the movie is also 100% hand-drawn animation. Most major anime shows and movies now use CG frequently, for action scenes and such, etc, but this movie is entirely hand-drawn. It's very impressive work and just looks beautiful.
There was just one real plot flaw I noticed, though. I don't know if I want to mention it though because it's a significant spoiler and I don't think anyone else here has seen the movie... but trying to figure out how/why that can be explained (involving the main antagonist's actions in the second half of the film) is kind of annoying me. :) I mean, I can kind of understand it, but you'd think he'd be a bit more annoyed... oh well.