quote:

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Originally posted by bent
wow! anyone else with the OST? I am looking for the songs! can anyone care to seed it via bit torrent?

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Or you may try cdjapan.com. It is a nice site for buying Ghibli digital stuff outside Japan.


OST
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TKCA-72775

Image Album
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TKCA-72620

Single
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TKCA-72774


And yea, both the OST and the image album are really great. They are must-haves for any Hisaishi/Miyazaki/Ghibli fan.

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opinion

Hello, everyone!

I’m not sure if my opinion would make use for anyone but yesterday I’ve bought a howl’s moving castle dvd, of course unlicensed, because here in Russia we have only “Spirited Away” licensed. (oh, I really was excited to buy a Ghibli-collection of dvds at Matsuwa supermarket during my last visit to the United States, with 6 disks and 12 movies on it, in Japanese, with English subtitles)
Anyway, I was disappointed a little as I was waiting for something more eccentric... Though I liked the movie as a whole (the scarecrow and the granny-witch were adorable), I’ve noticed many motives that were taken from “Spirited Away” and other earlier movies. I’ll try to give you some examples:

Howl turning into a bird – witch Ubaba turning into a crow (Sp. Aw.)
How’s face in appearance of a bird – Kiki’s face in the painting of her friend from the forest (Kiki’s delivery…)
Jumping scarecrow – jumping lantern (Sp.Aw.)
The demons of the witch – the werewolf (Sp. Aw.)

Just to name a few…

And I also find the movie a bit long, as you can guess what’s the intrigue much earlier than it turns up. Unlike in Spirited Away, I can say, because you cannot suspect what’s the plot during the whole film.

So, to sum up, I think Howl’s Moving Castle is a nice movie, just as many other Ghibli films, but on average it’s not so fantastic as those classics like Kiki, Totoro, The Whisper of the Heart, Spirited Away…

I’m sorry if my opinion seemed negative for someone, I guess my agonizing suspense of its release influenced upon my impression.

And please excuse my English, I know it’s much far from perfect

Hi! I have seen the HMC in Taiwan already.

First, I did not think it is the Miyasaki's style I knew. How an younger man (Howl) and an "older" girl (Sophie) could fall in love to each other? Second, this film does not emphasize the element of ACTION. You know, KIKI, Poco Roso, and Naussica... the "flying" is one of important element for Miyasaki's articles.

BUT... after I walking away the cinema I cannot control my own emotion. I was keep thinking the story and the every picture in the film. Yes, Miyasaki has touched my heart, like Sophie touches Howl's heart.

It does not have many ACTION and tortuous STORY. But I love this HMC at all.

PS: there is different between film and the original novel.

quote:

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Originally posted by Fail Howl turning into a bird – witch Ubaba turning into a crow (Sp. Aw.)
How’s face in appearance of a bird – Kiki’s face in the painting of her friend from the forest (Kiki’s delivery…)
Jumping scarecrow – jumping lantern (Sp.Aw.)
The demons of the witch – the werewolf (Sp. Aw.)

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quote:

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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After seeing all the negative comments of the movie for over 3 months, I had the least expectation when I entered the theatre. Although it is still not my favourite, it turned out to be quite good.

It is certainly under-rated and is by no means a lesser work of Miyazaki. I do not mind the recycling of stuff as long as they are presented well (after all, the main female characters from Nausicaa to Mononoke look nearly identical if they all have the same hair style and clothes ). And I personally cannot understand all those fuss about the untied ends. Many of them are really quite obvious.

For Sophie's curse, fearing that we cannot understand what it is about, Miyazaki went as far as turning Sophie back to an old lady as soon as she says something like, "it is not that bad to be old." There are also several occasions when Sophie has very strong/weak emotions, she turns back to her own self. So it is undoubtedly related to Sophie's own thoughts and emotions.

There is a Chinese saying, "draw the intestines when drawing the characters." It is used to describe a situation when someone overly does something, or does something redundant for explaining the inner messages or the motives behind. Of course this is a negative thing. But Miyazaki is already getting near to it when telling us what the curse is all about.

As for the lack of explanation of the wars, I cannot see why the causes of the war sounds so important. After all, almost all the major characters have said that the war is "meaningless" somewhere in the movie. And _Howl_ is not a historical documentary, but a story that stresses the imporatance of peace, and virtures like friendship, courage, faith, love, etc. If Miyazaki had to cut down plot and character development and go deep into the meaningless war, I would rather like to keep _Howl_ as it is now.

It is sad if people put the focus on things that Miyazaki discredits, and ignore what he really wants to convey through the movie.

I think there is a fine line between artistic view and scientific view. If you see things based on feelings and impressions, and enjoy seeing the beauty of things, it is an artistic view. If you always regard the 5W1H (what, when, who, why, where, how) as your utmost concerns, and are curious in dissecting everything that come across you, you are taking up a scientific view. I presume Miyazaki presents his works to us as fine pieces of art instead of detailed scientific works or research papers. And I regard him as an artist instead of a scientist. Therefore I take up an appropriate view to see his works.

Somewhere in this forum I have mentioned the work of the Nobel price winner, Mr Gao, when talking about _Howl_. And I compared his usage of "I", "He" and "You" for describing the same person with the way of Sophie being depicted. I still hold my previous points in that message valid after seeing the movie.

I begin to wonder if there is any cultural difference at work when holding such a different view with the majority in these English-based forums (many went as far as saying _Howl_ is the worst of Miyazaki ). In some local forums in Hong Kong, people just say they did enjoy the movie and how they enjoyed it, instead of focusing on the reason why the war broke out. There are also some interesting discussions on Sophie's curse, but very few criticize Miyazaki for not explaining every single detail.

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