Originally Posted By alexbook Rented "Howl's Moving Castle" over the weekend. It's as good as I'd hoped. There was one thing I have to rant about, though: Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed a very good movie, based on a very good book by Diana Wynne Jones. In the bonus features on the DVD, Pete Docter and John Lasseter talk a lot about how creative Miyazaki is, but there's no mention of Jones. Surely she should have gotten at least a mention. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. ;-)
Originally Posted By mawnck Agreed, but have you read Jones's book? Miyazaki got pretty darn "creative" with it. Now if you can get your hands on a 1957 French animated feature called "The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird," you might see some stuff that looks REAL familiar. Miyazaki has always acknowledged it as one of his biggest influences, and Howl's Moving Castle removed all doubt. Said movie can often be found in dollar stores. And while you're there, check for "The Snow Queen" (Russian, 1959) and "Panda and the Magic Serpent" (Japanese, 1958). Add those three movies together, and you've got Miyazaki.
Originally Posted By Bellella "Howl's Moving Castle" is actually the only Anime movie I've seen and liked.
Originally Posted By u k fan I remember reading somewhere that Wynne Jones wasn't happy with how the film had turned out and some of the story changes that took place. I don't know if she officially disassociated herself from the film, but that could explain why she wasn't mentioned. Or I could have remembered wrong!!!
Originally Posted By alexbook mawnck: I read the book a few years back, so a lot of the details are fuzzy, but yes, there are a lot of changes. The changes didn't bug me, it was just, well, ... Imagine you're working in a bookstore, and customers come in who love the movies "Jungle Book" or "Mary Poppins" and are completely unaware that they're based on books. They think Walt Disney created Peter Pan and Alice and all these other characters out of whole cloth. It's amusing and annoying at the same time. Hearing somebody who's actually connected to the movie apparently making the same error is less amusing and more annoying. (And yes, Disney "got creative" with his source materials, but he generally acknowledged it. I loved how the old Disney movies opened with a shot of a book.) ----- I hadn't even heard of the movies mawnck mentioned, but I'll keep an eye out. u k fan: I hadn't heard that about Wynne Jones. It's sad if it's true.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I remember reading somewhere that Wynne Jones wasn't happy with how the film had turned out and some of the story changes that took place. I don't know if she officially disassociated herself from the film, but that could explain why she wasn't mentioned. << Nope. Wynne Jones was delighted. I think you're confusing her with Ursula K. Le Guin, who was livid with what Miyazaki's son Goro did to "Tales from Earthsea." Appropriately so. He took a meticulously-plotted, wonderfully written multi-book epic, and scrambled it up until it was a dreary, pointless mess. He'd never directed animation before, and I would say he still hasn't. Bellella - go find more movies by Hayao Miyazaki! If you liked Howl, you'll love Porco, Nausicaa, Chihiro, Kiki, Mononoke ....
Originally Posted By alexbook >>Bellella - go find more movies by Hayao Miyazaki! If you liked Howl, you'll love Porco, Nausicaa, Chihiro, Kiki, Mononoke ....<< I've only seen a few of Miyazaki's, but HMC is my favorite so far.
Originally Posted By DisneylandChick11 AlexBook, Sooo true. All those Movies are great. My daughter is 5 and it seems these are some of the only movies she'll sit quietly through and watchthe whole thing, even though these do tend to be long movies. I love them myself
Originally Posted By wingednike >Bellella - go find more movies by Hayao Miyazaki! If you liked Howl, you'll love Porco, Nausicaa, Chihiro, Kiki, Mononoke ....<< Don't forget My Neighbor Totoro! I think Chihiro is supposed to be Spirited Away. Just as a side note, Ghibli had a booth at the Tokyo Anime Faire and they were selling Mary Blair's art book. I tried to buy a copy but they were sold out.
Originally Posted By SBSBelle22 I need to see more, I do enjoy anime. I need to read the book of HMC too. I REALLY liked Christian Bale's voice work but then again I really like him
