Howl's Moving Castle

[Opaque]

Saw it tonight, great movie. Not as good as Spirited Away, but really, how could anything be?

I agree with everything said in spoilers, me girlfriend even commented on them. I kind of feel like not only was the prince thing random, but the war almost seemed like a side note to the rest of the movie. Howl's involvement with the war was never really about the war but always about what he was doing to himself.

Anyone else think that The Which of the Waste was strikingly similar to Yu-Baaba (kind of large, magical, mean in the begginig but less so as time goes on)?

[Space Pirate Roberts]

You know, it occurs to me the (stereo?)typical American moviegoer may not "get" the nature of the spell on Sophie, why she's able to overcome it even though it is never actually broken, and the point Miyazaki is trying to make with it. But then, how many such people are going to see this movie in the first place?

That said, I enjoyed it immensely, though it definitely has to be approached as its own beast and not an adaptation - it's far more "inspired by" than "based on" Jones' book, with Miyazaki emphasizing themes that were secondary if present at all in the original and drastically altering plot points (and whole characters!) to do so.

Kiki's is probably still my favorite, but Howl's definitely comes in near the top.