THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW "Land of the Dead" by Mike Smith | ||
ASIAN FILM UPDATE Hayao Miyazaki and "Howl's Moving Castle" by Peter Card | ||
COUCH POTATO CONFESSIONS Are You Eating It...Or Is It Eating You?...Shades of Lynch....Early TV Preview by Vinnie Blesi | ||
ODDSERVATIONS Back....Con-Gort-U-Lations To Will Moriaty for "William Moriaty's Florida"....Dungeons & Dragons Illustrator Dies by Andy Lalino | ||
SPLASH PAGE Two Thumbs Down & a Bag of Doritos....Black Rednecks and White Liberals....Fuel Some Flames--Part Deaux by Brandon Jones | ||
CREATURE'S CORNER "Batman Begins" by John Lewis | ||
MATT'S RAIL Apologies....JawsFest by Matt Drinnenberg | ||
MIKE'S RANT Cancer....On The Subject....Movie-Going in the 21st Century....Or Maybe It's Just Those Southern Baptists....Oprah, I Hardly Knew Ye....Jaws: The Story, Part 22 by Mike Smith | ||
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Hayao Miyazaki and "Howl's Moving Castle"
Today’s Asian update concerns itself with Studio
Ghibli’s most recent feature, Howl’s Moving Castle.
Director of Howl’s Moving Castle, Hayao Miyazaki has
done it again in his 9th film. Hayao Miyazaki for the
uninitiated is probably the biggest animation director
in Japan as he firmly holds a special place in the
imaginations of children and adults alike, in and
outside of Japan.
Miyazaki’s first directing effort was on the Castle of
Cagliostro, one of the many Lupin the 3rd films made
after the character’s success in manga form. It’s no
surprise that Miyazaki made the most popular and
renowned Lupin film. Lupin is a character that is best
described that if James Bond were the best cat burglar
in the world then you’d have someone like Lupin. Lupin
the 3rd is a tremendously fun television series, but
Castle of Cagliostro is remarkably different but
somehow still true to the spirit of the character.
After Cagliostro, Miyazaki started his own studio for
his next feature, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
(reedited and dubbed for the US in the 80s as Warriors
of the Wind). That studio was Studio Ghibli and it has
since become the source for anime. After Nausicaa,
Ghibli continued to make one box office smash after
the next up to today. Studio Ghibli’s films are now
widely available to us because Walt Disney has begun
dubbing these films in English and distributing them
in theatres and on DVD. John Lasseter of Toy Story and
Pixar fame is the executive producer of these imported
films. Fortunately as stipulated in the contract,
Disney cannot reedit the films to their taste. Thanks
to Lasseter and others, the translation process is a
very precise process as is the casting and ADR. No
more horrid dubs like those of the 1980s or something
you’d see in a chop socky flick. On some of the DVDs
to these movies, Disney animators even admit the
influence these films have on their animating. I
recall guys from Pixar saying that whenever they were
stuck on what to do, they would pop in one of
Miyazaki’s films and be inspired. A wonderful
sentiment although Disney has made a name for
themselves in ripping off anime, see Nadia: The Secret
of Blue Water and then watch Atlantis or check this
and the many other websites comparing the two
http://www.oldcrows.net/Atlantis/
Let’s forget Disney and address my first viewing of
Howl’s Moving Castle. Howl’s Moving Castle was such a
success in Japan that they are planning a sequel with
the characters although not in the form of a movie but
as a circus. Not much information is available yet
about the circus but it sounds like something Fellini
will come back from the dead to see.
I’d like to begin my review by explaining the
physical state I was in when I entered the theatre. It
was Friday night (6/17) and I had just come from
another theatre that was playing Mike Judge and Don
Hertzfeldt’s The Animation Show 2005
. I was rather tired and the
showing time of Howl’s Moving Castle was 12:50 am. I
knew I’d fall asleep during the movie but I was also
sure that my desire to see the film would help me
fight my sleepiness. The movie began as a typical
Miyazaki film and I was coasting along in the magical
world he has drawn me into and then I nodded off for a
few minutes. I awoke and was immediately transfixed
with the film again. I spent the whole second act
probably half the time asleep and the other half
completely immersed in its astounding imagery. Howl’s
Moving Castle has a very simple story and like good
children’s movies you can miss or not understand parts
of the film but still be able to get caught up in its
spirit and tone. By the third act I was awake but in
the dreamy haze one goes into when one hasn’t awoken
fully. Most of the film was completely dream like and
in particular the film’s final moments were surreal to
me. The final result of my viewing experience was that
of one I had when I was 4 years old. I loved the movie
but I couldn’t explain the plot to anyone. Best of
all, I am unable to compare this film to his other
work because I had in a way forced myself to view this
film as a child.
See Howl’s Moving Castle and decide for yourself what
you think of Miyazaki’s latest adventure. You won’t
have to watch it the way I did because Miyazaki can
make an adult feel like a kid again while watching his
films. Somehow I was able to make my memory of seeing
the film exactly as it would be if I were still a
child. I am thankful to Miyazaki for creating yet
another film that I could get lost in.
"Asian Film Update" is ©2005 by Peter Card. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2005 by Nolan B. Canova.