Howls Moving Castle starts Friday at the Cinemas...

[bigsleepj]

In the US, that is. And yet again Disney is doing its best NOT to give it a proper release. Still is anyone going to see it? Or planning to see it?

[Debitt]

I'd love to see it. o.O If I could find out where it's playing.

=o=; dumb Disney.

[TrigunX89]

Ahh, what is Disney thinking? I never get to see anime movies in theatres... *sigh* Well, except the Pokemon movies... But that's a different story... I would surely like to see it if it's playing in my city, but that's doubtful. *goes to check movie listings*

[Rev. Doc]

I did a search for the entire state of South Carolina and it doesn't appear that it will be showing anywhere in the state. While I like anime, I don't think I will be traveling across boarders to see this. Looks like another wait for the DVD. Spirited Away had the good fortune of the Academy Awards to push it onto more screens. And while Howl is using Spirited's name as a push in commercials, I doubt it will be enough to launch it into many additional theaters. This will more than likely be one for only the larger cities across the US.

[bigsleepj]

This will more than likely be one for only the larger cities across the US.

If it proves popular enough it might expand to a larger release. It has happened before but is very rare.

[Fireproof]

I'll be in San Fransisco for the premier, and my hotel is right next to a large theater in Japan center. Aaaand San Fransisco is one of the "select cities," so I know it'll be there!

[Rev. Doc]

If it proves popular enough it might expand to a larger release. It has happened before but is very rare.

While Spirited Away did well, it still didn't match the release and draw of the Pokemon movies. The only other anime that they have tried to release on a wider scale were the Digimon movie and last year's Yu Gi Oh. Both tanked. Disney has proven in the past that they only use the screenings in the larger cities as promotion for the DVDs which will be coming out. Howl's will most likely be hitting the shelves in August.

[bigsleepj]

I'll be in San Fransisco for the premier, and my hotel is right next to a large theater in Japan center. Aaaand San Fransisco is one of the "select cities," so I know it'll be there!

Braggart. Send my regards to Miyazaki. He's going to attend the US premier (come to think of it, which one?)

[termyt]

*shakes fist at the nazi-mouse*

[dragonnova]

I want to see this so bad, but the chances of my seeing it are slim... stupid nowhere's-ville town.... grrr... and I don't think I have the 'umph' to travel to see it... I know it will be good though Miyazaki is just the best, I love his work. It's so beautiful.

[Gypsy]

I guess my theater isn't a "select" one ... snot.

[Kenchii]

Disney should have learned its lession.

First priority, its a Miyazaki film -cough- Sprited Away. 2nd, its going to SELL ALOT. uhhg ... I better start putting more gasoline in, I gotta drive 3 hours away to the closest theater. =___= x

[Mangafanatic]

Anybody know where this fabled "selected city" list can be found?

[MasterDias]

Interesting.
I guess I'll watch it when it comes out on DVD.

[Ichigo_89]

Anybody know where this fabled "selected city" list can be found?

Try a google search for ">insert movie title< playing times" or something like that.

[Galant]

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/newspro/latest_news.shtml

[Rev. Doc]

Actually, not a bad showing. A total receipt of $401,000.00 on 36 screens brings it to a total of $11,136.00 at each location.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith, this weeks number 1 feature opened on 3,424 screens with a total take of $51,050,000.00. Thats a total of $14,909.00 per screen.

Even the big current animated feature in the states, Madagascar, opened on 4,142 screens with receipts totalling $47,224,594.00 bring in an average of $11,431.00, just a tad more than Howl's.

Howl has the possibility of drawing more if it is placed in more locations. However with only a mere 200 locations coming on the 17th instead of thousands that these other titles enjoy, this pretty much assures Howl's quiet disappearance with an eventual DVD release.

[Mangafanatic]

More theaters are said to be receiving and showing the film on the 17th.

[TrigunX89]

w00t! Then there is still hope.

[Shao Feng-Li]

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/castle/

THere's a theater right down the street and it will be playing the movie. HA!

[agasfas]

Alright! I just got back from seeing Howls Moving Castle in the theatre. I must say that I'm quite surprised on how the movie turned out. I was expecting some kids movie but it really wasn't. Another surprise is the amount of people in the audience and their ages. About 95% of the audience was about my age (19-20's) and even some middle age people.

Overall the story was fantastic and the animation is exceptional. I would easily recommend this movie to anyone. Once it comes out on dvd, i'll be buying it.

So has anyone else seen it yet?

[MorwenLaicoriel]

^_^ My city was one of the 'select cities', so I was able to see Howl's Moving Castle last Tuesday. I think I agree with Ebert when he says it isn't Miyazaki's best and a bit confusing, but....I still think it's light years better than a lot of other things you'd see available in theaters. This is the first time I saw a Miyazaki movie on the big screen, so I really enjoyed being able to see the animation and colors so closely. ^^ I also felt that this was possibly one of Miyazaki's funniest movies--the entire theater burst out laughing on several occations.

I also really like how Howl is an completely different character compaired to any of Miyazaki's other male leads. XD

[Yojimbo]

It's playing here too so I'll probably see it when I get back.

[blue elf]

I want to see this movie so bad, but it isn't playing anywhere close to me. *sigh* Oh well, does anyone think there's is the possibility of it expanding to anymore theatres in the coming weeks?
-BlueElf

[mitsuki lover]

It's showing in Spokane at the AMC/Riverpark Square 20 theater.They have a notice under the ad for it that says:Sorry No Passes.

[chimera189]

Will be seeing the movie later today

[agasfas]

I think I agree with Ebert when he says it isn't Miyazaki's best and a bit confusing, but....I still think it's light years better than a lot of other things you'd see available in theaters.

I can agree on that to a point, there were a few things that confused so I did a bit of research...

Question about Calcifer and Howl:
[spoiler]
"The shooting stars were Calcifer and his ilk (kind). And I believe in the original book it says that once shooting stars hit the ground, they don't live long. So Howl and Calcifer made the contract that Howl give his heart to Calcifer so that Calcifer can live as long as Howl lives in exchange for Calcifer stays in Howl's fireplace to give him strong magic. "

So since they both make a deal (spell), they are both prohibited from talking about the details...

Freedom at the end:

"perhaps it's a crossover influence of both Howl AND Calcifer. Although never explained in the movie, it seems pretty obvious that both Howl AND Calcifer are trapped: Calcifer lives but only to serve Howl, whereas Howl is turning into a monster. Both wish to be free and yet cannot be free of the pact. Speculatively, the bargain struck was Calcifer must serve Howl in order to live, but in order to live, Calcifer requires Howl's heart. Perhaps Calcifer feels the same way about Sophie as Howl does because he possesses Howl's heart."

"BTW, Calcier is therefore NOT a FIRE demon, but a STAR demon. "
[/spoiler]


THen question about Sopie and her transformations:

[spoiler]Transformations: "Sophie sometimes reverts back to her original self because of the strength of her emotions. Note that she typically reverts to the cursed Sophie when her emotions drain away. This is due to prevalent beliefs that strong emotions can overcome magic. Sophie's hair does not remain gray, but rather silver (small detail of reflection in the deus ex machina ending) and does not revert due to the lessons learned while cursed. Sophie reverts to her original form when she sleeps, because that is part of the curse (very nasty!) She can only wear it when she is asleep! Not that in all her extremely deep sleep states, she is the original Sophie." [/spoiler]


The doorway on a random note... not sure if it's totally true, but it a good topic
[spoiler]Regarding the "Dreamdoor" as many are calling it: It was the strength of Sophie's feelings and the fact that Calcifer was still alive (if barely) that created it. Her desire was to help both Howl and Calcifer. Remember the ring only works if Sophie thinks of Calcifer (who ironically has Howl's heart.) Another speculative reason is that with Calcifer on the verge of death and Sophie’s strong desire to help, the spell beginning to unravel, the Dreamdoor was a fluke phenomenon. A last speculation is that the ring connects Sophie to Howl through his heart (that Calcifer posseses.) [/spoiler]

Perhaps these aren't the exact or correct answers, but they kind of make sense... I just copied and pasted The things I had difficulties figuring out.

[mitsuki lover]

Would it be presumptious to suppose that all these curses are some how
finally removed at the end?

[HisaishiFan]

WOOT! I am glad we are talking about the movie. I just got back from seeing it and am bursting with questions. I thought that the one of the main ideas of the movie was that there are good ways and bad ways to give your heart to someone. It also showed the the transforming power of redemptive love. I really enjoyed seeing the movie the first time, but I'll probably need to see it a few more times to really get my brain around it! Okay, on to the discussion. . . .

Question about Calcifer and Howl:
[spoiler]I think Howl could have given something other than his heart to Califer to help him live. Look what happened when Sophie gave just her hair to Calcifer! She knew it would be foolish to give Calcifer her eyes or her heart, even though he asked for them. I think that Howl gave Calcifer the wrong kind of thing (his heart) because Howl wanted something wrongly: he wanted the power to transform himself into a strong and beautiful creature, and he wanted the power to move his castle. But the fruition of Howl's desires came at great personal cost to both Howl and Calcifer, they became enslaved to each other. Calcifer couldn't leave the castle and Howl began turning into a beast.[/spoiler]

More on giving away your heart:
[spoiler]It wasn't just Calcifer and Howl that gave their hearts away for the wrong reasons. The Witch of the Waste did, too. She wanted a young love. She wanted Howl's heart for herself and almost killed Calcifer to get it, when she realized that Calcifer had it. Not only would she have died when Calcifer died and the Castle fell apart, but Caclifer and Howl would have died too. Only Sophie, who sacrifically loved them all (even the witch), was able to redeem them from the results of these disasterous choices. Sophie could have kicked the Witch of the Waste when she was down (literally, she could have kicked her down Suliman's steps), but she didn't even though she had good reason to (the curse). Instead, when she realized how much pain the witch was in, she tried ot encourage her by cheering her on. And when the witch was reduced to a wreck of her former self, Sophie fed her, took care of her and loved her into health. It changed the witch's life. She became Grandmother. Ultimately, she gave back Howl's heart/Calcifer because of Sophie's love.[/spoiler]

Freedom at the end:
[spoiler]Could it be that Sophie is able to free both Howl and Calcifer because she sacrificially loves them both and they both love and trust her? She is willing to possibly die herself, to go into the unknown world of the Dream Door, to save them both. She puts their safety above her own. Because of this, I think she is the only one who can give Howl back his heart without killing Calcifer.[/spoiler]

The question about Sophie and her transformations:
[spoiler]I'm not sure that Sophie, when waking, actually is reverting back to her original self. I think that perhaps Howl sees her true self as he comes to love her and begins to value her more than himself. He doesn't always see her as beautiful (for example, in the flower field). It does seem that when Sophie's emotions of love showing strongly--when she is trying to protect Howl or the Witch of th Waste or help Heen--that others begin to glimpse the young Sophie (although her hair stays silver). These displays of emotion make Sophie physically stronger, too. Loving rightly makes her stronger. It is very interesting to me because it is similar to what happenes to Porco Rosso. We never find out why Porco became a pig, but whenever he goes beyond himself to help others, some of his pigginess disappears.[/spoiler]

And what is a family?
[spoiler]I thought it was interesting that one of the movie's strongest ideas was that a family is made up, not of your birth family necessarily, but of the people who love you and stand by you. Sophie's own mother was too busy too be a mom; she was off shopping for new hats, dating men and marrying instead of taking care of Sophie. She sold her out for Suliman. Sophie's sister (who seemed sweet) was more interested in men and seeing the world than in helping her Sophie, who was trying to stay true to her father's memory by running the hat shop, even though she didn't really like making hats. Sophie stuck with it because she loved her dad. The people that ended up being a family, except Markl, are all redeemed by the power of Sophie's love: Howl, the Witch of the Waste, Calcifer, and Turnip (although he returns to his own kingdom stop the war.) Markle is the only person who isn't redeemed in the since of being changed from darkness to light. But Markl, with simple, child-like faith, trusts Sophie and accepts her as his sister or mom.[/spoiler]

I thought the movie was rich with complex and mature themes. I didn't agree with Roger Ebert's review at all. In fact, I wondered if he and I had seen the same movie. He says Howl's Moving Caslte is overly long and that not much happens in it, but it seems to me like quite a lot happens in character development and adventure. Another thing makes me wonder if Ebert and I saw the same move: He describes Suliman as a "grotesque sorceress . . . who reminds us of Yubaba, the sorceress who ran the floating bathhouse in 'Spirited Away.'" Suliman looked absolutely nothing like Yubaba. She was a beautiful older woman, who was drawn proportionally like a real woman. Ebert also said that he grew weary waiting for the movie to end, whereas I couldn't believe how quickly two hours few by. I wonder if some of Ebert's negative reaction came from seeing the dubbed version first rather than the subbed version. I thought the voices were perfect in the Japanese version. (John Lassiter supervised the dubbing, though, and he respects Miyazaki greatly, so I think he would have done his best to do a good job.)

Another review that bugged me was one that said Howl's Moving Castle was "an overly familiar affair that will strain young attention spans with its plodding lessons about greed (it's bad) and nature (it's good)." Hello? Again, did we see the same movie? I suppose Howl's was tangentially about the hunger for power (greed), but "nature is good?" Howl's Moving Castle didn't talk about nature or the environment at all. The backstory was about how cruel and useless wars are, especially when based upon a ruler's desires for excitement. But the main focus of the movie was about what happens when you give you heart away for the wrong reasons, what true love is, and how love makes a family.

I don't get the difference between what the reviewers saw and what I saw!

Ah, well!

Short addendum - The Hisaishi core was hautingly beautiful, of course. I just won an E-Bay auction for the piano score. I can't wait for it to get here!

[agasfas]

Would it be presumptious to suppose that all these curses are some how
finally removed at the end?

Actually, I believe most of the curses where lifted, but I don't think Sofie's was totally lifted because at the end, although young looking had silver hair. So I assume Sofie stayed in the state that made her the happiest.


But yeah, I agree with you HisaishiFan, I can't see how Ebert gave it the review he did. I remember hearing saying that the film kind of wonders off towards the second third of the movie... but it all seem to blend together quite well.

Overall, Howl's Moving Castle is probablly one of the better anime films I've seen in a very long time. What really worked well for the film was it humor. Always used in the right time I thought. Now I kind of want to go out and watch Spirited Away. Sadly, I have yet to see that.


Actually I was curious about:
[spoiler] Did the Witch of the Waste Land put the curse of Sofie because of jealousy? That's my guess.

Anyone else notice how some people stated that Howl ate the hearts of beautiful women? What was that all about?

-Actually it's kind of ironic that a "heart" ended up being the center point of the film. Go figure.
[/spoiler]