A nitpick here, but Only Yesterday may be a Studio Ghibli film, but it was written and directed by Isao Takahata and not Miyazaki. It’s a great film, by the way, and I highly recommend it to anybody who can track down a copy. It’s a subdued and lyrical story about a young city woman who summers with a farmer’s family, falls in love with country life and, eventually, a country boy. The sweeping country vistas and entrancing soundtrack are jaw-dropping. The plot is basically a complex character study of the young woman’s coming of age with nary a car chase or talking animal sidekick to be seen. It’s little wonder that Disney has no idea how to market it.
As for Howls Moving Castle, I’ve been dying to see this for a long time, now. I know where I could probably get ahold of a bootleg copy, but this is a Miyazaki movie and I want to see it on the big screen. And I’m willing to drive a ridiculously long distance to do so.
Ack. Had Kiki’s Delivery Service been the first of his films that I saw, it probably would also have been the last. IMHO that and My Neighbor Totoro offered little to appeal to adults. They might have done okay with the kids, but it seems to me that most of the viewers of anime in the US are teens or older, so Princess Mononoke was a fairly apt choice. If not for that movie, a lot of us wouldn’t have gone on to see Spirited Away (another excellent movie) or the kid-friendly movies mentioned earlier…or anything by Takahata or Kon, come to think of it.
In terms of plot and story, Howl’s Moving Castle is not as gripping or exciting as Spirted Away. But it is still very good on the eyes, the characters are somewhat interesting, and it’s not a bad way to pass the afternoon.
Anyone read the original novel? The story is much better there. I don’t know whether I like the adapation (I read the novel after the movie).
Ya got me. :smack: I just think of all Ghibli films as Miyazaki films, even though I know better.
As for driving a long way, how’s two hours sound? Howl’s Moving Castle is going to be at The Little Theatre in Rochester starting June 17.
Hell, if you’re looking for company at the film, I could be talked into meeting you there, too.
elfkin477, you make a valid point about meeting the expectations of the anime-watching audience. The problem is that marketing solely to that demographic will never pay for a theatrical release. No matter how large anime fandom is, now, it’s still a niche fandom.
To be a successful film in the theatres there seem to be three or four general demographics, and at least one of them has to be satisfied to make a film truly successful in theatrical release: The teen market - which is expected to like crude humor and risque situations; the parental market - which is looking for a movie that they will enjoy but can take young children to as well; the adult market (Not porn) where complex plots and characterizations are expected; and the “testosterone” market - explosions and outright sex. In the US, for the near future at least, I don’t expect animation to be able succeed in the theatres unless it can deliver the parental market. There are other, smaller or niche, audiences out there - but they aren’t large enough, and don’t command enough purchasing power, to make a film a success by themselves.
Remember the movie distribution houses don’t actually sell their product to the consumer - their customers are the theatres big & small and the theatre chains. So they have to satisfy a very small group of bean-counters that if they rent film X it will deliver an audience to the theatre. And if you want to talk conservative tastes, nothing - absolutely nothing - is more conservative than a bean-counter judging what entertainment he or she should risk the boss’ money on buying. This is true for books, movies, and music. Consider just how dependable it is that a year after a surprise hit that there will be three or four close imitators available - which, I guarantee, will have been marketed by the distribution houses as ‘This Year’s “X.”’
Because of these sorts of considerations, I stand by my complaints about Mononoke to introduce Miyazaki to the general American public. It is a complex, allegorical story, with no true hero, no true villian, and an ending that is as ambiguous as the characters. It’s the sort of story that would win critical attention and awards as a live-action film, but the American perception that animation must be for children meant that both the general public and my hypothetical bean-counters viewed it as a movie that should appeal to the ‘parents’ demographic I’d mentioned. And that’s the one demographic I believe would have been least satisfied with the movie.
I’m not criticizing the film. I’m criticizing the decision made to use Mononoke as the first of Miyazaki’s films to be given a general release, and further to use its success or failure as an acid test for releasing ANY of the other Miyazaki films that Disney bought at the same time.
Of course, part of the problem is that I’ve been waiting nearly ten effing years for Disney to get off its ass and release the film I most wanted released: Nausicaa. I used to pester the Disney Stores for release information, and Miramax, and BVHE, too. And none of them could actually accept that the parent corporation already owned the copyright for several Japanese animated films, until I showed them press clippings from Asashi’s English version. :mad:
I love Miyazaki films. I’ve seen Howl’s Moving Castle, but in Korean, so I missed all the finer details. It is good. Not as good Spirited Away, but since that’s my all-time favorite film, it’s an unfair comparison. I will definitely be seeing it this weekend.
Without knowing anything of the movie, itself. I agree. Which is why I didn’t mean to imply any particular approval of having the bean-counters making the decisions all by themselves. Sorry if I gave that impression.
Miyazaki’s a fine animator and storyteller, but his movies tend to be variation of a “girl and her pony/jet-powered glider/talking wolf/magic delivery service” story. And since the protagonist tends to be a relatively young girl, Evil Captor’s review is a little…uh…disturbing.
…and his work does show a disturbing lack of giant fighting robot action.
Okay, for the first time in at least two years I’ve just seen a movie in the theatres. It was good. I’m not condemning it, really. The animation was exactly the artistry that I would expect from Miyazaki. The voice acting was great fun. Certainly getting Lauren Bacall to voice the Witch of the Wastes was inspired, and Jean Simmons did a great job, too.
But I was disappointed. On several points.
First: Sophie wasn’t as acid as I recall from the book. A lot of the fun of the book was that Sophie spent much of it bullying this wizard who scared whole countries, and telling him what an idiot, wimp, and twit he was. There was a little of that, but not enough.
Second: Did anyone seeing the film not realize that Turniphead was the missing prince the moment he showed up on screen?
Is there any possibility of seeing this subtitled in theatres? If not, I might just pass and buy the DVD. (I don’t watch dubbed movies, especially not dubbed anime.)
It’s quite possible. Check the listings or call the theater. Here in L.A., I think two showings per week at the early-release theater were Japanese language with English subtitles.
I had no clue.I just assumed it was yet another odd, magical companion that typically associates with the main character.
I didn’t know there was a missing prince. I couldn’t figure out just why there was a war, but I figured that Turniphead had some sort of important purpose.
My wife and I just saw it yesterday, and we both enjoyed it very much. I’ve got two and a half criticisms of it; neither of them will be in spoiler tags, since the movie’s in broad release, and this thread seems almost dead anyway. Be forewarned that the rest of my post will contain spoilers.
The voice of the fire demon was a little distracting at first. I’m pathologically bad at recognizing people or voices, so I didn’t realize it was Billy Crystal; my wife instantly recognized him, and said that was hard to get over.
They either needed to leave the reasons for the war completely ambiguous, or else build them up a lot more. If I recall correctly, the only mention of the missing prince was an overheard, faint conversation to that effect that lasted all of about five seconds. That’d be fine if it never came up again; but for it to come up in the denouement scene like that was just far too pat for my tastes. To leave the denouement that way, they needed to show folks searching for the prince, have newspaper headlines about “PRINCE STILL MISSING,” and so forth. Make it integral to the plot instead of incidental.
Miyazaki, hon? We know that you think big black blobs are scary. We get it. Come up with some new monsters. (And yes, I know all about anime tradition, blah blah blah. Come up with some new monsters.)
But I loved the many wonderful visuals: the landscapes, the battleships spitting monsters, the Witch in her litter (or whatever it’s called), the sewing of the hats, the descent into full-on slimy moping. Great stuff!
In the case of “Howl” I assume the girl was of legal age … her sister, about her age, was working as a “tavern wench” and clearly was VERY popular with the guys. VEEEEEEERY popular. (I"m not saying she was ho, that was in no way implied, but she was clearly beloved of the tavern’s male clientele.) And they looked to be about the same age.
In any event, my comment about tentacle scenes was a joke. Miyazaki’s work isn’t really conducive to tentacle scenes. Apples and oranges, so to speak.
Yes. Someone did. I’m not naming any names, but someone did not catch on to that immediately, and furthermore, someone sees no reason why anyone should have caught on to that immediately.
Didn’t they mention that Sophie was the older sister?
Did anyone else think the frame rate was freakishly slow? It felt like I could see every single frame.
I was really hoping this film would get a lot of love. I did see several commercials but it was only put in 202 theaters at its highest. The showing I went to had a fair crowd for the matinee showing.
Huh, I thought Calcifer was James Woods. I did find that voice distrcting. It didn’t sound fiery at all.
:mad:
It is good. Not as good Spirited Away, but since that’s my all-time favorite film, it’s an unfair comparison. I will definitely be seeing it this weekend.