Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Watched 1st, 2nd third 20110104, 3rd third 20110105 (DVD) English audio. No subtitles.
Watched 20111010 (Netflix, Instant) English audio.
Howl's Moving Castle (2004) Hayao Miyazaki. 119 min.
also known as Hauru no ugoku shiro (original title)

Relevant Links:
Howl's Moving Castle (IMDb.com)

previous movie (Black Swan):next movie (Roman Holiday)
20110104:
While an interesting movie, I had to stop watching to go play Lost Cities: The Board Game.

previous movie (Roman Holiday):next movie (Funny People)
20110105:
Today, 20110105, I started by watching a scene I missed yesterday: Howl throws a tantrum.

After that I started the movie from where I left off yesterday: Sophie returns to Howl's castle on the flying machine. There are a couple of plot points that I don't quite get. But it's not a big deal, because the movie is a story full of magic and there's really no explaining magic.

I feel this movie is on the same level as NausicaƤ of the Valley of the Wind (1984). My favorite Hayao Miyazaki film is still Spirited Away (2001). I'm not certain how I would place everything else, but I thought Ponyo (2008) was a cute little love story and I didn't like the ending to Princess Mononoke (1997). I did, however, think Princess Mononoke had awesome action scenes. Then there's Porco Rosso (1992), which was great, but not as great as any movie listed so far. Finally, Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) was delightfully simple like Ponyo, but Ponyo was a cuter movie, because the protagonists were younger. In contrast, Kiki's Delivery Service is thematically a coming-of-age movie, like Nausicaa, and inherently more serious and less cute.

[20110105]

20111010:
I understood the plot much better, but some of the animation still freaks me out.

Instant Comments:
I didn't realize his hair changing color was the reason for his tantrum. What was it before orange and then black? Apparently blonde, haha.
I love when the castle sheds itself of all the excess.

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