Friday, October 07, 2005

Howl's Moving Castle

We went to see Howl's Moving Castle last night, it was brilliant. I would like to read the book now. The characterisation was excellent, and the scenery was beautiful. There's a particularly good bit where Sophie is looking at the waves lapping on the shore of a lake, and the water comes in, then as the wave recedes, the sand takes longer to dry out. It's beautiful. The fire demon, Calcifer, was really well done as well - it's amazing how much character you can get into a fiery blob. The characters were complex and interesting, especially Howl. I loved his shamanic transformations into a big bird of prey.

Rumour has it that Miyazaki is going to adapt The Wizard of Earthsea next. That would be brilliant. I'm sure he will do an infinitely better job than the ridiculous SciFi Channel version.

2 comments:

Phil Wilson said...

The book is far, *far* superior. But I might be biased because it's one of my favourite children's books and I first read it about 15 years ago :)

Phil Wilson said...

Oh, it's also worth pointing out that the film is an adaptation of the book rather than a direct life. In the book there's no war and Howl doesn't turn into a giant marauding bird-thing. Just to warn you :)