Howl's Moving Castle - The Best Saved For Last?

Not the usual DVD cover image, but I think this gives a better look at the film

The English Dubbed Trailer

Introduction

I actually wanted to do this Ghibli film as my very first blog on the site as i thought i'd have so much to say about it (it's EASILY in my top 3 all time favorite films!). But then it occurred to me that it might be a better idea saving it till last, ending on a high note while also raising awareness of all the other great films Studio Ghibli have released in the mean time. But the time has come for me to review one of my favorite and most loved Ghibli films Howl's Moving Castle!

I know I've already touched on the voice actors in this film, but i thought i would put in the full list of voice actors for the main characters just to give you an idea of the big names in this one film.

Cast:

• Young Sophie                        Emily Mortimer
• "Grandma Sophie"                 Jean Simmons
• Howl                                       Christian Bale
• The Witch of the Waste         Lauren Bacall
• Calcifer                                   Billy Crystal 
• Markl                                      Josh Hutcherson 
• Madame Suliman                   Blythe Danner
• Lettie                                       Jena Malone
• Honey                                      Mari Devon
• Prince Justin/Turnip Head   Crispin Freeman
• The Minister of Defense        Mark Silverman
• Heen the dog                          Daijirō Harada
• Madge                                     Liliana Mumy 
• The King                                 Mark Silverman

The film received a generally positive reception (even getting a 93% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes) although some critics have come out stating they thought it was one of Miyazaki's "weaker" movies. I genuinely don't know where they get that idea from as i think the film is fresh, interesting and has a constant "Magical" quality to it.

 I've never found myself watching a film like this and suddenly thought "wait, he can fly? that was never explained" or "what?, she can talk to animals now?" and had not realized i never questioned the oddities until some friends watched some ghibli films and picked holes in them. 

So left feeling like a child who's just had their favorite cuddly toy judged and poked at I got to thinking why I never question the weirder points of these films, and eventually came to a conclusion. I'll bet no one ever watched the little mermaid and their first though was "wait, the crab and the flounder fish can talk? how does that work??" or watched Toy Story and complained that the reason the toys came to life in the first place is never explained.

 It's because they're Disney films and you know what to expect from them and accept it as fantasy without questioning it, and i suppose Ghibli films are the same. 

I just find myself not minding these things aren't explained, of COURSE howl can turn into a giant bird thing, aye its a big bouncing scarecrow with a turnip for a head, why not? and a talking fire demon that controls all the different portals the magical back door of the castle leads to while also controlling where all the hot water in the house is sent and can also move a giant castle made up of hundreds of different thrown together bits of house, pipes and random doohickeys? bloody brilliant!!  

An Engineering Nightmare, Howl's Castle In All It's Glory

Calcifer The Fire Demon, One Of My Favorite Characters (Voiced By Billy Crystal!) 

The Review

All this gushing about the film so far and i haven't even talked about the plot or the characters again? oh my days :D


The movie follows the story of an 18 year old responsible-yet-plain hat maker girl named "Sophie" one day when on her way to visit her sister at the bakery where she works, Sophie has an encounter with a mysterious wizard. Shortly after meeting him they are both chased by strange creatures that look like they're made out of ink but the wizard saves Sophie and drops her off at the bakery.

Later that night on returning to her hat shop Sophie is visited by The Witch Of The Waste who (being jealous of her being with Howl) puts a curse on her turning her into a 90 year old woman. Just before disappearing the witch of the waste tells Sophie she wont be able to tell anyone about the curse. 

18 Year old Sophie

90 Year Old Cursed Sophie (Known as "Grandma Sophie" in the credits)

Deciding that she can't stay in her mothers house in her current state Sophie sneaks out during the night without telling anyone whats going on as she seeks a cure. While walking through the hills she chances upon Howl's magical moving castle and runs after it climbing in a back door.

This is where Sophie meets Calcifer the fire demon who powers the castle, he recognizes that she is cursed and offers to break it in return for her helping to break the spell he is under, binding him to the house. When howl appears Sophie announces that she has been hired by Calcifer as the new cleaning lady. As the story goes on it follows Sophie in her travels in the castle and the growing love she has for Howl, while she searches for a cure to her curse Sophie also trys helping Howl with his troubles.

Summary

As it's probably already very obvious to you i love this film, i could watch it over and over and not get bored. It's my all time favorite Ghibli film and a high scorer in my Top 3 Movies Of All Time. i think the story line is fantastic (i didn't get even half the plot in this review), the characters are all wonderfully unique, the animation is stunning, the music fits well with whats going on and also the way the story is told and how you bond with the main characters. 

Also I LOVE the voice acting in this film (Billy Crystal, Christian Bale and Jean Simmons are awesome!!) but most importantly of all these things i think the film is simply a joy to watch and If you like the sound of the story or anything about this film or any others I've talked about why not give them a watch and see what you think? That would make me one happy blogger!

This is Emmet, Signing Off

Spirited Away - Is it as good as they say?

 A Quick Message To The Audience

First of all a quick apology on my part! it's been well over a week since I last updated the ol' blog and that's terrible :( so as an extra special treat I'm going to be uploading my last 2 studio ghibli blogs tonight then moving on to the next phase of the blog. a complete overhaul of the ghibli page where I will be changing the topic to a sort of "anything and everything" subject, mostly films I'm thinking so far but I wont limit myself to making that the topic and I've got a very special film lined up for my first non-ghibli review! so make sure and look out for that. anyway that raps up the latest update on the Emmet blog, back to the review!

Spirited Away

Well it's finally here ladies and gentlemen the world renowned Spirited Away, One of Hayou Miyazaki's most famous films and very often one of the first Ghibli films people watch. This is most likely due to it's massive fan base and the amazing reviews it receives. The film had a budget of ¥1.5 Billion Yen ($19 Million Dollars) yet It remains the most successful film in Japanese history grossing over $274 Million Dollars worldwide! it overtook titanic (which was number one at the time) in the Japanese box office to become highest-grossing film in Japanese history.

It has received a huge amount of awards and nominations so rather than writing about each one here's a small list to give an idea of a few:

• Online Film Critics Society Award for "Best Animated Film"

• Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for "Best Animated Film" 

• Academy Award for "Best Animated Feature Film"

• Blue Ribbon Award for "Best Film" 

• Boston Society of Film Critics Award - Special Commendation

• Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA - Won the Saturn Award for "Best Animated Feature" and Nominated for the Saturn Award for "Best Music" and "Best Writing"

I could go on and write about every award the film has one and been nominated for but the review would be way too long! if your interested there is a list of awards and nominations the film received HERE where the full 44 award wins/nominations are listed.


Wow, the review is so long already and i haven't even started talking about the plot or characters of the film yet! thanks for sticking with it this far lol!


The plot revolves around a 10 year old girl name "Chihiro" and her adventure into a new world. The movie begins with Chihiro in the car with her mother and father as they are moving house from the city to a more rural area of Japan. during the drive to the new house they suddenly become lost and stumble upon what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. 


Chihiro's father insists on exploring it as she and her mother reluctantly go with him. As they explore more of the park Chihiro's parents end up sampling the food at an unattended stall. Chihiro wanders off finding a grand bathhouse where a boy approaches and warns her to leave before nightfall. 


When Chihiro runs back to her parents, she finds they have been transformed into pigs and the area starts to swarm with spirits. She eventually learns from Haku, the boy she had met earlier, that her and her parents have become trapped in the spirit world. Haku then brings Chihiro to the bathhouse run by a rather unpleasant yet somewhat likable witch named "Yubaba" where the main story line begins. 


So in a short summary the plot involves Chihiro getting trapped in the spirit world with her parents having been transformed into pigs as she tries to rescue her parents and get back to the human world while working for the witch running the bath house to the spirits Yubaba. The part of the story with Chihiro working in the bath house has got to be my favourite part of the movie, its just so lively and full of fun characters i love it. 


This has got to be in my Top 10 favorite films of all time list!, although it isn't number one it definitely ranks high. I love the style of animation, the story line is immersive, very individual and brilliant! it is full of both crazy and amazing characters and as with most ghibli films i find that it doesn't matter how long a character is on screen each one has it's own very distinct, individual character and personality behind it which is a big plus and something you don't get in most films. The settings in this film are magical, strange and totally amazing where the voice acting is once again top quality and i particularly like the voices of Yubaba/Zeniba and Chihiro. i love sitting down watching this film and just switching off not a care in the world aha. 


overall i think this film is a must see and deserves all the awards its received and more. If you haven't seen this film and the plot sounds AT ALL appealing to you i would highly recommend this film to anyone and if just one person that discovers this film through this i'll be one happy blogger! 


This is Emmet, Signing Off

A Quick Update

A Quick Update

Many readers of this blog maybe haven't heard of the films I've blogged about in the past couple of posts and found it quite interesting to read about them, possibly even wanting to watch them for themselves if it sounded quite good!. But there must also be readers out there who are sick of hearing me harp on about ghibli films and how great i think they are aha, but just to clarify, i only started off writing about ghibli films because i thought i would have a lot of material to talk about with them as I've seen a lot of their stuff and they have a lot of depth. 

Soon though i'm gonna move on to doing loads of different things with the blog but not sure whether to just edit the design of this one and carry on or create a whole new post to go with the new subject, soon find out though. 

So just a quick update to let everyone know i'm going to be doing 2 more ghibli films (the best i can think of) then moving on to doing anything and everything from other movies, games, random stuff and even some T.V series reviews. so 2 more ghibli blogs then there's gonna be a whole lot more different content on the blog so make sure and check back regularly for the latest stuff :D. the next blog will be:

Spirited Away

*Spirited Away, FULL of crazy awesomeness*

The Cat Returns - What I Think

First Things First:

So before getting down to the serious business of reviewing the 2002 Ghibli film "The Cat Returns" I thought I would just take a moment (or a bit longer!) to talk about how amazing some of the selection of voice actors used in the English dubbed versions of the films are. 


I mean the dubbing has always been top quality but i never expected the voice actors to be such big Hollywood names with there being at least 2 huge names in every ghibli film I've researched about so far! for example here is a list of ghibli films, and the people who voice some of the many main characters and where you might know them from!

Nausicaä of The Valley Of the Wind:

Patrick Stewart

Shia LaBeouf

Uma Thurman

Mark Hamill (A.k.a LUKE SKYWALKER!, Also one of my favorite joker voices!)

Howl's Moving Castle:

Cristian Bale (Howl)

Billy Crystal (Calcifer)

Blythe Danner (witch of the waste) (originally set to play charlies mother in two and a half men)

Kiki's Delivery Service:

Kirsten Dunst (Kiki)

Janeane Garofalo

Kath Soucie (fun fact, Kath Soucie did the voices for Master Viper From Kung Fu Panda, Jessie in Red Dead Redemption and also Phil and Lil in Rugrats!)

Phil Hartman (troy McClure/Lionel Hutz from "The Simpsons" and Ted From "Jingle All The Way" :D)

Tales From Earthsea:

Willem Dafoe 

Timothy Dalton (BOND)

*those two speak for themselves*

Susanne Blakeslee (Wanda from "Fairly Odd Parents"!! also in Bioshock 1 & 2 as "Lady Smith Splicers" and many more) 

Kathryn Cressida (Dee Dee from "Dexter's Lab" oh god! ahahaha)

Jeff Bennet (The voice of JOHNNY BRAVO,  Drix from "Ozzy and Drix", Clay from "Xiolin Showdown" trust me the list goes on...)

Ponyo:

Cate Blanchett

Liam Neeson

Matt Damon

Tina Fey (legend)

Noah Lindsey Cyrus (Miley Cyrus' Little Sister)

frankie Jonas (yes, The youngest jonas brother, eugggh)

and one final film :D, today's blog (eventually!! i know) 

The Cat Returns - The Actual Review Now...... Finally

Anne Hathaway (Haru, the main Character)
Tim Curry (The Cat King) (Legend)
Gary Elwes (Baron) (Dr Lawrence Gordon from Saw 1)
Kristen Bell (Haru's Best Friend Hiromi) (Elle From Heroes)
Peter Boyle (Muta The Fat Cat) (also played frank in "everybody loves raymond")
Elliott Gould (Toto The Crow) (this guy is a legend! rueben from the "Oceans 11-13" films, Jack Geller From "Friends", 

                                               The Cat Returns Trailer

The Cat Returns is a 2002 Japanese animated movie directed by Hiroyuki Morita of Studio ghibli based on a manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi. The movie follows the story of a shy Japanese schoolgirl named Haru (Anne Hathaway) who's life is turned upside down after saving a cats from being run over while walking home from school one day. As it turns out the cat is Lune, Prince of the cat kingdom.

Prince Lune of The Cat Kingdom

For saving Prince Lune Haru is "hailed " with "presents" from the entire cat kingdom in gratitude including: all the mice she could eat, a garden full of cat tails (the plant, the film isn't sadistic), a good supply of Catnip and eventually Haru is shocked to discover they even want to "reward her" by making her Lune's bride.


It's at this point in the story a mysterious voice tells Haru to "find the large white cat at the crossroads (doesn't say which streets though, hope the city only has one crossroad!) he will take you to "The Cat Bureau". And so we are introduced to one of my Top characters of the Ghibli films the head of the cat bureau "Baron Humbert von Gikkingen" or Baron for short. Baron is a thin ginger cat who wears a white suit with a white top hat and cane, i mean how cool is that!!!

An Artists Drawing of Baron, very accurate to the movie

The Baron is voiced by Gary Elwes (who i'd never heard of until researching the film for the blog) is great in this film the voice for the character is just great, like some kind of high class bond type dude best character EVER. so as Haru is talking to baron and the gang the messenger of the cat kingdom appears and with a huge flock of cats kidnaps Haru taking her to the cat kingdom. so here is where we get our first full introduction to the cat king voiced by the LEGENDARY TIM CURRY with lines like "Hey Babe" and "Looking Gooooood Babe") the cat king is one hell of a pimp! but doesn't have enough lines for Tim Curry to show off his voice acting :D. 

The Cat King, What a Pimp

The longer Haru stays within the cat kingdom the more she starts to notice her appearance change to look like a cat like her hands turn into paws, she grows whiskers and even gets cat ears! when it starts to look like all is lost and Haru will be stuck as a cat forever the baron shows up and saves the day (like a BAWS!) and basically a long chase scene, everything works out. and all is awesome!. Haru's life has even been changed for the better because of the experience. just before they part for the last time Haru even tells Baron she has a crush on him! lol. 

Summary

this has got to be one of my top 2 34 5! lol, top 5 ghibli films. its too hard to pick top films from ghibli aha. i thought this film was brilliant when i first saw it a few years back, and i still think its brilliant now! its a real feel good happy film and if you come out of it with anything but a smile on your face i would be surprised. and although there are one or more ghibli films i prefer this is definitely a high scorer in the top 5. 


All of the characters have such a well defined personality with such a great story line behind them. it always surprises me how much i like the Haru character for being so believable and such a realistic character always having a believable reaction to situations such as when the cat she saves thanks her, standing on 2 legs. Absolutely dumbstruck that a cat could speak and she could understand.

                               Haru, hearing the cat speak

The Kingdom of cats is pretty well designed but i would think that a kingdom of cats would look a lot different to the human world? or is that just me. lol. all in all my favorite characters, in order are: 

The Baron: The coolest cat in any film I've ever seen :D

Muta: The grumpy fat cat who turns out to be a hero and a loyal friend. great character.

Haru: The shy school girl who always sleeps in. but by the end of the film is up before her mum and loving life.

So yeah its a great film, and if it sounds good to you, hey why not give it a watch? if you liked this VEEEERRRRYY long review then make sure and check back soon for the next one. if you really liked it why not follow me :D aha, but hey. no matter what you think why not leave a comment at the bottom? anyone can comment and you dont need an account for it. but you maybe do, lol i dunno :D.     see you later!       Emmet

Horus: Prince of The Sun

The English Box Art Of Horus: Prince of The Sun

Although not technically a part of the studio ghibli franchise, the film " Horus: Prince of The Sun " (The name being changed to "The Little Norse Prince" for it to be distributed by Optimum Releasing to the English speaking audience) was directed by Isao Takahata, one of the creators of Studio Ghibli who would later go on to make Grave of The Fireflies. Hayao Miyazaki was also one of the many animators who worked on the film while he also provided many different designs and story ideas for it. all these factors combined practically make this movie the beginning roots of the Studio Ghibli Company.

Set in iron age Scandinavia, The story begins with a young boy named Horus trying to escape a pack of attacking Silver wolves attacking them with his fathers axe but he is eventually cornered against a rock pile. As the wolves advance and it looks like all is lost the rock pile moves and turns out to be the hand of an ancient stone giant named Mogue. Horus speaks with Mogue and finds out he has been troubled with a small thorn in his shoulder, Horus decides to help Mogue out and climbs up to try and remove the thorn, which turns out to be a giant 2 handed sword called the "Sword of The Sun" Horus Manages to remove it and his adventure begins.

The film follows the adventure of Horus and his you bear cub companion "Coro" who like all the other animals in the film can talk to humans and though it is never explained i just went with it because hey, its animation :D.


I was also surprised to hear that the film was released in 1968 as the animation and voice acting is quite smooth and well done and sure it does look dated and it does feel like an older film, but made in the 60's!? that's crazy! this film cam out the same time as "2001: a space odyssey" and the Vietnam war! and i just sat and happily watched the whole thing without picking any major problems with it. i particularly liked the animation of the villain in the movie Grunwald the demon and his henchmen of animals and ice wolves.

Grunwald, The Smug Git! :D

Overall i thought the film was very good as i went into it knowing nothing about it other than it was made by some of the people who founded ghibli so i was shocked when i found out how old it was when researching information about it after watching it as it didn't look that dated, sure the story line is a bit thin in places but as a whole its a good story all about humanity and working together to help our fellow man being told really well.


I thought the Hilda character was a little creepy though with some of the dialogue she comes out with, such as standing in a room where a bride is getting ready for her wedding as she shouts out asking "what is the point of all this when you will soon be burnt and turned to ashes anyway?" but we find out this is because she is Grunwald the demons sister and had lost her humanity by being manipulated by him.

Is it just me, or does she just look creepy?

I really liked this film and am very impressed that they made a film of such good quality and such sound story line so long ago. the ending is great as Hilda, Horus And the villagers all work together to rebuild their village after their great battle for survival against Grunwald and his minions. i would recommend this film both to fans of studio ghibli films and to people who want to see a feel good animation film. so this wraps up my review of Horus: Prince of The Sun!. Tune in next time when i'll be reviewing Miyazaki's 2002 film "The Cat Returns"

Next On My List!

Studio Gibli - Who are they

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese film and animation studio which was founded in June 1985 and is headed by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and isao Takahata and the producer Toshio Suzuki , The studio was founded after the success of the 1984 film "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" which was written and directed by Miyazaki. the studio's logo (shown above features Totoro (a large friendly forest spirit) from Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 film "My Neighbour Totoro".

It's really hard to summarize the kind of films Studio Ghibli make, they're always beautifully animated (no matter how long ago it was released) they always come with dramatic and well fitting music by some of the most well renowned composers and artists in Japan and the story is always brilliant. but each and every film is so drastically different in plot and design that it always feels like a fresh and new experience.

To get an idea of how drastically different the storylines can be the 1988 film "Grave Of The Fireflies" is an animated war tragedy set near the end of world war II in Japan as it follows the relationship between two orphaned children, 14 year old Seita and his 4 year old sister Setsuko. The first scene of the film starts out in Sannomiya train station and shows Seita dressed in rags and dying of starvation as a janitor comes and digs through his possessions and he finds a candy tin containing ashes and bones. As he throws it out, out from it come the spirits of Setsuko and Seita as well as a cloud of fireflies as the spirit of Seita continues to narrate their story. the film is shocking and gripping at the same time as Seita is such a likeable character but is in a terrible possition.

In contrast to this The 2002 film "the cat returns" follows the story of a quiet japanese school girl named Haru who has the suppressed ability to talk to cats. one day while walking home from school she saves a black cat from being run over by a truck. as it turns out it the cat was lune "prince of the cat kingdom" who thanks Haru by taking her hand in marriage. she is then carted off to the cat kingdom against her will, gradually turns into a cat and can see no way home. she is saved by the cat "Baron Humbert von Gikkingen" or Baron for short, who i swear is THE coolest cat i've ever seen :D.

Anyway I've tailed off. in summary i think studio ghibli is a fantastic film studio and all of their work is excellent :D, they always have such fun and relatable characters making watching any of their films a fantastic experience. There isn't a single Ghibli film I've seen so far that i haven't come out of with a big smile on my face, they are all beautifully made with great stories behind them and even though the storylines are all so drastically different i can always tell when its a Ghibli film whether its because of the anmation style or the characters i have no idea. but all of the reasons here are why i love studio ghibli films and why i chose to do my very first blog about them!