I loved Howl’s Moving Castle. I enjoyed all the liberties it took with the Diana Wynne Jones novel. I loved it for all the moves it made that Hollywood films don’t, like going in unexpected directions that make sense (unlike Hollywood’s much vaunted reversals which almost never do), and having a wonderfully charasmatic old woman as the heroine who was neither Hallmark cute nor a wicked witch, for being heartwarming without being chunderous, and for being genuinely magical.
Thank you. If it’s on where you live go see it. Now!
I can’t WAIT to see it! “Howl’s Moving Castle” is seriously on my top ten favorite books of all time list, and the movie sounds amazing…
Jenny D: me too! I adore the book! One of the things I loved so much is the way Miyazaki takes Wynne Jones’s book and turns it into this whole new Miyazaki thing. It’s a true adaptation. Go see it! Right now!
Oh goodie — we are going to see it this week. I’m so excited!!!
I love the book, too. My first DWJ, I think. I read it aloud to Matt, but it was almost impossible to get through the chapter with the seven-league boots (“in which sophie attempts to leave the castle in several different directions at one”) because we both kept dissolving into helpless laughter.