The-Reviewer.net

Rated: PG Running Time: 119 Minutes Year: 2005 Boobs: Zero One Sentence: Another crazy story by Studio Ghibli. If you have not seen any of the previous Studio Ghibli movies, then you might be confused with this one, as it is not a "starter" film for the studio. The latest in the surge of imports through Disney that stand up as wonderful animation and stories that American audiences are welcoming, even with their completely odd characters, and stories. There are many of these films, and all should be available through Netflix. If this one sounds interesting, I would start with one of the earlier ones, my personal favorite is Spirited Away, and you can start with that one and have a solid grasp of what is going on enough to get the idea for the other films. Howl's Moving Castle, takes a lot of assumptions with the story, you have to accept these when watching. It is very odd storytelling, but with so much else going on, they just do not have time to tell it all. The story is already really long at 2 hours. Of course the animation and the characters are amazing and fun, scary, and not very pretty. It winds a tale of magic, war and love. However sadly I must say that this was not his best work, and perhaps was a little too much to not call it completely scattered, and thin in some parts. Much like this review I must say. They cast Billy Crystal for some reason as the voice of a magical demon. I am sure some redub American decision by Disney to get "someone big" to do the voice work, and it was horrible. The voice totally detracted from the character, and really felt empty and canned. The other voices were I think well placed, but some were reused from Spirited Away and it caused a little too much comparison between the two movies. I was trying to keep the two films separate, but it just didn't happen with those voices. Overall the voice work was just ok, I think they could have done better. I am sorry about this review, I know it isn't very good, I am really busy at work, but I have to get something out. In the end, the movie, should not be your first one from this studio, and is only OK. The story was not as quality as others, and was slow and confusing in some parts. I would rent it if you liked Spirited Away.

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