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Howl no Ugoku Shiro
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Animation - 9.4 |
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Sound - 8.3 |
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Story - 7.3 |
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Character - 7.8 |
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Value - 8.0 |
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Enjoyment - 8.2 |
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Average - 8.1 |
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Budding |
(2007-04-26 06:52:11) 2007-04-26 06:50:09 |
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Howl's Moving Castle is a wonderful anime movie made in 2004 by Studio Ghibli.
Howl's Moving Castle has a combination of high quality artwork, detailed animation, and stunningly beautiful CG effects. The character designs might look simple, but a lot of detail has been put into their emotions and expressions. Although the animation might seem a bit choppy at times, it is only noticeable to the most perceptive of viewers. The visuals are definitely of the highest quality, and will only impress, like what so many other Studio Ghibli productions have achieved.
Not only does this movie feature top quality visuals, but the soundtrack and sound effects of Howl's Moving Castle are equally outstanding. Every motion is, in addition to being animated to full, also accompanied with excellent sound effects. The voice acting is done very well, and the ending theme is perfect for this movie.
Howl's Moving Castle features a beautifully executed, touching, and exciting storyline. Despite having numerous unexplained facts, the storyline feels very well developed, and has a very satisfying conclusion. The imagination put into Howl's Moving Castle makes it a pure pleasure to watch.
Howl's Moving Castle lacks character introduction and development, yet it still manages to make viewers love its characters with ease. The actions and reactions of the cast are a joy to watch, not to mention their unique and radiant personalities.
Howl's Moving Castle would no doubt be most enjoyed by younger viewers, thanks to its vividly creative storyline and cast. It is yet another top quality movie by Studio Ghibli, which I would recommend to everyone who is after something delightful and relaxing to watch.
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andy |
(2009-08-21 12:09:32) 2007-03-15 13:44:04 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Miyazaki seems to have settled on a formula. Maybe not right away, but soon enough, the numerous similarities to Spirited Away will come through. There are cute token characters (think the hampster in Spirited Away), a silent one that just follows (no-name from again, Spirited Away), and one or two followers that used to be villains in the first half of the movie. The main character of Spirited Away, Chihiro, is also remarkably similar to our heroine here, Sophie. They busy themselves and work hard despite the complete 180 their life took. Luckily, it is quite a complex formula, and one that hasn't been played to death yet.
The animation and sound is feature film quality, and in many ways, typical Ghibli.
The story in Howl does fall short of other popular Ghibli works. In Spirited Away, the fantasy world was introduced one step at a time, and astonished and confused as you, the viewer may have been at some of the happenings there, the main character who also was just thrown in is just as confused. The viewer familiarized themselves with the world at a steady pace, and before long, the story becomes completely engulfing. The problem with Howl is that it cannot seem to decide between focusing on the world, or the two main characters. The happenings of the fantasy world remain a mystery. What exactly is going on with this war? Why does Howl masquerade as several different wizards? These are elements of the fantasy world that are introduced, but never tied up. All in all, it makes the world feel distant, which is something unusual of Ghibli. Howl's general lack of screen time made it hard for me to really be entranced by Sophie and Howl's relationship as well.
A stronger focus on the relationships between the characters would have sufficed, or a little more focus on the workings of the fantasy world would have worked as well.
The exception to this is that Sophie, much like Chihiro, can completely steal the show. So completely endearing, sometimes just watching their exploits is entertaining enough.
After finishing Howl though, most people who enjoyed Spirited Away will find that it delivers the same kind of fix. Love is again the main theme, and unlike American romance-comedies, Asian TV Dramas or regular anime, Ghibli love is completely absent of any conflict. Where there's yelling, crying, heartbreak, and jealousy in the former three, Ghibli in contrast, shows nothing more than pure affection.
If that's your thing, and I definitely have a taste for it, then give Howl's Moving Castle a try. If it's not, I would still recommend Spirited Away, but this may not be for you.
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| It's an okay anime. If I haven't read the original novel so many times, maybe I would have a different opinion. If you've read the original, you would notice that they changed quite a few things to make it fit into a 2 hour movie. They also cut out quite a bit so that there isnt that much character development. In the anime, Sophie is just some unlucky girl who turned into a bossy old lady.
The anime was average because there wasn't anything there to upset me but there also wasn't anything that excites me. There's just nothing to really grab you. It's all pretty passive, passively interesting. It's not really active action-wise or emotionally-wise.
If you like reading, I recommend you read the book instead.
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Karmel |
(2006-12-14 23:55:40) 2006-12-14 23:38:17 |
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| With so many people having watched this movie, I tried my hand at watching it as well.
It was enjoyable enough to watch, I love fantasy worlds, but I really don't see the point of this movie beyond that, so if you do not like fantasy, this would not be interesting.
What happened? Why? How? None of it was really explained in any given scene, all possible story morals I felt were rushed. Such as Howl's statement of him being nothing if he's not beautiful -- what comes of it? Nothing. Why have it at all? I don't know.
It had potential to be great, the magical word was really enjoyable, but everything else doesn't live up. I couldn't see any logical thoughts followed through to delve into the issues presented, it's too all over the place... the jumps in logic/emotions I did not understand.
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Okay, let's be honest for a bit - this is nowhere close to just about every other Ghibli movie. While I personally enjoyed it more than Laputa and Naushika, that's just my personal taste. Howl's is different. It lacks in just about every area that even fans of fantasy will be disappointed. That said, while it lacks in every genre, that means that no one will really HATE it. Instead, it becomes a run-of-the-mill fantasy movie (with KimuTaku). There's nothing on the surface to really attack - it's nice family movie, one you could take your grandma too to show her anime. But when comparing this with the other Ghibli movie, or even other anime in general, it fails to live up to expectations. The characters are all cut-outs from 12-year-old tween girl novels, the message is WAY over simplified, and the story kind of moves around in an illogical fashion. It just moves from one situation to the next, without any real sense of building tension. It's too simplistic for it's own good. But then again it is based off an American book, and it would come as no surprise to me if the flaws in the movie are also in the book (I have a general distaste for American literature).
Bottomline, it's harmless and pretty, so it's not too hard to sit and watch it.
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Darckirara |
(2006-06-23 14:55:36) 2006-06-23 14:52:12 |
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is another of Miyazaki's master pieces! wow! great stoy line, again deep and touching, great for audiences of all ages. Wonderful mixture of fantasy, comedy, romance. Exciting twists and excelent plot development.
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AntiCat |
(2006-08-04 15:22:55) 2006-05-31 02:16:19 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Another beautiful saga from studio Ghibli.
For some reason I get a bit tired from watching Ghibli movies, but I guess it's because they are so massive. They somehow manage to make so much fit into those two hours.
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Pantha |
(2006-04-29 14:58:39) 2006-04-29 14:42:18 |
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| Average |
6.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| If Gonzo were to make a movie, it will be very much like Howl’s Moving Castle. Indeed, this latest Ghibli film has excellent animation; everything from the castle’s breath-taking architecture to Howl’s bishounen-like design is a sight for sore eyes. Indeed, Howl’s Moving Castle also has a script that, from the looks of it, wasn’t completely written before animating the movie and characters that do things with either half-baked motivation or no motivation at all. Oh, as to be expected, this movie has its charming moments, but it takes more than charm to charm me.
….the first ten minutes of the movie are excellent. The generic heroine this time around works in a hat shop and she’s consequently rescued from a bunch of hoodlums by a blond wizard. The journey in the sky is easily one of the best sequences in the movie; everything after that point, however, is a haphazard mess. . A witch is supposed to have a sick fascination with Howl, yet we don’t know why. Calcifer (Howl’s fiery servant) is supposed to be, well, a prisoner, yet we don’t know why. Heck, everything about the movie spells out that he is a friend. A war is going on, but we don’t know the reasons for that either. Howl’s Moving Castle has an incredible premise that makes fine use of fairy-tale elements, but with the incredibly slow two-hour pacing, random facts and events are thrown around until I'm either bored or confused to the point of no longer caring.
While some of the characters maintain the trademark Ghibli charm, too many of them exist for the purpose of disillusioning the audience and nothing more. The aforementioned wicked witch, for one, changes her tune with no explanation at all. Howl is first introduced as a heroic man, then the hopes of all blushing young girls are quickly dashed when it’s oh-so suddenly revealed that he’s nothing more than a vain coward. Sophie is another non-descript Ghibli lead. Except she’s a bit more mischievous and blends in a bit too well with the magical world.
Howl’s Moving Castle has a lot of flaws and with its abrupt and bit too convenient ending, I’m hard-pressed to recommend the film. I don’t. However, I am pleased to see that this one of the few Ghibli films that hoards the displeasure it deserves. How wonderful it is not to have to say “had this not been made by Ghibli, this would have garnered the same criticism, as say, The Boy Who Saw the Wind.”
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PYRO |
(2007-01-02 20:28:35) 2006-04-23 18:27:21 |
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I liked this anime alot, despite that I usually dont like anime movies.
The story starts out by introduceing Sophie, who is a young lady who works at a hat shop. She considers herself plain and unattractive. After work, she walks to where her sister works to visit her... but on the way she is stopped by some soldiers who hit on her... she tries to deal with them but dosnt get anywhere so Howl decides to step in and rescu her, which is the event that was to be the start of Sophie's misfortune....
I liked the characters in this movie... not much to say about them except that i liked them.
The music was pretty good. it was both well suited to the movie and made the movie memmorable.
The artists who worked on this piece must have gone insane working on all the little details in the background. The forground and the characters however were kindof average which is why I did not give a 10 here
It was deffinatly worth watching twice (for me at least) maby not in a row or even in the same week, but deffinately worth watching 2x+
I gave a 10 for enjoyment because I really like this kind of story/atmosphere/setting and partially because Im easily ammused I suppose ^_^
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|
|
| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Miyazaki films are always very difficult to review. Due to classics such as Laputa and Nausicaa, we have come to expect brilliance from him all the time. He disappointed me with Spirited Away, and his latest offering does little to defuse the argument that maybe he has lost “it”. A reasonable film certainly, but not up to the his standards.
Read the full review for more.
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|
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| Average |
6.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
| Highly disappointed! I am huge fan of Miyazaki work,but this has to be his weakest movie ever.Yes it is beautiful,nice scenery,nice idea but its all over "Deja Vu" feeling.When i was watching this movie,i had a feeling like there was something from Princess Mononuke,Spirited Away and other Myzaki movies in it.Like all of it was mixed and put together!I don't know if he is loosing motivation or something but this didn't work at all for me.Animation was great cant be better,but story,characters and everything else about Howl's Moving Castle was bad in my mind.
I hope Miyazaki continues to create anime that will be remember forever,same way he did before this movie,Howl's Moving Castle!
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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|
|
|
| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Howls Moving Castle is a nice movie in the same manner as the rest of the Miyazaki's movies.
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Ryuga |
2005-12-27 09:13:56 |
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| I had many expectations to this movie before I finally got to see it. Some of them were fulfilled, while others were not. Studio Ghibli has once more proved that they know how to make really beautiful animations. From start to end, I enjoyed these fabulous well detailed pictures. Although the animation quality is first class, there are lots of things that could have been improved. The most disappointing thing about this movie was the plot. It seemed interesting for the first 20-30 minutes, but after that it became boring.
The story takes place in a world of steam-driven vehicles and crafts. There’s a war going on, but this is a rather diffuse part of the plot. We don’t really get to know why there’s a war, or who are fighting it. What we see is that Howl sometimes disappears to fight in this important war. Else, the characters look very Ghibli-like. But just like the story, they feel uninteresting after a while.
What overall makes this an all right movie is the excellent animation by Ghibli. The story has too many weaknesses and the ending is even more disappointing. However, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy the movie. Sound and characters were fine. Overall this is a movie I will recommend any anime-fan to watch.
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cain |
(2005-12-26 22:53:58) 2005-12-26 22:50:39 |
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Miyazaki does it yet again - leaving viewers of his works stunned and speechless from the magical realism and mystifying nature of the Ghiblies. Howl's Moving Castle is nothing to be missed - espcially if you have enjoyed any of Miyazaki's other works.
This movie was visually stunning, with some of the greatest animations I have ever seen. The background is always animated and lively, and you feel submerged into the show right from the beginning. The delicate 3D-ish effects help to create this enchanting quality of Howl's Moving Castle.
Music was great for setting the mood, as there was a range of different melodies ranging from the hopeful, to the sorrowful and then the happy. Sound effects were well incorporated to add to the humor and realistic element of this movie. I have yet to watch the Japanese-voiced version of Howl's Moving Castle, yet even the dub was very impressive.
I loved the story of Howl's Moving Castle, because it is a saga of touching romance amidst war and other elements of fantasy. Don't mistake it for some commonly used plot, because the storyline comprises of many twists and turns and Miyazaki always manages to stay one step ahead of the viewer as the plot unfolds, so that the audience is evermore willing to keep on watching! I thought that Howl's Moving Castle was highly original as well as touching and fulfilling.
Again, symbolism is a common theme utilized in most of Miyazaki's works, especially those after Princess Mononoke, and I loved trying to decipher the meaning of his contextual references while watching the show. It's so very meaningful, i.e. the scarecrow's secret!
The enticing storyline is accompanied by a set of brilliantly designed and characterized cast. Howl emitted a mysterious but also gentlemanly charming aura, while Sophie was down-to-earth and maternal. All the characters are very well presented and their roles, though sometimes minor, are always welcomed.
But Howl really stole the show with his flashy, childish and flamboyant manner! His mysteriousness at the beginning and the strange walking castle that he owns forms the basis of this movie.
Howl's Moving Castle is a movie that I can watch over and over again, whether as a visit to those charming characters or to experience the lifelike but also magical storyline for myself. It's nothing to be missed!
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Again one of studio ghiblis great anime with just lovely characters and a little confusing story...
howl no ugoku shiro is made to those who like magic/ drama anime. I recommend this anime to those who likes good adventures with magic. The idea of this anime is great and I really liked the beginning of the movie. That there was a young girl named Sophie who was bewitched by a witch named witch of the waste. But at end of the movie there were couple of things that confused me and I really had to think those things during the movie. But that didn't spoil my enjoyment because the plot has good points in it too. The moving castle was also a great idea, but what really makes this movie so good is the characters. You just can't dislike calcifer, Howl and witch of the waste.
Howl no ugoku shiro has good animation. It's sharp, clean and very pleasant to watch like it should be for a anime made in the 21th century. I can't remember that there would be very much sound in this movie but if there were, they definetly weren't annoying.
So it really does sound like a great adventure, doesn't it? But although it is a great movie , I think that the story is a week point of it.
Overall howl no ugoku shiro is a good, magicial anime with absolutely awesome characters. It makes me want to watch it again and again. You definetly shouldn't miss this one.
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Sinai |
(2005-12-02 15:39:03) 2005-12-02 06:54:42 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| File this under reviews I should have written 4 months ago.
How do you take a story that's already been told, and make it Ghibli? Simple. You butcher it. I'm a moderate fan of Diana Wynn Jones(sp?), and I've read the book, and I was moderately excited to hear a Ghibli movie was coming out for it. Oh Howl is still around, and so is Sophie, but they're really telling very nearly a completely different story.
I thought it was rather central to the story that Sophie was supposed to be unattractive and kind of old to be the heroine of the tale, so it's really quite disappointing that she is rather young and pretty. Howl as well is significantly younger than I had imagined him, though his interpretation here really steals the show. Howl is just a lot of fun in any form, narcissism and all. Calcifer...right, making him small and cute was a decision that was perhaps foreseeable, but it does steal quite a bit of the fire from him (sorry).
Still though, it was magical. Fairy tale magical. This is something that's said a lot about Ghibli, but it encompasses so much about the tale that it needs to be said. I actually took a college course on Fairy Tales once upon a time, and while discussing the theory of fairy tales isn't nearly as fun as you might think, there's definitely a unifying themes that makes something a fairy tale.
Magic. Simplicity. The Quest. There's no such thing as suspension of disbelief when it comes to fairy tales. Ghibli adds it's perennial dash of whimsy to the tale, and the show is on. Something I've always felt about Ghibli is that nearly all their animes teeter oh so very close to the edge of boredom constantly. That they so seldom tip over the edge is the a result of masterful directorial work.
I do have some serious issues with Sophie's endless blurring between her old and young personas at the end. It's never fully explained what makes her shift, but you can get a pretty good grasp of it by midway through, yet that's thrown by the wayside in the end. It's very irritating.
You can grow old, but you never have to grow up. I think that's really the most important thing when watching a Ghibli film.
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|
|
| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| oh man i'm so choked. I took my time and wrote a long review and once I clicked "post" it said I wasn't logged in anymore.
*deep breath* okay..
- movie was confusing
- characters were great, but appears to have a bit of split personality issues
- animations was creatively drawn
- based on a novel written 20 years ago
- often being compared with the "Spirited Away" due to the coincidental similarities
- storyline wasn't well explained
- read the novel and you'll have a better understand of the movie
- they recently released a japanese version of the novel
- story has many details to fit in a 2 hour film
- yet still very enjoyable to watch
- ain't the best movie
- ain't the worst neither
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Poom |
(2005-11-22 00:12:08) 2005-11-22 00:09:46 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This one kinda gone over to the comedy type and cheesy romance. Of course u still see strong-will girl with some weird strange guy as the main couple. Background story about war totally suck and they shouldn't do it since it already an fantasy anime. They also couldn't find a center to stand also. Character moving from place to place but never really have a climax to excite me enough. It was a BOOM at first then it start to fade away at the end.
Althou it kinda mess up a little bit, it still fun and make me happy. Ghibli done it again, this time with a sense of humor.
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|
|
| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| This review is going to be painful to write. Where to begin? This was the movie I'd been on pins and needles waiting for ever since I first saw Spirited Away 3 years ago. I guess that too much hype and anticipation is never a good thing.
In short, I was grossly disappointed by this movie. Having now seen it both dubbed and subbed, I'd rate it as my least favorite Miyazaki.
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petran79 |
(2008-01-02 08:08:19) 2005-11-12 13:16:02 |
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| Average |
6.0 |
| Animation |
0 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
0 |
| Character |
0 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| I watched the movie on cinema today and it left a feeling of disappointment. It certainly has to do with the direction and the pacing. Other viewers will not mind but I did. It had many similarities with ''Spirited Away'' but the latter was in my opinion a better movie overall though it shared many similarities with the former.
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