Miyazaki’s Still A Genius

Much to my delight (almost like a Beatles fan finding out that their favorite band is coming to their town), Hayao Miyazaki’s latest movie “Howl’s Moving Castle” opened in a theater near my home (well, okay, it was twenty minutes away, but it was close enough for me). So far I’ve seen two of his films in the theaters: “Spirited Away” and “Princess Mononoke.” Both movies were awesome on the big screen, and I hope that Disney decides to go ahead with their plans for a limited theatrical release of “Nausicaa: Valley of The Wind” (and that that movie eventually finds its way to my area). If Miyazaki made bad movies, then his films would be worth seeing in the theater just because they are beautiful movies to look at. Luckily for us he makes some of the best movies ever. He ranks in their with Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard (in my humble opinion). When I read early reviews of “Howl’s Moving Castle” I was a bit taken back by what I read.

Much to my surprise, many of the reviews I read from critics and anime fans alike were pretty lukewarm, and even people who liked the movie said it had a fair share of problems. How could this be? Isn’t this Miyazaki for pete’s sake? Even if he WERE to make a bad movie, it would still have to be better then almost all efforts made by other directors out there! It was with this mind set that I approuched “Howl’s Moving Castle,” fully expecting to be let down and be disapointed. Turns out I was partially right to worry and partially wrong to worry. “Howl’s Moving Castle” is a good movie. This makes me very happy as I simply can not imagine Miyazaki making a bad movie. With that said I loved the movie, I loved the visuals, I loved the music...in fact I REALLY loved the music (best score Joe Hiashi has writen since “Princess Mononoke” I believe), I loved the characters, the voices were excellent and I find myself siding with the dub for most of the Ghibli movies I’ve seen, and I even love the story. Strangely enough, it’s the story that I have the most problems with.

Now don’t get me wrong, the story is very good for the most part, it’s just that there are several moments in the film where the narration just isn’t as focused as it should be. At the heart of this film is the story of a woman who is learning to love herself. Miyazaki, however, also wanted to make a protest against the war in Iraq and added in this whole war that started brewing, with Howl being asked to serve both sides (see, he has several different identities). There is nothing wrong with this, and even though I personally support the war it’s okay is Miyazaki wants to make a stance against it in his movies, but it just feels out of place here. You never really know anything about the conflict with which this war is supposed to be about, and the movie wastes a good chunk of time on these “war discussions” that don’t even clue the audience in with what’s going on. Since this whole war is distracting us from the heart and soul of the story, it would be nice to have a little more info. Of course, this was probably done intentionally, to make a statement that Miyazaki doesn’t care what the war is about, just that he is against it.

Powerful statement Mr. Miyazaki, but this time I think you should have considered toning down your statement in favor of making a more focused story for your movie. Also the ending leaves a lot to be desired. Now an open-ended ending is not unusual for a Miyazaki film. My favorite film of his is “Porco Rosso,” and that movie has the most open-ended ending you could ask for, one that is open to loads of discussion. But even though the ending for that movie was pretty lacking in anything solid, it was still an ending, one that gave you a very good idea of what happens to the characters. The ending for “Howl’s Moving Castle” is very, VERY vague! In fact, I can’t even give you an IDEA of what the ending is suggesting! I think I might have to see the movie a second time with the ending in mind if I have any hopes of figuring it out, and even that is a long shot at best.

Despite the story structure problems though, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is still an excellent film. It may be the weakest movie he’s directed yet, but it is still better then most of the movies currently out in theaters. I just hope it doesn’t get overshadowed by movies like “Star Wars Episode III” and “Batman Begins” this summer, and has a chance to become a real hit with audiences.