Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

I thought I might add to all the year end “Best of . . .” lists this week by calling some attention to my five favorite animation stand-outs for the last year: films, sites, books or works of art that inspired me or caused me to at least think in a new way about the animation I was doing.

#5 on the list is HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE.

I’m an ardent fan of Miyazaki‘s work, but this most recent feature is not one of my favorites, but there was a lot that still got me and my animation motivated in a positive direction.

The film, for me, like most of Miyazaki’s films, is too long. 15 minutes would have made the film tighter and more exciting.

I thought the acting by the English-speaking actors who dubbed the film was generally good. In most of this director’s films the actors seem to shout their lines rather than speak them. (This is true even in the Japanese versions; perhaps the dubbing directors try to match the mouths which are opening wide.) This problem was handled better than usual here. Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall and Blythe Danner were exceptional. Billy Crystal was the comedian hired, and I guess he felt he had to be funny even though his lines weren’t. His over-the-top performance came off as annoying. A speechless scarecrow has more heart than any character in many other recent chatty animated features.

Graphically the film felt like all of Miyazaki’s others. The background artists seem to create a wonderful sense of place. Despite the fact that this style has been used in a number of films, it’s amazing how versatile the artists make it seem. I wish I felt the same about the characters. They felt particularly generic in their Anime look (see still). This look wasn’t quite so severe and obvious in SPIRTED AWAY, but it was a major problem for me in this film.

HOWL’S MOVING SPIRIT is an adaptation of a best-selling children’s book by British
author, Diana Wynne Jones. I suspect this may have had an effect on the director. Part of what I like about the best of his films was absent here. Miyazaki’s films are usually imbued with a spirituality which rides under every decision made. Of course, the spirits and gods of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are alien to me, but I never feel at a loss for this. I am carried away by their mystery, and I enjoy their company. The source for Howl’s Moving Castle is European, though it now seems set in a Neverland. The “place” created by the director had its own reality, and I always knew where I was within that “place”. It’s just that I never felt the substantial reality of that setting – it didn’t feel real. Again, this wasn’t at all the problem in Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away.

The combined use of 2D and 3D graphics is brilliantly executed. It’s hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. The “Castle,” itself, is cgi and has a character of its own. There’s a density to this film that is almost tiring, but there are elements that are stunning in their simple beauty.

The film is directed with a clarity that other simpler films could have used.

Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed