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Calamity
Member
10-18-2001
| Friday, June 24, 2005 - 10:45 am
Review Site Official Site Yahoo! Movies Site No real spoilers... Saw this yesterday and had a wonderful time. The traditional animation was beyond stunning. There were a number of times I had to catch my breath at the movie's beauty and style. Quite good voice characterizations as well, especially that of Jean Simmons, who voiced Old Sophie and was absolutely splendid in the role. Christian Bale, voice of Howl, was very good at being mysterious and petulant, in turn, but fell a little flat in the more lighthearted and tender moments. Not that badly though. I started at first to hear Billy Crystal as the fire demon Calcifer but he was okay. As would be expected, he made him quite comic but I think an underlying hint of possible danger would have added depth to his character. (Well, to be fair there was a very, very faint hint of that.) Speaking of comic, there were several very funny bits in the movie. I especially laughed at the little shaggy dog (whose feet looked rather creepy, btw) who got old Sophie to carry him up a looooooong flight of steps, and also when it was noted that masterful wizard Howl last went into a major funk when some girl dumped him. I do wish the movie had better explained certain events. Now I'm longing to read the novel upon which it was based so as to put together some of the pieces. My grade:   (They're such different films it may be unfair to compare them but as I also gave Revenge of the Sith 3 stars, I wanted mention that I think HMC was a better film than RotS although not quite good enough to earn an extra half star, lol.) Movie Trailers: Mad Hot Ballroom, A League of Ordinary Gentlemen, March of the Penguins
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Brenda1966
Member
07-03-2002
| Friday, June 24, 2005 - 2:12 pm
I loved, loved, loved Spirited Away which is another Miyazaki film. I don't know when I'll get to see this one. Maybe not until home video.
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Calamity
Member
10-18-2001
| Friday, June 24, 2005 - 2:29 pm
Oh me too, I thought Spirited Away was wonderful! I only saw that on DVD though and comparing it to HMC, getting to see the latter on the big screen really made me appreciate it even more. The visuals are amazing. SA was a better film but this one was very good too.
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Sillycalimomma
Member
11-13-2003
| Thursday, July 07, 2005 - 6:58 am
Took DD to watch this yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. There was only 6 others people in the theater so I was worried. I also try not to sit through the animation movies (even The incredibles...yep, Im that dull) but I really liked this one. So did dd. I completely surprised her-she had no idea we were going to watch this until it started, and she had never even heard of it before. She thought I was taking her to watch the new Hilary Duff flick. Anyway, she loved it. I think I will have to buy this one when it comes to DVD
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