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NEWS: Ebert not impressed by Howl


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Walkabout



Joined: 22 May 2005
Posts: 62
Location: Beyond The Sea
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Lol, RogerEpert.con...
I hope someone fixes that link...
But on-topic, it's always good to see an open reviewer who doesn't bend over...
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kusanagi-sama



Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 1723
Location: Wichita Falls, TX
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Ebert's reviews and ideas of movies are often opposite of the normal movie going public.
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BioNinja



Joined: 11 Jun 2005
Posts: 1
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:10 pm Reply with quote
I saw the movie the movie last night at the El Capitan in Hollywood. Overall, I thought it was a decent story with awesome animation. But, this is one time that I agree with Ebert...Miyazaki just didn’t make it happen. I will admit, it is an expectation issue...Miyazaki has consistently raised the bar in each one of his movies. When you compare it too his previous work, "Howl's Moving Castle" is a bit of a disappointment.

What really left me shaking my head was the CHEESE FACTOR! Yeah, “Sen to Chihiro” had a happy ending but it was well executed. In Howl's, I felt that it was just way over the top. Strong antiwar message?? Not really... the "serious" side of the plot didn't have much impact.

Overall, the dubbing made the situation much worse. Why didn't they learn from Mononoke? Big name Hollywood actors usually don't make good voice actors. “Sen to Chihiro” had much better voice talent in the English dub. The main thing was that was I couldn't take Howl's character seriously.

But thats enough negative...it was a fun movie that is definitely enjoyable. I still think the $20/ticket that I paid to see the premiere was worth it.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4535
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:28 pm Reply with quote
Ebert's lack of cheerkeading for it during Oscar campaign season will make Howl's Moving Castle's prospects of winning a second Best Animated Feature award for Miyazaki all that much tougher.

I wrote about it in my blog:

Steve Brandon wrote:
More importantly, as far as I'm concerned, this is a major strike against, though not a fatal blow to, Howl's Moving Castle's chances at earning a second Best Animated Feature Oscar for Hayao Miyazaki, since I honestly believe that, if Roger Ebert hadn't been such a big booster for Spirited Away during Oscar campaign season, most Academy members would have skipped the film altogether and <strike>the superior and vastly more entertaining</strike> Lilo and Stitch would have <strike>rightfully</strike> won Best Animated Feature instead. I still have no doubt that Howl's Moving Castle will be nominated for Best Animated Feature, but it will be up against what I believe the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members will consider to be much tougher competition, Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Wererabbit, from triple Academy Award winner Nick Park (who already has two Best Animated Short awards for two out of three of the previous installments of Wallace and Gromit plus another Best Animated Short award for Creature Comforts), Tim Burton and Michael Johnson's stop-motion-animated feature, The Corpse Bride, and I also think people may be pleasantly surprised by Chicken Run. Not saying there's no chance that Miyazaki can repeat what he did three years prior, but the circumstances are different and he won't be riding the same tidal wave of critical acclaim.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6227
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:29 pm Reply with quote
it's overhyped, seriously. not Miyazaki's best work at all.

Last edited by v1cious on Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
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Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:39 pm Reply with quote
Well, it looks like you can't win em all.

Even God had his off days. (if you believe in that kinda stuff)
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stampeder



Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 1
Location: Toronto, Ontario
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:39 pm Reply with quote
i watched it yesterday at the only theater showing it in Toronto and I enjoyed it very much.....
only reason I could think that it wasn't up to Miyazaki's normal standards is that this was an adaptation from a novel....this probably didn't give Miyazaki as much leeway as he usually would have on one of his own works....
voices for the dub weren't as bad as I thought they would be; compared to the Japanese voices, they are just as good IMHO....like Miyazaki's other creations, I'm going to pick this up when released without hesitation
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Cloe
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Joined: 18 Feb 2004
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:55 pm Reply with quote
stampeder wrote:
only reason I could think that it wasn't up to Miyazaki's normal standards is that this was an adaptation from a novel....this probably didn't give Miyazaki as much leeway as he usually would have on one of his own works...

Yeah, but so was Kiki's Delivery Service, and many people would argue that Kiki is Miyazaki's best film. I enjoyed Howl myself, and artistically speaking, it's stunning. But I'll agree it's not his best work. I have to admit, though, that while I'm not one to frequently swoon over animated characters, Howl definitely qualified as swoon-worthy, which probably increased my enjoyment of the film. Embarassed And there were still creative and innovative things things in the film, just not as much as in Miyazaki's earlier work.
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Pepperidge



Joined: 13 Sep 2003
Posts: 1106
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:12 pm Reply with quote
I really liked Howl. Quite a bit more than Spirited Away, actually. I really don't understand why people are being so hard on it.
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JiJi McPaws



Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 40
Location: Orlando, FL
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:15 pm Reply with quote
It's not as if Ebert gives a review you don't like and he's some badguy, I'm more interested in the movie now. There are Miyazaki movies I just don't like despite the amount of times I've tried to enjoy them, like Nausicaa and Castle.

Also, wasn't Howls moving castle originally being directed by the creater of Digimon until he injured his hand? Didn't Miyazaki start directing the movie after a good portion of it was completed? It's possible that it could lack that certain touch.
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chicogrande



Joined: 11 Jun 2004
Posts: 190
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:23 pm Reply with quote
I respect Ebert and like his partner for their movie reviews and even though I haven't seen "Howl" yet, I can't wait for the opportunity. Regardless of his comments, I will watch it and, as always, find charm in it. For anyone looking for movies with substance, that challenge your intellect and expand your movie going experience, movies like Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are great posibilities.
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Sir_Brass



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 476
Location: Prescott, AZ
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:31 pm Reply with quote
Cloe wrote:

Yeah, but so was Kiki's Delivery Service, and many people would argue that Kiki is Miyazaki's best film.


I wouldn't argue that, though I would argue that it is still an excellent Miyazaki film. It's just not his best, though. I'm torn between Mononoke Hime, Sen to Chihiro, Laputa, and Naussicaa as contenders for the title of Miyazaki's Best Work.
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JETBLACK87



Joined: 14 Apr 2002
Posts: 1073
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 6:09 pm Reply with quote
As you can see here , Ebert also liked Akira.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 6:30 pm Reply with quote
I enjoy Miyazaki's work, but I don't particularly like anime movies-series usually have more room for character development, so movies are often as "pretty good" vs "love it" for me. Spirited Away was very good, but I don't re-watch it all that much. That said, I loved Howl's whan I saw it today.
All I can imagine is it could be critic backlash like when a performer has a big hit it seems critics slam the next effort unless it's the second coming.

As for bad reviews, when I checked Yahoo yesterday, the average critic score at that time was A- so Ebert's must be one of those dragging the score down, but that just means a lot of critics were giving it an A.

Just checked back-it's down to a B+ which still isn't bad & they're crediting Ebert's review as a B-. As I suggested, it seems everyone's comparing it ti Spirited Away.

Don't count it out for an Oscar yet--it also depends on the competition. I don't think any of the stuff I've seen this year or have seen ads for coming out later this year compare. Chicken Little? Madagascar? Right now I'd give it a good chance.
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darkhunter



Joined: 13 May 2004
Posts: 2992
Location: Los Angelas
PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:34 pm Reply with quote
86% freshness level on rottentomato. Many good review by critic also, but I guess Ebert is the Man, to have this much influence.
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