Hauru no Ugoko Shiro (It's Japanese, not gibberish)

Yesterday, I watched Howl's Moving Castle. My DVD player is nuts - yesterday, the disc worked perfectly, even though we decided to skip the beginning, because we had watched it at least 5 times without getting any further due to that mysterious error in the sound.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the show far more than I did the first time watching it, which is rather strange. I really loved Spirited Away, and the film never fails to amaze, despite mine watching it several times already. The funny thing is when you watch a film and find it nicer and nicer with each watching; watching a well cherished film and lovin' it over and over again is well...nothing new.

Perhaps, one reason for this change is that watching the show from the comfort of my own home makes each scene funnier, more real and closer simply because I'm much more willing to laugh at it. It's true - I blame that horrid cinema for totally ruining my movie experience. It doesn't help if the cinema was cold, draughty and too empty, or that the sweepers were standing right next to you before the show had ended properly or that your sister kept shushing you throughout the show dampened the entire affair.
I might have to explain that last reason - since Howl's Moving Castle (the movie) is based on a book of the same title, I found myself automatically comparing novel and film, mostly directed at my sister's benefit. You see how wrong I was.

As you can also see (or might have noticed by now), there are no big capital lettered words shouting "spoiler!" or "read with caution" that usually accompany my movie reviews. That is of course because this isn't a review of the film in the first place. Go watch the show. It's fantastic; I can honestly say that I enjoyed it. Oh by the way...it doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense. My theory is that to appreciate this film, you'll just have to accept what's given you. Which if I may add, is a lot - everything about it is just right, right down to the perplexing bits.

Note: This would have been a proper review, but my brain has fled in terror after having to review the film in Chinese for someone who still has holiday homework. It was shitty I can tell you. Can you imagine reducing one of your favourite films to broken Chinese? Ugh.

A second Note: My brain has just decided to compromise. The film can thus be described as whimsical, sweet, dark, entirely for romantics at heart (or heartless ;) ) and really...it's quite funny too. Not ha-ha funny, but still funny.