Anyone up for some Howl's spoilers?

[lebateleur]

Cut for, well, spoilers.

Or at least spoiler-based speculation. I saw the longform trailer for Howl's at the theater last night, and what my guesses below are based on that. I should also mention that the projectionist was having trouble with the reel, so the picture and sound were not at top quality. That out of the way, onward to some spoilers.

The movie looks as gorgeous as any of Miyazaki's works, but it doesn't look like it's going to have very much to do with either the original or the Japanese version (according to the Japanese friend I was with). If I'm interpreting what I saw correctly, Sophie and Howl are already together at the beginning of the movie, the plot of which involves a quest to return Sophie to her natural form. We can also anticipate some major adjustments to the characters' personalities; the trailer features an extended scene where Sophie's sobbing her heart out in the middle of a field; this struck me as very un-Sophie-ish. Another scene which featured what looked like warfare. At the very least, we can anticipate that a city somewhere is going up in flames.

I'm still struggling with the knowledge that good 'ol Kimutaku is going to voice Howl (Oh who am I kidding. WHY GOD, WHY???), and my friend feels the same way.

"I really like Howl," she told me. "But I can't believe they got that guy to do his voice. It could be a disaster."

As is to be expected, the fact that one of SMAP's finest is voicing the male lead was all over the trailer, but his voice was ever so coyly hidden by VOs every time Howl was talking in the footage, so I can't make any judgment calls on it yet. Incidentally, I will probably start watching SMAPxSMAP this Monday in the vague hope that they'll have some Howl's parody skits, product placements, or tie-ins that might offer more clues about the movie. I'm a fandom tool that way.

The theme song is even sappier than Sen to Chihiro's, and features the requisite soprano singing about 'love' and rainbows and chocolate lollipops. But who knows, it may grow on me (StC's sure did).

Other random observations: didn't see Sophie's sisters anywhere, so I don't know if they'll be making an appearance or not. My friend and I both agree that Howl looks too young for the role, and that the castle, while not either of our castles, is still way cool looking. Calcifer is PERFECT. He was only shown for about half a second, but it was enough to make me and my friend squeal. Oh, and the scarecrow makes an appearance too! And because I can't say it enough, the animation is gorgeous.

So, final verdict? I remain very psyched. Opening night is only twenty days away (or eighteen, if my name gets drawn in the lottery for sneak preview tickets). I'll be a little disappointed if the movie diverges from the book, because I adore the book. But, Miyazaki has never made a movie I haven't adored either, so I'm willing to bet that whatever new plot they cook up is going to be fantastic.

これで以上です。

Comments

Re: Rumor

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Well, since both Mononoke Hime and Sen to Chihiro were brought over to the US, I think your chances of seeing Howl's are pretty darn good.

Your chances of seeing it subbed (if you are someone who cares about such things) are probably a little less good, but as far as dubs go, MH's was actually pretty good, so there's hope.

Re: Rumor

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

--ehheh, we're both of us sub-snobs of the "scream and beat our breasts if it's in *gasp* English" variety, so seeing it in the theaters is probably out (tho' some art theaters here did screen StC in Japanese, I believe?) gnine could watch it w/o subs anyway, so maybe if it gets ripped online...ahh, I don't wanna wait to see it, either! :P

Re: Rumor

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I'm in good company then. Perhaps I'd be more open to dubs if the English language voice talent wasn't so abysmal, but I doubt it. I like hearing the vocal inflections of the native speakers too much.

Well, I'm sure it'll come out on line, and even if it doesn't, the HK pirates will have dub-free versions available;)

Re: Rumor

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the only way I'd watch dubs is maybe if they started say..hiring broadway singers to voice them...now THEY know how to use their voices to emote...but even so, I like watching anything, anime or other, in its own native language, the way it was originally meant to be so...*shrug*

But at this point in time...Dubs currently KILL me! THEY HURT, they always some how sound as if they're reading the lines, while most seiyuu always sound LIKE the character, they make me beleive what they're saying (screaming in such wonderful ways ;)) is actually going on

Re: Rumor

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Well, it just makes no sense to me, because screen actors have no problems emoting well, and often the vocal tracks for television and movies are recorded after the picture itself. So I don't see why dubbing anime should be so difficult.

Agreed about the native language tracks. The only dub I'll ever watch is What's Up Tigerlily, and that's a special case;)

Re: Rumor

[gnine.livejournal.com]

gnine could watch it w/o subs anyway,
Er...suuuure neesama, SURE, but not if I want to understand all of it :-P