Hayao Miyazaki strikes another Nausicaa of the valley of the wind

Rating: 5/10 (1 August 2014)

While you would be considered a mad man to call Hayao Miyazaki anything less than a master and a genius you can not expect him to be a "Joe Hisaishi" meaning that being able to craft masterpieces one after another. This review will contain some spoiler from the book and the movie.
Some of you probably wonder what it means when I say Miyazaki strikes another Nausicaa but give the movie 5 stars, well Howl's Moving Castle is another disappointment to me. Nausicaa, Hayao's own story was butchered by Hayao so I couldn't expect much when it came to some one else's story. Now let me be the nail that can not be hammered down with the praises this movie wrongfully receives.
When I first thought about writing my review I was thinking to start with this line "Come one, come all and witness your favorite childhood story being murdered in the most horrific way possible". Well I changed my mind. While I do not think that the movie version of Howl's moving castle is by any means a good movie I do not think that it is the worst thing out there either.
Howl's Moving Castle that Hayao Miyazaki created surely is a bold move, it was taking on an already well known work and was destined to be faced with lots of nostalgic and overly obsessed fans and maybe that is why the movie is so weird and different from the original book. I mean sure Hayao Miyazaki's worlds have always been weird but you could explain them easily (except Nausicaa's movie) but with Howl's Moving Castle he took a step over the border to the gaga land.
Howl's moving castle is beautiful, colorful and alive but it is also uninspiring and a re-skin version of Miyazaki's other movies. I believe that to escape the comparison between the book and the movie Miyazaki decided to create a retelling of the story which is loosely based on the book.
The movie is emotional and the beautiful soundtrack composed by Joe Hisaishi helps you feel the emotions even better however that is all the movie is. A big 2 hour long Japanese anime filled with emotions that are not even justified. Sophie falls in love with Howl in no time, feels sad for him, tries to save him and saves him. Is Sophie a complex character? Well she used to be but then Japan's Walt Disney decided to turn her into a shallow character that we get nothing from but sobbing, smiling and calling Howl's name constantly. Is she heroic? well not really, is she the depressed character in the book? nope she is fine. She is a very normal person, she can actually even switch between her old grandma state to a little bit less older woman and the 19 year old girl state on the get go. The character is never believable and you do not really feel for her. You really do not feel for anyone of them. The story also does not help here. You already know that I am disappointed with the movie being so different from the original work but I would have been fine if we had received something like Akira in which you at least get some story line, even the weak story line that Nausicaa of the valley of the wind had would be fine but we get nothing. There is a war going on (going ahead of the books are we Miyazaki sensei?) and since this is a Miyazaki movie we must have that anti war message too but OK still there must be a place for improvement right? WRONG! That's it. A war is going on, everything else is just there. Witch of the waste? pfft, she is not the real villain she was just there to put the curse on Sophie for the sake of the plot, I am sure Miyazaki would rather had her not be a part of the movie just like Martha, Sulliman, Prince Justin of Ingary!!!, Howl's place of birth WALES! and other stuff like magic and stuff, who wants that right? All that matters here is the war that is going on and how bad it is. Howl is not really worried about the Witch of the Waste that 5 minutes in the movie sends a curse for him through Sophie, he is more concerned with the bombed cities of the coast lines. Howl does not fight a magic duel with Witch of the Waste in Porthaven instead fights a legion of flying creatures that once were wizards but subjugated themselves to the king (if you do not see how bizarre this movie is I don't know what more to write) and Mrs. Pentstemmon, Woops I meant Madame Sulliman. We do not read about Sophie's emotional struggles with being the oldest and being cursed and also jealous because Howl is a pimp but we get a 10 second scene in which Sophie goes under the rain and cries after Howl's outburst with slime but it is resolved as I said in 10 seconds when "Markl" comes to deliver the message that Howl needs help. By the way why is "Markl" a kid here? was it too hard to keep him a teenager? There is no way to feel any connection with any of these characters, Markl is underdeveloped, Howl is underdeveloped, Sophie is just there for no reason and the list goes on.
You can not believe that this is a movie by the guy that made Spirited Away. As I said the scenery is beautiful and even though I would rather have the castle from the book, movie's castle is interesting too and the music by Joe Hisaishi is just perfect but that is all this movie has got for it.