Amazing Anime!

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2012)

I've never been a fan of anime (I find the generic facial features of the protagonists a real put-off) until I discovered this film and the Ghibli studio. Since watching Howl's Moving Castle (dubbed version) I have eagerly sought out other films by Ghibli and particularly by Miyazake. The artwork is stunning and the attention to detail beyond anything, especially since this is hand-drawn, with little, if any, CG. So much better than the flat 2-dimensional work seen in much of Disney's offerings. I'm not sure how much was lost in translation - but I found the story satisfying if occasionally a bit light in content and explanation (without spoiling - the details of the curses and their 'cures' are mainly left to the viewer to work out) - but this is minor in the overall effect of the film, which is amazing. You get sucked into this fantastic alternative reality; the characters are appealing and the stellar cast for the English language voice-over (Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Jean Simmons, etc)did justice to the animation characters. My one niggle was why Christian Bale had to adopt an American accent for Howl (when he is in fact British), whilst the character of Sophie spoke with a British accent - but this is just nit-picking! See this movie! It's fabulous!