It's been a while since my last posting. Medyo naubusan ng topics to discuss kaya sencia na mga DS readers. But before you get impatient, here's a brand new one. It's about a film I saw last night, shown at Dubai One na ewan ko naman kung bakit super late nang ipalabas. It started around 12:30 midnight after the epic The Lord of the Rings. But I didn’t mind the wait and the puyat coz the film turned out to be what the plug promised.
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Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) is a 2004 animation masterfully created by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. It was translated into English by Pixar, released by Disney and went on to gross more than $200 million on it’s limited release across US, Canada, Australia and UK (accdg to Wikipedia). I’m not surprised dahil maganda talaga yong film. Sayang lang at hindi ito naipalabas sa Pinas.
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It’s about wizards and witches, sorcery and love. And oh yes, it’s pambata. Pero enjoy na enjoy ako. Imagine naka-tutok ako sa tv at that unholy hour on a workday.
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As the title says, the centerpiece of the film is the moving castle owned by the mysterious and very powerful wizard Howl. Nakaka-aliw sya dahil pag-bukas mo ng pinto, you can step out into different places depende kung saan nakaturo yong dial sa may pintuan. From the outside, it looks like a typical house along a typical street. But once it switches into the magical mode, ibang-iba ang itsura nya and it travels on its four legs to different places. Powered by Calcifer, a fire creature who had a pact with Howl.
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Dito napunta si Sophie, a beautiful 18-year old hatmaker na na-cast under the spell of the Witch of Waste kaya tumanda ang hitsura. She only returns to her normal self pag gabi na. Pero pag araw, isa syang matandang halos kuba na. Kaya lumayas sya sa kanilang bahay at naging cleaning lady nong castle ni Howl.
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Howl is actually a very good looking young man pero nagiging isang malaking ibon when he fights the demons of Suliman, the King’s head Sorceress. Then Howl and Sophie got to know each other, fell in love and fought a war that eventually broke the spells cast over Sophie and the other characters in the story.
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The film is one fine example of the superb Japanese animation technology. And thanks to that technology, the creator’s out-of-this-world ideas were successfully interpreted into the screen resulting to a feast of visually entertaining scenes. As a whole, ibang-iba ito sa mga pelikula about sorcerers and witches na nakita natin from the western world’s Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and my favorite Willow.
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No wonder why it won several awards in various Japanese Anime festivals and was also nominated in the 78th Oscar awards for Best Animated Film. It’s a film that you’ll be glad to watch along with your kids. Coz you’ll enjoy it as much as they do.
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