![]() ![]() In my search for wolves, I came across a person who owned several and had used them in a couple of the popular wildlife TV shows on PBS. Conservation and wildlife publications were regularly contacting me for photos to help promote the growing efforts to reintroduce wolves in the lower 48. Wolves were a different matter, I had seen a few in Glacier on the Canadian border and twice in the high country along the continual divide between Idaho and Montana, but the chance to photograph them was slim. Bears were difficult, the population was low and still recovering from the elimination of the famous roadside beggar bears so I spent as much time as I could in Alaska photographing inland Grizzles. Since I live in the Yellowstone eco-system many of these subjects could be found nearby. With all of this in mind, I found no lack of serious work to be done. By the late 1960's the grizzly was severely in danger of extinction in the lower 48, the wolf was all but extinct south of Canada, bald and golden eagle were rarely seen, and Trumpeter Swan populations in the Yellowstone eco-system were in trouble. When we left at 3:30 in the morning still jabbering away about all the imagery and meaning, we realized we had seen true art.My early years as a wildlife photographer were driven by a desire to see the end of the rapid loss of wildlife, especially the loss of the large predators that had been happening since the colonization of North America. Even my 40 year old partner, who had spent the day mountain biking, was dead tired and had never seen a Miyazaki film stayed awake for the entire 2 hours. There a few clunky moments in the plot line where transitions between story points weren't very strong, but overall it's another outstanding film from Studio Ghibli. He's the heart of the castle and only annoyed at his first few scenes then becomes a very likable character. The voice that surprised me was Billy Crystal as Calcifer, the little flame that could. Most of the voice work was very strong including Christian Bale (Howl) and Emily Mortimer (as the young version of the heroine, Sophie). The airships (wow, airships in a Miyazaki film? Who would have thunk?) are great variations of one's he's used before and there are some rather dark and beautiful scenes of a world at war. ![]() The magic being Howl's and the authoritative hand of Miyazaki's direction. The castle is itself is a mesh-mash of so many haphazardly arranged pieces that an engineer would have an aneurysm just sorting them all out and yet it works. It's that same attention to detail that has made Pixar so great. And the lessons learned are represented in character changes and in the character's physical appearance as well. And as with all Miyazaki stories, the story teaches without being preachy. While not as awe-inspiring as Spirited Away or action-packed as Mononoke, it does work on the level of Kiki's Delivery Service as a girl is forced to be better than she thinks she can be (well, that's not a big surprise, that's all his films). Something in Disney's advertising or the description I read gave the false impression that it was going to be sub-standard work meaning it was still going to be better than anything DreamWorks Animation was doing (Madagascar was sooo pedestrian). Howl's Moving Castle is as marvelous and magical as Miyazaki's other great work. ![]()
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