Let me begin this post by saying Happy Father's Day to all the fathers I know, including mine.

As you can see, I was able to add links to other websites on my blog, after lots of tinkering with the HTML code, as well as change my current template to a more "upbeat" feel.

I had the great opportunity this week to watch Hayao Miyazaki's new film Howl's Moving Castle at the El Capitan Theater (the movie palace currently owned by Disney where Citizen Kane had its 1941 premiere) in Hollywood. For those who are not familiar with Miyazaki, he is a well-known director of animated features in Japan. His works include Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (1984), Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992), Princess Mononoke (1997), and Spirited Away (2001), which won him an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003. He is considered by many as the "Walt Disney of Japan", though he hates that title (that one should go to Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka), so I prefer to call him the "Steven Spielberg of anime". It's a shame only a few Filipinos are familiar with his body of work, considering how they are fond of anime. I'm not actually that big of a fan of anime, but I can pretty much tolerate any film by Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli (the animation studio he co-founded). In my opinion, despite the fact that he's an animator, he's the second greatest Japanese film director next to Akira Kurosawa and is in the same class of great filmmakers such as Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick.

Anyway, once I got inside, the entire theater was packed with kids and adults (I was seated in the balcony). Once the Studio Ghibli logo appeared on the screen, everybody cheered and applauded. Based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, the film is set in a fantasy world at the turn of the century where magic and technology co-exist. It tells the story of Sophie (voiced in the dubbed English version by British actress Emily Mortimer), a young hatmaker who one day encounters Howl (voiced by Christian Bale), a powerful and mysterious magician who is said to devour the hearts of young women while roaming around the countryside in a clunky moving behemoth of a fortress. She then catches the envious eye of The Witch of the Waste (voiced by Lauren Bacall), who puts a curse on her by transforming her into an 80-year-old woman. Since she can't tell anyone of her curse, the now elderly Sophie (now voiced by Jean Simmons) leaves her town to find a way to break the spell, and with the aid of a magical scarecrow she fondly names Turnip Head, finds shelter in Howl's ambulatory castle. There she encounters the fire demon Calcifer (recognizably voiced by comedian Billy Crystal). Calcifer, who serves as the castle's source of energy, strikes a deal with Sophie to free him from the contract he is bound by Howl, so that he can return Sophie to her original form. In the meantime, she finds work as a cleaning lady in the castle and becomes reacquainted with Howl, who every night transforms into a giant bird and flies towards a mysterious darkness in the castle's magic door. Meanwhile, a war begins looming in the horizon, and all the magicians are recruited to assist in the fight. Howl refuses to fight, despite the fact that he is bound by his oath to serve the king. We soon learn that Howl has personal demons that he has yet to overcome, and it is up to Sophie, who has fallen in love with him, to help save him from his enemies and himself, which eventually makes her a better person.

As what I always expect from a Miyazaki film, almost every single detail is of pure visual brilliance, from the character designs to the elegant backdrops of idyllic European-style landscapes and at the other side, gritty images that symbolize the futility of war. The music by frequent collaborator Joe Hisaishi (probably the most underrated movie composer of all time) is as always lush, energetic, and full of sentimental wonder (listen to "Wandering Sophie" here). The English voice cast is superb, especially Crystal and Simmons. My only complaint is the convoluted storyline, especially the war subplot which was quite unnecessary and somewhat distracting at some points of the film. Although it is common for Miyazaki to make a few liberties on the source material for his films (there was no war in the novel), his anti-war message somehow fell flat on the big screen (he may have done this in protest of the war on Iraq, which was the reason he didn't attend the Oscars when Spirited Away won). There was also little characterization on the part of Madame Suliman (Blythe Danner), the king's sorceress and Howl's former mentor, which made her motivations unclear and was a wasted opportunity at what could have been a great character in the film. Also, the ending almost felt like a case of deus ex machina. Nevertheless, the wonderful and surreal animation makes up for the muddled and unfocused plot. Overall, despite its flaws, Howl's Moving Castle is still a delightful treat to watch, and even as I left the cinema, the sense of magical wonder in the film is still retained in my mind.