Howl's Moving Castle is a Japanese animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and is one of the most successful films of all time.
The film is set in a fictional fairytale kingdom called Ingary where magic doors and a moving castle exist. Howl's Moving Castle tells the story of an 18-year-old hatmaker named Sophie that works in a hat shop opened by her late father. Often harassed by local boys, one day Sophie unexpectedly encounters Howl who is a strange but ostentatious wizard whose large home can travel under its own power. However, the Witch of the Waste is displeased with Sophie and Howl's friendship and turns the pretty young woman into an ugly and aged witch. Sophie takes shelter in Howl's castle and tries to find a way to change back the witch's spell with the help of Calcifer, a demon who exists in the form of fire, and Markl, Howl's apprentice, who protects the four-way door which can take visitors to other dimensions such as the hills above Market Chipping, where the castle appears to be running around; the seaside town of Porthaven, where the castle is actually located; the royal capital of Kingsbury; and Howl's original home in Wales.
I thought this film was very original and captivating throughout containing beautiful animations telling a fairy tale created by Miyazaki's amazing imagination and detail.
This book captures emotions of viewers and makes any person of any age feel young and mesmerized by its creative and magical storyline and gives a positive message of life lessons, struggles, love, and war.
Popular Posts
A LITERARY CRITIQUE OF THE WHALE RIDER, BY WITI IHIMAERA
Witi Ihimaera, The Whale Rider —International Edition (Reed Publishing, 2003), pp. 154. Ihimaera is arguably the most influential Maori author in existence, publishing the first collection of short stories by a Maori writer called Pounamu Pounamu in 1972. The following year, he followed suit by being the first Maori to author a novel— Tangi. However, his magnum opus is indubitably his 1987 The Whale Rider. Fifteen years later the film adaption was released, with the eminent Niki Caro as the supervising director and Keisha Castle-Hughe's entrancing performance as the protagonist. As one commentator accurately observed, "A film so specific to one area, and grounded so firmly in New Zealand and Maori culture, has enthralled audiences from different countries partly because of the universal theme of heroic triumph over adversity, but mainly because of Castle-Hughes' and [Rawiri] Paratene's stunningly natural and utterly convincin...
Short Stories: WHERE IS DANIEL?
The time was an early morning in the winter of 1941. Falling snow packed onto the hard labourers of Gulag 10 WLA as they begin setting off into the mines and factories somewhere in the far east. Malnourished, mistreated and muddy, the inhabitors of this typical Gulag were kept under strict control of General Victor, who gave harsh punishments to any prisoner who dared riot or worse, insult the government. It was a normal evening. The prisoners were escorted back to the Gulag through the freezing taiga by cattle carriages. They waited in line for their daily rations: Rubbery potatoes, dried bread and lime water. If one behaved well and boasted high production, he/she would sometimes be rewarded with a small knob of fresh corn, a snack the guards would gladly feast on. General Victor was feasting on a large chicken when Archie, or formally, Guard Number One burst into his room reporting misbehaviour between two prisoners. Ben (Guard Number Two) and Mile...
The Book of Heroic Failures
The Book of Heroic Failures By Stephen Pile The Book of Heroic Failures, was written by Stephen Pile and first published in 1979. This book is essentially a collection of hilarious, ironic and unusual people and events. This sole theme is that of ironic failure, each story being anywhere from a few sentences to several paragraphs. The book itself is split into eleven different sections so that the reader may dip in and out of the book at will, which is a very helpful format considering the layout of the stories. My favourite sections include the glory of the stage , stories we failed to pin down and the art of being wrong. From the poet whose footnotes were longer than his poems, to a bill ruling that the value of pi was four, there is no shortage of entertaining stories within this books pages. To those who wish to read only the best of these stories I would advise that you read some of the longer ones as more tends to go wrong, causing a domino...
Comments
Post a Comment