Stephanie Zacharek of Salon doesn’t like the new Hayao Miyazaki film, Howl’s Moving Castle.
I felt ambiguous at the prospect of seeing this film: Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke was epic, luminous, and put me to sleep, wheras the pacing of Spirited Away was just right. But Zacharek thought that Howl, based on the book by Diana Wynn Jones, was somewhat boring. Zacharek, helpfully, is always completely wrong about everything, so I’m taking that as a sign that Howl is probably pretty good, although not as good as it would have been had she thought it was a pile of unwatchable tripe.
Aw, don’t be so hard on Stephanie. She’s not arrogant and her opinions are genuine. I don’t think she’s always completely wrong. Just sometimes!
She was dead wrong on “Howl’s,” which we’ve just come from seeing. It’s his best yet. Absolutely beautiful, well paced, and with the sole (and notable) exception of Billy Cristal, superbly voiced.