Runtime: 119 minutes
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: I saw the dubbed version that had the voices of Christian Bale, Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner and Emily Mortimer
From: Studio Ghibli
My computer needed several updates last night and that took far longer than expected; thus, I am only able to post this now. I'll still be back late tonight w/ another review, barring any further complications:
It's the long-awaited return of Unpopular Opinion Blair
Never a situation I love stumbling into, once in awhile there's a movie where my opinion of it is different from that of most people. This is my virgin experience with this Studio Ghibli work; what I've seen before this, I dug Nausicaa, think Totoro is great, am unsure why many love Porco Rosso when the story was slight and I'll never understand why most people in that world seemed fine with there being a anthropomorphic pig man walking around... was more annoyed with Spirited Away than anything else and Mononoke is the best thing I've ever seen from Miyazaki. My ratings are different from likely everyone else, this is a point duly noted.
This was seen on HBO Max-in fact, them having the Ghibli streaming rights in the United States was the main reason I tried out the service this month-and as their interface isn't the best, it wasn't until after I watched the dubbed version did I see that suddenly the option popped up to see it subbed. Eh, at least the voice cast was great; I can't complain about hearing the likes of Christian Bale, Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner, Billy Crystal and Emily Mortimer. To be frank, the idea of a walking castle did seem rather peculiar beforehand. However, my low rating-compared to everyone else's opinion-has nothing to do with that. Rather, what a weird and overly convoluted story. It should have been fine with me... a curse, two sides about to go to war, a charismatic figure in the middle, an odd yet cool setting which is like a steampunk version of early 20th century Germany. Yet...
It simply wasn't that enjoyable a tale for me. Miyazaki's pacifism is obvious but I preferred it when it wasn't delivered with the subtlety of a jackhammer like it was presented here. The nuanced presentation of such ideas in Nausicaa and Mononoke was more palatable for me. What made me get through something I was not invested in was such things as the gorgeous animation and a charming musical score. A major shame then that I don't love this like everyone else does. I am not sure how many other Ghibli movies I'll see this month... hopefully the ones selected won't provide me w/ further disappointment.
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