Howl's Moving Castle

Saw it tonight at Disney's "El Capitan" theater in Hollywood. Live organist before the show; the whole deal. It actually costs more to sit in the center section -- even if no one buys those tickets, they'll show the movie with the whole audience around the edges of the theater. This is Los Angeles.

Anyway. Like all his movies, there's a lot of great stuff in this one. Unfortunately, the plot completely falls apart about halfway through. Usually he's better about this. But the magic and the characters make it worthwhile. We saw it with the original Japanese dialogue and English subtitles, which we weren't expecting.

From the NY Times article on Miyazaki:

"But the route he chooses toward happiness can be troubling, perhaps especially to an American audience that expects sentimental affirmations based on clear demarcations between good and evil. The division of the world into heroes and villains is a habit Mr. Miyazaki regards with suspicion. "The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it - I know this is considered mainstream, but I think it's rotten," he said. "This idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it, in life and in politics, it's hopeless.""