Diana Wynne Jones Fans discussion

I haven't seen it yet, but its on my list at Netflix.

I'm excited that Christian Bale is Howl! I have always loved his voice (and him, of course).

I loved the book, can't wait to read the other two...I'll probably wait until House of Many Ways comes out mass market paperback, then I'll buy them all.

I liked the film, although Howl, after he'd had a bath and came out all shiny, looked far to much like a girl! BUT the one thing that I thought was not very well done was the scarecrow/prince bit - in one of the first scenes, when Sophie is walking through the streets, she passes some men who say something like 'heard about that prince who's disappeared?' but it's in the background, and I'm sure not many many people would pay attention to it, and then at the end, the scarecrow turns into the prince (ta-daa!) and says 'I'm the prince who disappeared!' and everyone's just supposed to KNOW. I think if I hadn't read the book, I would have had no idea what that was all about!
It's actually been a little while since I've read the book or seen the film - what were the major changes again?

Oh yes, that's right - I liked her when she was shrunken and old, with goggly eyes - and she just sat there, but would occasionally come out with things like: "Isn't he handsome?" (about Howl)!
The war, was there a war in the book, with airships? And the movie didn't show the bit where Howl and Sophie go to (what I presumed to be) our world. (I really should read the book again!)

yay I'm getting Howl's in the mail from Netflix today! I'll have to watch it this weekend and tell y'all what I think :)

its all good. If I balked everytime a movie was different then a book I would be in a corner muttering to myself in a room with white walls.

what a funky movie. What was up with the Witch of the Waste? And yeah...the whole crow thing was a bit weird.

I liked it though :) it was still a lot of fun.

whatever, I just need to watch more movies with Christian Bale ;)

Actually, I think I've seen most of those :(

yes ma'am.

:P

I thought Spirited Away was scary, too (although I loved it!), but to my surprise my niece and nephew who are 3 and 5 liked it a lot. They liked the movie of Howl as well.

I liked Nausicaa but I don't think I'd let little kids watch it. I wouldn't have shown them Spirited Away except they had already seen it! My Neighbor Totoro seems better for that age, except maybe a little scary because of the girls' fear of their mother dying. Such a cute movie, though! I saw stuffed toys of totoro and the cat bus in a store in San Francisco's Japan Town and was very tempted.

I'd like to see a movie version of Christopher Chant, I think the travelling between the different worlds would be great on screen.

Have any of you seen the Tales from Earthsea anime? I've put it on hold at my library, wondering if it's any good...

I saw this yesterday right after I finished reading the book. I think this was a bit of a mistake. They changed things so much that I was distracted and focusing on the stuff that was changed rather than on the story. I remember watching this years ago before even hearing that it was a book and I enjoyed it more than. I think this was because it was a stand alone work and I was able to appreciate.

Thanks Josie for pointing out the scarecrow thing. It was surprising for him to pop out like that. I didn't realize it was even mentioned or address. I thought Howl changing into a crow was a nice twist, but I didn't like the change to the Witch of the Waste. I think she deserved some kind of punishment for being so evil. I know her true age was revealed, but still it seemed like she gained from it (she got a new family).

Didn't the witch also become senile once she lost her fire demon?

For a children's author, Jones really does not shy away from harsher events or consequences. Have you read Homeward Bounders? I was taken totally by surprise at how dark the ending of that one was.

She does become a bit senile, but even in the end she wanted to keep the heart for herself until Sophie told her to give the heart back. I guess in the context of the movie it made sense for her to become part of Howl's family because Suliman (sp) was against both of them and had put them against each other. However, she was still evil. Also wasn't Suliman a man in the book? I was surprised to see the gender change.

I thought the stair scene was funny, although kind of odd. It's the part where Sophie is egging the Witch of the Waste up the stairs and is basically calling her an old hag for having a hard time with them. I thought it was brave of her considering that the Witch had turned her into an old woman. Wouldn't she be afraid of being turned into a frog or something? lol.

Yes, Suliman was definitely a man in the book! Didn't he marry one of Sophie's sisters?

He liked Lettie, though I don't remember if anything came of it.

I thought they were married in Castle in the Air.

I couldn't remember so checked, and lo on page 189 she is both married and heavily pregnant.

I've seen the movie and read the book, but haven't read any of the sequels yet.
Even with the changes in the movie I still think it was very good and that's rare for a book to movie. Usually the movies aren't as good the book, but in this case the movie actually turned out very good.

I'm sure it helped that Miyazaki is a big DWJ fan and consulted with her about the the changes. I think it also turns out better when they adapt shorter books or short stories because they don't have to cut out as much.

oh some other movies by miyazaki are kikis delivery service ,princess monoke, and castle in the sky I thought that it was a cartoon of diana's castle in the air but was I ever so wrong just watching the commmercial it sounded almost like the story from castle in the air except that none of it was arabian at all......

I thought that they were too different from each other- they're both good, but I think of them as different stories now :P

I think that is the best way to enjoy book adaptations. Otherwise you get too annoyed by the changes!

Cool, thanks!