Howl’s Moving Castle discussion

Howl's Moving Castle is my favorite book:) I have avoided watching the movie because I don't want the movie images to interfere with the images I have from the book. (I've heard the film is great too:)
In the movie the "castle" looks more like a stone ship with legs? In the book the castle looks like a real castle that moves across the countryside.
As Rikurii said... if you didn't like the film, you may or may not like the book, depending upon your preferences.

I like both.
So, I guess it depends on what exactly you disliked about the movie if you would like the book better.

I loved both the book and the movie. I thought the characters were a bit more understandable in the book, but maybe I am just crazy.

I found the book better than the movie. Different strokes for different swimmers. The fact that I don't care for a book doesn't necessarily mean it's bad--it just means I don't care for it.
A film of a book is always the director's vision of the book; or thw writer's, or both. If I don't like a film, it doesn't mean it's bad. It just means I don't like it.

The book is AWESOME.
The movie? Ghibli kinda loses track of where the plot goes. They loosely based it on the book and that's it. Added a ton of things that weren't in the book and stuff. Also, Ghibli is hella bad at romance. Diana Wynne Jones on the other hand wrote her characters to have a life of their own so the sub plot romance works IN THE BOOK.

I honestly can't understand people who favour the movie after reading the book. And I seriously don't even want to try. That's my opinion and I stand by it.

The book was absolutely wonderful. The film had its cool points too, but it got rather convoluted towards the end and I think Miyazaki tried to shoehorn a weird metaphor for the brutality of war (it might have something to do with Howl being a bird monster) where one wasn't needed.

And I still can't figure out how swallowing a fallen star/angel and coughing it back up again would turn you into a giant were-vulture. I'm sure there's some kind of strange complicated symbolism there, but I can't make heads or tails of it.

Normally I appreciate Miyazaki not having to spell everything out for us, but there was just not enough explained in that movie.

Watch the movie once for the beautiful animation, then stick with the book.

If you love the movie, coming to the book will probably be a big disappointment--though the more times I watch the movie, the more trouble I have with the ending. The movie is absolutely gorgeous, but whole war part has serious plot problems.

If, on the other hand, you reread the book as a Diana Wynne Jones novel, it's very amusing. I also enjoyed the sequel Castle in the Air. I haven't read many of her books, but I appreciate her droll, gentle, British style. A nice book for family reading...

I read the book first then watched the movie. Diana Wynne Jones is definitely a children's author, her language is simple but colorful, she's imaginative and different but, again, her books were written to be read to an older child, maybe 5-8, as a bed time story. Hayao Miyazaki is Japanese and his movies are very much in that style, if you hate Anime then you wouldn't like the movie. His movies are fantastic in my opinion, his animations are so very colorful and so very beautiful that I don't even consider them to be Anime, though others that have seen his movies with me have said otherwise. Eye of the beholder, in both the book and the movie.

I have seen the movie and it's almost nothing like the book. The movie is based on some basic ideas from the book. The movie is somewhat like the book but the book is nothing like the movie, so, if you didn't like the movie, you should definitely read the book. It's a wonderful book and I hope you enjoy it atleast as much as I did.

I thought the book was very different from what Miyazaki made. They had different characters, different emphasis on certain aspects of the plot, different plot points and explanations altogether. I like the movie, even though it got a bit pushy with its message sometimes (as Miyazaki can tend to do), but the book is a vastly different experience. I think it offers a much richer world and explores that world in a entertaining and fascinating way. The movie left out a lot and added in a lot. I'd say to give the book a chance, even if you hated the movie. If you don't like the book, then you don't like it. But it's far enough from the movie that it deserves a shot.

If you go to a Miyazaki movie expecting it to be like ANYthing, you probably won't enjoy it. I liked the movie and I liked the book, but I went in knowing that the movie wasn't going to be a faithful rendition of the book.

I loved the book first and finally watched the movie and I loved that too but as very separate things. I tried not to compare too much which was easy since it was a few years between reading and watching.

I love anything Diana Wynne Jones tbh!

Like every Diana Wynne Jones I have tried to read, my efforts to slog through the elaborate (and admittedly lovely) fairy tale nonsense were rewarded by an ending that felt like the author climaxed before I did and then rolled over and went to sleep, leaving me to my own literary frustrations.

Vita wrote: "Like every Diana Wynne Jones I have tried to read, my efforts to slog through the elaborate (and admittedly lovely) fairy tale nonsense were rewarded by an ending that felt like the author climaxed..."

lmfao Vita. this is the best thing I've read all week!! thankyou for this comment!