After a long wait “Howl’s Moving Castle” (“Hauru no ugoku shiro”)is opening this weekend in Toronto
Hayao Miyazaki is best know in North American for his film “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away) in 2001 (2002 Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature) , as well as in 1997 Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoko)
It did very very well when it opened in Japan
The Animated Life, Hayao Miyazaki (Howl’s Moving Castle’ & Spirited Away ) was in The New Yorker in January
Update: this Northern America release features the voices of Billy Crystal, Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, Christian Bale and Lauren Bacall. It’s all based on a 1986 Novel by Diana Wynne Jones (paperback : Howl’s Moving Castle
Here are reviews from TWired, Globe and Mail.
Update: We saw it on Friday night and greatly enjoyed it. (although the last 2 minutes of dialog had me groaning). The Sunday New York Times has a good review and background piece :The Miyazaki Menagerie, and I found out that New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) currently has a show on “Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata: Masters of Animation” (June 3 to 30, 2005)
Update : Here’s Twitch‘s review.