The Sword and Laser discussion

Many people will come to this story having already seen the Studio Ghibli movie adaptation, which makes several big changes to the story. (Most annoying for me is that Howl is that the scenes set in (view spoiler)[ Howl’s magical homeland Wales (hide spoiler)] have been cut).
This article from earlier this year has a good discussion of the differences and the reasoning behind them:
https://www.tor.com/2020/05/05/howl-e...

Personally, I enjoyed the film but it’ll never take the book’s special place in my heart, and I think it helps to think of them as very separate entities.

What do y’all think?

Having only seen the movie, it kind of blew me away to discover where Howl came from. I listened to the audio book, so (view spoiler)[I initially thought the choice of accent for Howl was simply an affectation on the part of the narrator, possibly inspired by the similarity between Hywel and Howl (hide spoiler)], but it turns out it was completely appropriate. I don't think the movie lacked for dropping that storyline, but it certainly gave the book an extra dimension...

Weirdly, it’s only one of three Ghibli films I haven’t seen. But I recently signed up for HBO Max because of a deal, so I can catch up now.

Unrelated: why is there no Totoro emoji?

The movie combined characters or skipped them altogether. Still I consider it a different version that I liked and the book I think is a classic.

Trike wrote: "Weirdly, it’s only one of three Ghibli films I haven’t seen. But I recently signed up for HBO Max because of a deal, so I can catch up now.

Unrelated: why is there no Totoro emoji?"

Studio Ghibli has to have planes and allusions to war...

Thematically it is a good translation. My version of the ebook has some interviews with Diana Wynne Jones which are interesting. She loves the adaption... The fact that she thinks a young Andre Agassi would make a good Howl is quite surprising

I saw someone on tumblr say that the movie is the version where Howl is the main character, and the book is where Sophie is the main character, which seems pretty apt. I agree that this is one movie and book combo where they are very, very different and yet both enjoyable!

I just watched the movie yesterday and I would say that Sophie is the main character of the movie as well.

I thought the movie was ok, but nothing special.

I much preferred the book version.

I really enjoyed the movie. Thankfully Miyazaki seems to really understand Sophie and her emotional journey. As with all movies it distill a longer story into a 2 hour movie.

The themes fit into the Studio Ghibli canon quite seamlessly.

I also see Howl as a pony Winger who always swoops in to grab the glory and eaves the hard work to others...

I watched the anime as soon as I could and loved it. I never read the book, perhaps thinking it would disappoint, but it did not at all. It really is great. I wish I’d read it sooner.

I feel like I don’t want to compare the two, because there is a kind of magic in the anime that isn’t in the book, and a different kind of magic in the book that is absent from the anime. I feel like the anime borrows from the book without fully taking, so we get the same flavours and overall effect, but its too different for them to sit beside each other. I love them each for what they are. I think there is something quiet and understated in a Ghibli film that trusts the audience to feel their way through the story, and that is something I adore that is present in this film.

In either version, old Sophie is just the best!

I've never been a big fan of anime, but I was always intrigued by the images I saw of the castle before watching the movie. I enjoyed the book more as well. I plan on reading the whole trilogy.

I just watched the movie today for the first time and I'll never NOT hear Calcifer as Billy Crystal. Except he never says "Have fun storming the castle! Think it will work?" which is my favorite line from a different movie adaptation of a book we read, question mark. I never read it so I don't know if it was a real pick.

Yes we did read it for Sword and Laser. The only time we read 2 books concurrently.

Back in 2010. Wow 10 years ago.

https://swordandlaser.fandom.com/wiki...

Tassie Dave wrote: "Yes we did read it for Sword and Laser. The only time we read 2 books concurrently.

Back in 2010. Wow 10 years ago.

https://swordandlaser.fandom.com/wiki..."

I read ... neither of those books!

I liked Princess Bride. The movie is better.

I, absolutely, hated "The Once and Future King"

The most boring book we have read so far.

I re-read Princess Bride earlier this year and it holds up, but in the same way that William Goldman only presents the best parts of the original story by S. Morgenstern in his abridgement, the movie only presents the best parts of Goldman's book. If you get a chance, the memoir As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes is also entertaining.

Mark wrote: "If you get a chance, the memoir As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes is also entertaining."

I really enjoyed the audiobook.

I've been watching the 4-part series "10 years with Hayao Miyazaki" on PBS. Really fascinating and well done documentary on Miyazaki's creative process.

Thanks tempting.