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QNPoohBear asked this question about Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1):
How does it compare to the movie? It's a favorite of my oldest niece (now "almost 6") but I wasn't enamored with it.
Sean McQuay Having just read the book, I wanted to watch the movie with my daughters. I was appalled. The movie, despite the name and inclusion of most of the cha…moreHaving just read the book, I wanted to watch the movie with my daughters. I was appalled. The movie, despite the name and inclusion of most of the characters, did not seem like it was actually based on the book. If anything, the writers of the movie read the book 2 decades ago and made the movie based on their memories of the book. Either that or they had their own story in mind and used elements from the book as a skin.

The feel of the characters were all very different. The nature of the Castle was very different. The war, so central to the movie, was something only alluded to as a future, impending event, not as a current event. As such, Howl was not involved in the war in the book, which is the primary character-driving experience in the movie. In the book, the main character is Sophie, whereas she felt side-lined the moment Howl showed up in the movie. The antagonist, the Witch of the Waste, remains the antagonist through the whole book, whereas the movie has a twist and secondary antagonist thrown in.

I found the movie to be a dark treatise on the horror of war. The book, to me, was about finding and creating community in individual trials.

Finally, the book was hilarious. I can't say that of the movie.(less)
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JC Diana Wynne Jones has said she is absolutely fine with how very different the movie is. There is a published interview with her as an 'extra' in the m ...more
Nov 15, 2020 08:22AM · flag
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Howl’s Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones
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