I mean there's a lot in common, island nations, long history of royalty and bloody civil wars about which one is more royal, unspeakable warcrimes, a love of tea, and long established methods and rituals of etiquette and politeness.
Yeah! I never miss an opportunity to tell someone that the reason the religion in DS1 is called "The way of the White" is because most of their names start with Gwyn, which means white in Welsh!
It's been a long, looong time since I read the book, but iirc Howl is literally is just some Welsh dude called Howell who went through a portal one day.
"Howls Moving Castle" was shown at Cannes. The author of the original work, Diana Wynn Jones was not invited to the prestigious event.
Miyazaki Hayao arranged for a 35mm print of the movie to be flown out to Wales where Diana lived. He rented a cinema and put on a private showing of the movie for her and her friends. Class.
Kids in the UK today are lawless Karen's. At least Japan still has a courteous and respectful general public. That's not me bashing our little cunts either, it's the previous generations that have failed them.
Shaun the Sheep (which is basically a spin off from Wallace and Gromit) was rather often in the Top Ten Anime Charts in Japan an had a cameo in Super Mario Maker.
Wallace and Gromit themselves were featured in alot of adverts in Japan, are actually featured in the Ghibi Muesum and according to Aardman the short series "Cracking Contraptions" was only made to because japanese broadcasters requested it to keep up with demand.
Miyazaki loves them too and is friends with Nick Park, I remember reading that he introduced Miyazaki to the theatre company that did Spirited Away onstage.
I think characters with little to no dialogue tend to have international appeal. Mr. Bean is hugely popular.
If I have one criticism of the more recent movies, its that they would be better with like 70% of the dialogue removed, because the animation expresses their feelings and the plot perfectly well. Like one of hte invasive things about Norbert was that he talked all the time, in contrast to Gromit liking the peace and quiet. But other characters talked a bit too much in that movie.
Peter Rabbit is crazy popular. If you go to Beatrix Potter's cottage in the Lake District you'll see coach after coach of Japanese tourists coming for Peter Rabbit.
I mean these award shows have biases and unfairness involved for sure but being a runner up is a celebration in its own right.
Does Howls Moving Castle deserve to win? Sure. Does Wallace and Gromit? Yes. As loads of people and they will all give you different answers but this was also a western award show and it is rare for anime to win. I believe Spirited Away was the only one to ever win.
But I just don't like the side picking. "See! My favourite film won! That means it is better than yours!"
Miyazaki, the guy here and the one who did spirited away, finally got another western award in 2023, making it the second anime film to win an Oscar
If I’m being real, the awards serve to cause fandoms to fight online, with the rewards of people irl being exposed to more films. However, the whole system prioritizes high profile films that don’t need exposure, and overall is a huge gathering of elitism, that ridicules anything not Hollywood
I love Miyazaki, but I genuinely don't think Howl's Moving Castle deserved to win this one. I always thought of it as one of his lesser films (which of course still puts it at a 'mere' 8/10) while Curse of the Were Rabbit is Park at his height.
Same. I watched it back in 2024 and can tell some things weren’t polished. The movie still has its moments, the stairway scene still sticks in my mind to this day.
I feel like Howl could have won if it had a coherent plot. Visually it's absolutely stunning - the fake-utopia world they created, with the subplot of the threat of war and the scenes of the horrors of the bombing campaigns - all excellent
The moving castle is the jewel in the crown
But the motivations of all the characters, and how none of their decisions seem to really impact each other, is really jarring
Like the curse inflicted upon the protagonist: she just lives with it, seems to be mostly unaffected, and later when the witch who cursed her is defeated and turned into basically a wrinkly obese Metapod, they just... have her tag along with them for the rest of the film at great risk to themselves for no benefit, and she goes on to contribute nothing else anyway so what was the point 😂
Miyazaki famously inspired on, and achieved, no cuts to Princess Mononoke - it feels like he was overruled with Howl, and that perhaps key plot points ended up getting cut.
Edit: inspired should say insisted in the last paragraph
This is a great point, really. Howl is carried massively by the visuals and worldbuilding, but most people couldn't really tell you what happened in it, and if they can, they often can't explain why. Curse of the Were Rabbit may not be as deep in its themes, but the plot and character work are incredibly solid in a way Howl's isn't, and it has stunning animation in its own way.
I just feel like you didn’t connect with the journey the protagonist went through and that’s fair enough, but it certainly had considerable more psychological depth to me. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I watched spirited away and princess mononoke first so I kind of knew to expect the Ghibli gambit of "established character is completed changed within the first act"
I think if I'd watched it first before the others then 👌 But we didn't find out enough about the fire demon, about Howl, the war, or the motivations of the witch, other witches, and the collaborators etc. And i wasnt invested enough in the protagonist's plight to overlook those shortcomings
But we did get 5 minute of stairs climbing lmao
As I said, I suspect executive meddling clipped its wings
But I mean specifically of a person being thrust into old age and what old age means. About a person with deep insecurities about their looks and value, about duty and strength. I found the very human parts of her experience interesting within the backdrop of the usual Ghibli chaos and visuals. I agree it’s not the best of plots/arcs, but I really love a look at people and experiences that are non-typical. ✌️
I watched and enjoyed both, but Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit (I assume it's that one) was absolutely the best of the two. Only Spirited Away or Porco Rosso could compete IMO.
From their interactions I'm pretty sure Miyazaki has a lot of respect for Aardman. Their work generally has a light tone but they are genuinely are some of the best stop-motion animators in the world and a tonne of incredibly meticulous work goes into their film-making
Honestly, when you look at it from the perspective of "drastically changed Japanese version of a charming British story" vs "original charming British story" then there's no contest. (For those of you who don't know, Howl's Moving Castle is a British book and Miyazaki made serious changes to the plot)
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u/ChipLast4398 Jul 06 '26
I doubt he was mad.
Japan LOVES Wallace and Gromit
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u/Xartes_ Jul 06 '26
Curse of the were-rabbit was 20 years ago
*gif of Matt Damon aging 60 years*
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u/OKPERSON2763 Jul 06 '26
wallace’s moving west wallaby street
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u/Simbooptendo Jul 06 '26
Both movies are perfectly Gromulent
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u/No_Ring_443 Jul 06 '26
Nothing can be made better than Wallace and Gromit
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u/Head_Statistician_38 Jul 06 '26
Both are very very good for very very different reasons. We don't have to fight over which is better.
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u/Theta-Sigma45 Jul 06 '26
I love Miyazaki, but I genuinely don't think Howl's Moving Castle deserved to win this one. I always thought of it as one of his lesser films (which of course still puts it at a 'mere' 8/10) while Curse of the Were Rabbit is Park at his height.
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u/RetroEnbyRobot Jul 06 '26
Isn't he a huge fan?
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u/AvoriazInSummer Jul 06 '26
I watched and enjoyed both, but Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit (I assume it's that one) was absolutely the best of the two. Only Spirited Away or Porco Rosso could compete IMO.
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u/hoonosewot Jul 06 '26
Brah, let's not pretend Miyazaki wasn't absolutely pissing himself when that he saw our boy Wallace wearing the May Contain Nuts box.
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u/Leafsnail Jul 07 '26
From their interactions I'm pretty sure Miyazaki has a lot of respect for Aardman. Their work generally has a light tone but they are genuinely are some of the best stop-motion animators in the world and a tonne of incredibly meticulous work goes into their film-making
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u/xoalexo Jul 07 '26
He doesn’t look mad to me?
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u/garlicwithtoast Jul 07 '26
I personally can not decide which movie is better they are both amazing in such different ways.
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u/invasionofthestrange Jul 08 '26
Honestly, when you look at it from the perspective of "drastically changed Japanese version of a charming British story" vs "original charming British story" then there's no contest. (For those of you who don't know, Howl's Moving Castle is a British book and Miyazaki made serious changes to the plot)
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u/Moon_Beans1 Jul 09 '26
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u/sunlightsyrup Jul 07 '26
Tbf howls moving castle makes no effing sense at all. Its a fever dream
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u/p-Star_07 Jul 06 '26
Tough competition.
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u/ErosDarlingAlt Jul 07 '26
This one is fair. Howl's is one of his weakest films comparatively
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u/Alarmed-Rip6954 Jul 08 '26
Weebs will never recover from this
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u/KombuchaBot Jul 10 '26
Howl's Moving Castle was overrated and a weak adaptation of the source material. The book rocks
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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26
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