Oh god, I'm a year late in finding this, but I totally get the reference to Mio in the Land of Faraway!

I AM SO GLAD!!! Not many people have seen this movie but jeez... this was one of my faves around the same time I watched NeverEnding Story. XD

I actually saw it once when I was a little kid living in Germany, and for whatever reason it stuck with me since then. Same goes for the Neverending Story.

I watched both originally over at my cousin's house... It stuck with me for a long time... and for a while I kept swapping the titles with each other. XD When I talk with classmates about Neverending story I always ask if they saw Land of Faraway and they kept going "Oh the second Neverending story?" and I was all "NOOO! the one about a prince and a floating head! There is a cloak of invisibility in there!" Now when I mention it they go, "Harry Potter?" /face palm!!!

Well, it is rather an obscure thing *chuckles*. The other day, I was at the bookstore with a friend of mine, and (them knowing my love of books) they asked me to pick something out for them. So I pulled a copy of Michael Ende's "The Neverending Story" off the shelf and handed to him. The than pretended to vomit and told me he saw the original film from the 80s and thought it was awful.

Lol. Did you laugh at them? Movie and books aren't always the same. A lot of the time movies become more kid friendly or tone down a lot of the uber dark tones the novel originally had. Howl's Moving Castle is one of those.... It was still enchanting from book to movie... but the under lying tones and back stories are WAY different. The Story of Howl and his double lives was barely if even touched in the Ghibli film... nor any of the rumors the town folk said about him. They were very harsh and crude... but were 100% true. Howl was a horrible person that used a front when out in public but the book hinted that Sophie was changing him without Howl realizing it... but the real change wasn't until at the end of the book/movie.

The only book to movie I've seen that REALLY touched on the hidden nature of the novel in the movie was Golden Compass and even then I think it was BECAUSE of this they weren't able to release the next two films.

I've simply come to the understanding that when fantasy novels are made into movies (most notably with 80s fantasies for some reason), most of the deeper meaning is taken out of it simply because...it's just not possible most of the time, and I believe you're correct when you say they're dummed down. If you've ever read the Neverending Story, then you'll know that it really wasn't written for children at all, for only adults can really pick up on the darker and more subtle themes, like Bastian not quite being the hero we thought he'd be.

I'm rather pleased that you've actually read "Howl's". Most people haven't taken the time and are only familiar with Ghibli's work.

I had heard about the movie for a while but couldn't afford to watch it in theaters or even purchase the DvD/Blue ray when it comes out.. ( still don't own it for that reason ) so I hadn't watched it yet. I was in the library looking for werewolf novels actually when I happen across the title and went.. WAIT!!! Isn't this that new Ghibli film!? So I checked it out from the library and gave it a read. OMG I loved it and made me even more excited to watch the film... when I finally got to watch the film I was kinda shocked at all the changes made to it... but it still have that wonderful Ghibli charm so I couldn't hate it. I'm super glad it became popular so fast but even though in the credits it says it came from a novel not many have went out of their way to read the book. BUTTTTTTT a few have... and that's what makes it wonderful. What is annoying though is often when a movie comes out books come back into the market with a sticker saying it has a movie... half the time though I'd rather not have them identified as the same thing but more the other way around. : / Why not put stickers on the movie instead of the books to advertise the novel? I like that more as TOOOOO MANY people don't read now-a-days. When I attended high school I was in shock to learn there were still several SENIORS who didn't know how to read. > A < Made me question how they even go up to the next grade without this COMMON knowledge that is very much required in the real world. D:

" SENIORS who didn't know how to read. > A < Made me question how they even go up to the next grade without this COMMON knowledge that is very much required in the real world. D:"

Picture this: I'm in an Honors English class my senior year. We're reading some Shakespeare. Granted, his plays are a bit of a doozy if you're not familiar with it, but this was an Honors English, and you'd expect that people could read intelligently enough. All of the sudden, annunciation, pronunciation, and all manner of other mistakes are happening. And then I'm called on to read it. Not to toot my own horn, but I know how it's supposed to be read: along the rhythm of the iambic pentameter...and this one girl next to me is trying to correct me. I about smacked her over the head with "Julius Caesar".

"What is annoying though is often when a movie comes out books come back into the market with a sticker saying it has a movie... half the time though I'd rather not have them identified as the same thing but more the other way around. : / Why not put stickers on the movie instead of the books to advertise the novel?"

Fancy that! Movies advertising the books they're based on! <3

I didn't make it into Honors English and I'm sure you can tell why. I make a TON of typos and I'm sure my grammar is horrible, but I do know how to read and write. I love essays and written answers as long as it isn't math. XD

I'm glad I have someone else who agrees that Movies should put a little more light on the books just as the books put so much light on the movies that are made after them. ( Or in some rare cases the Movie came first. )

Hmmm...movie tie-in novels are always iffy with me. And I can rattle off a number of book-to-movies that were...not very well done, to put it mildly. One fine example is "Raise the Titanic!" by Clive Cussler. Fantastic book about literally what the title describes, but it tes in the whole Cold-War factor and this that and the other, and it makes for a splendid action-adventure novel. The movie...was awful. Just about the only redeeming factor in that movie was the raising scene itself, which was admittedly quite beautiful....but you see the point as well as I do.