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DVD Title |
Howl's Moving Castle |
International Title |
Howl's
Moving Castle |
DVD Length |
Original Length |
119 Minutes |
119 Minutes |
Company |
Year of Manufacture |
Disney |
2006 |
Language |
Subtitles |
Japanese, English, French |
English, French |
Region |
Number of Discs |
1 |
2 |
Aspect Ratio |
Sound |
1.85:1 |
5.1 Surround |
Extras |
. |
Menus (English) |
. |
Chapters (24) |
. |
Trailers: Howl's
Moving Castle (6 Theatrical, 9 TV spots),
Cars, The Little Mermaid: Special Edition DVD,
Studio Ghibli
DVDs, Chicken Little, Airbuddies, Chronicles
of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe |
. |
Behind the Microphone (9 minutes) |
. |
Interview with Pete Doctor (7 minutes) |
. |
Hayao
Miyazaki Visits Pixar (16 minutes) |
. |
Complete Storyboards (119 minutes) |
|
|
Captures |
|
Review |
Disney's release of Hayao
Miyazaki's Academy
Award nominated film is another outstanding disc
from the company. It excels in nearly every respect,
from superior video and audio quality to a good
selection of extras that fans of the movie should
enjoy.
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Video: |
|
Disney has done an incredible job with the
video presentation on this disc, in fact I would
go as far as to say that this has to be the best
video quality I have seen thus far on a Toho DVD.
Nearly everything about the video quality deserves
praise, from a rich tablet of colors to a just
about flawless print used for the transfer. The animation looks very clear as well, without noise in the frame. It's not perfect,
though, as there are signs of edge enhancement
in the form of halos around lines that can be
seen if one looks close enough. Although, in the
grand scheme of things, it does little to stop
this from being an extraordinary presentation.
Like other Disney Ghibli DVDs, this disc also
has both the US and Japanese versions of the video
intact. What this means is that if one selects
English from the language setup, then text will
be presented with new English titles, including
the production
commission, while if Japanese is selected
then the Opening
title and Credits will appear in their original
Japanese text.
Howl's Moving Castle is presented in
its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is Anamorphic
for widescreen TVs.
|
Audio: |
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An outstanding audio presentation through
and through, complete with three different audio
tracks, in three different languages, and each
presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. In terms
quality, there really isn't anything to complain
about, as all three boast no distortions and feature
crystal clear dialogue. Speaker distinction is
also excellent amongst the three audio tracks
and makes great use of the five channel presentation,
although the English track tends to be the best
in this regard.
The audio can be accompanied by, removable, English
or French subtitles that correspond to either
the Japanese or English dubbed tracks.
|
Extras: |
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Not the company's best Ghibli disc, but a
solid selection of extras none the same. The problem
here is that it seems to focus too much on the
US side of things and not nearly enough into those
who actually created the picture in the first
place. Some examples of this include the "Behind
the Microphone" feature with actors like
Christian Bale and Billy Crystal, along with a
seven minute interview with the US' versions director
Pete Doctor.
Like other Miyazaki discs from Disney, Howl's
Moving Castle features the entire film in
storyboard form. This supplement, located on the
second disc, can be presented in either English
or Japanese, along with removable English subtitles.
The star attraction here, though, is likely Hayao
Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki's visit to
Pixar. This feature starts out with the pair meeting
John Lasseter, Toy Story director and
producer of most of Pixar's recent film, at the
entrance of the building. They then present their
present for Lasseter, which ends up being a giant
prop of the Catbus from My
Neighbor Totoro (1988) that was used
at the Ghibli museum. This feature then moves
to a private screening of the film at Pixar and
some brief comments by the two. Finally, it moves
to a personal interview with John Lasseter which
is, sadly, mostly a recap of previous stuff said
in the video and not really needed, but the whole
feature is done well regardless.
The disc also includes a huge array of Japanese
trailers and TV spots for the film, 15 in total
in fact. Like other DVDs from the company, these
are featured with removable English subtitles.
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Overview: |
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Bottom line, it's hard not to be impressed
by this release. It may not be perfect, but then
I have yet to see a DVD that is, and Disney has
done an outstanding job with nearly every angle
of this two disc set for the critically acclaimed
movie. If one has any interest in Miyazaki, or
Anime in general, they owe it to themselves to
pick up this release.
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- Anthony Romero |
Buy
this DVD |
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