After taking a break from blogging, here I am struggling to find words for my newest entry to share with you guys. I’m supposed to write something about Labyrinth but I’m just so impressed with Howl’s Moving Castle to never impart some details concerning this magnificent animation. This animated film was adapted from Diana Wynne Jones’ novel which is also named, Howl’s Moving Castle. Jones is a British writer of the many well-known fantasy novels for kids and adults such as Dark Lord of Derkholm and Charmed Life.

Howl’s Moving Castle or Hauru no Ugoku Shiro is Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. This brilliant director is also the one responsible for the success of Princess Mononoke, a 1997 top grosser Japanese fantasy – historical animated feature film and Spirited Away of which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2002.  Miyazaki then took over the director’s role for Howl’s Moving Castle when Mamoru Hosoda, the director of Digimon Adventure and One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island shortly left the development of the project.

The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year and won the trophy for Animation of the Year at Hollywood Festival in 2006.Thus, this brilliant masterpiece pave its way to soar beyond stardom and history. With its countless awards and nomination, Howl’s Moving Castle will continue to leave a simple yet candid inspiration to its fervent spectators.

Howl’s Moving Castle |The Novel vs. the Animated Film

Jones was not involved in the production of this animation but she also has an optimistic appraisal with regards to this film. In fact she has been quoted as saying:

“It’s fantastic. No, I have no input—I write books, not films. Yes it will be different from the book—in fact it’s likely to be very different, but that’s as it should be. It will still be a fantastic film.”

The plot, though considerably similar from the novel is enhanced with loads of Miyazaki’s customary subjects such as airships, World War II, Victorian Era, lovely landscapes and a lot more. The main storyline still focus on the girl named Sophie as she was cursed with an old age but the tale occurred during a war with bombing-attacks from airships on inhabitant town which is similar to the actual building of Alsatian town of Colmar, somewhere in northeastern France which is Miyazaki’s inspiration for this story’s setting. While the novel concentrates on Howl’s womanizing and his endeavor to locate a missing wizard and a prince. Many of the characters from the book were altered in this adaptation as Calcifer who is a fearsome looking fire demon in the book is rather made an adorable cute flame in the film and the young and beautiful Witch of the Waste became a huge heavyset lady on the movie plus there are various more modifications to count with.

Howl’s Moving Castle | the Story within the Animated Film

The protagonist damsel named Sophie met Howl by chance. This circumstance caught the attention of the Witch of the Waste who has been in a quest to find Howl’s heart and possessed it by any means. She went to see Sophie whom is at that time just got back at her father’s hat shop. Sophie whom was unaware of the witch’s true intention was suddenly cursed with an old age. She wasn’t able to tell anyone about her curse, not even her beloved mother but instead she ran away and travels. Along the way she met and made friends with a lively scarecrow whom she named Turnip Head and they stumble upon Howl’s Moving Castle. There they met Calcifer, the fire demon who is aware that Sophie has been cursed and Howl’s apprentice who is a young boy named Markl. Calcifer offers to break Sophie’s curse in exchange for her help in breaking the spell that binds him with Howl. Sophie works as the new cleaning lady of the castle and she then managed to get accustomed to her new home, especially with Howl’s unpredicted vanity.

As her adventure moves on, Sophie developed an unconditional love for Howl who is in my opinion, one of the best looking wizards I’ve ever seen and she gets along comfortably with the rest of the castle’s dwellers. Sophie learns that Howl transforms into a bird-like creature to interfere in the war which starts from the disappearance of Crown Prince Justin, but as he continue to do this transformation, it is much difficult for him to turn back into his human form. Knowing this breaks Sophie’s heart, thus this made her determined to help Howl at all cost. By loving Howl and all the inhabitants of the castle, Sophie slowly turns back into her old self as each day passes by.

Meanwhile, Madame Suliman, the King’s Head Sorceress searches for Howl’s whereabouts for Howl has been summoned by the King to fight in the war with them. She commanded to seize for Howl hence leads to destroy Howl’s home which brought Sophie to the time when young Howl caught Calcifer which seemed to be a falling star.  Howl tries to save Calcifer by giving him his heart and so loses his propensity to love. Before Sophie was pulled back to the present time, he told Howl to find her in the future.

When Sophie returned to the present time, she then returns Howl’s heart to where it belongs and freed Calcifer from the attachment he has with Howl.  Sophie freed Turnip Head from his curse as well by giving him a kiss which turns him to the missing Prince Justin. And as she gives Howl her sweet – gentle kiss, she fully transforms into her youthful age again. Prince Justin returns home and ends the war thus giving this story a splendid feel-good ending.

Howl’s Moving Castle is one marvelous animated film which will inspire both young and old audiences. The book covers a great plot and enriching imagination while the movie touches our hearts with inspiration and fulfilling expectations. Truly Hayao Miyazaki made another great contribution for this kind of movie genre and Diana Wynne Jones is a remarkable author to have written this magnum opus.

I’m supposed to write this article after I’ve watched the latest released of Tsubasa Shunraiki OAD but because of my work and the thing that I’m moving to a new house, I don’t have that much spare time. Anyways, CLAMP did a good job once again after the success of Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations here comes another exciting and heart pounding released.

Tsubasa Shunraiki OAD skipped the Celes arc on manga and takes place right away in Nihon country. Yes, the group now arrived at Kurugane’s place.  This episode occurred on chapter 167 to chapter 183 while the Celes arc takes place between chapters 154 to chapter 166. Too bad they skipped Celes because too many revelations and exciting events emerge in Celes arc; it narrates Fye’s relationship with King Ashura, his twin brother and his real name which is Yuui. It also revealed that Fye possesses a feather all this time of which it turns out to be Chii but kept it hidden from Syaoran, Kurugane, Sakura and Mokona. The Celes arc also revealed Fye’s wished; “TO BRING BACK ONE WHO HAS DIED” and Kurugane put an end to King Ashura’s life. If you happen to have watched Tsubasa Shunraiki OAD and wasn’t able to read the Celes arc yet, then you’ve missed out a lot.

Tsubasa Shunraiki OAD

After the tragic occurrence in Celes country, the group arrived at Nihon country. They were tended by Tomoyo Hime, thus Tomoyo as a dream seer wishes for them to arrive in Nihon safely to tend their wounds in exchange of her power to see what lies ahead. As a dream gazer, Tomoyo Hime wanted only to protect Kurugane from possible danger and wishes for him to walk a happy and safe path.

In Tsubasa Shunraiki, Syaoran battled once more with Seishiro to retrieve Sakura’s feather of which he took when they were at the land of Otto. When Syaoran was able to retrieved the feather, he was sent to Sakura Hime’s dream and there he met Sakura’s soul and to his surprise, the clone Syaoran also arrived there with an aim to obtain Sakura’s feather from him. The battle between Syaoran and his clone began. On the latter part, with her determination to end the fight, Princess Sakura tries to stop them from killing each other by simply appearing right in front of them, with both sword pierced on her heart. She could only tell the real Syaoran that she’s not her Sakura that her Sakura is waiting for him and she disappeared before telling the clone Syaoran that she loves him.

Yes, the Sakura’s whose been travelling with them is just a clone, the only difference between her and the clone Syaoran is that  only his body was cloned, the original Syaoran  were the one who’s giving him the heart and soul while Sakura has a cloned body and soul. Sakura didn’t realize this from the very beginning not until the incident in Tokyo. It’s not that she disliked being in the presence of the original Syaoran that she usually shuts herself away from him but it’s because she learned that she herself is also a clone of the original Sakura.

Regardless if she’s a clone or the original, it doesn’t matter for Syaoran, Kurugane, Fye and Mokona, they will surely save and repossess her from Fei Wang Reed. The whole group decided to pursue the whereabouts of Sakura and their next destination will be at Clow Country.

You will be amazed if you’ll continue the story on reading the manga, you’ll learn that Li Syaoran is in fact the son of Sakura Kinomoto and Li Syaoran. Well then, that’s another story. Happy reading!

Code Geass R3

With regards to Code Geass Season 3, Sunrise has good news for all of us fans all because they said that “Geass cannot die” … a possible Season 3 might happen, right? Could it be the Lelouch will come back to life? I don’t know about that, it’s not Dragon Ball …so probably Lelouch will not be a part of it anymore. CC, Kallen, Nunnaly and Suzaku are still alive, so it might be that these mentioned characters will be back for R3…who knows.

There are some hearsay that Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally will be the plan… but I don’t know; it wasn’t that big yet in manga, so we couldn’t rely on that info yet.

“All of you have shown us much appreciation and made the DVDs as well as the CDs so popular. Really, we have been blessed with fervent fans…. Thank you very much. Like we have said before, [a major character development happened] but Geass cannot die. It just ended, but we think it would be nice if we can still do something more. In any case, when we can announce something, in the not-so-distant future…” – Sunrise Production

Again the plan for R3 is not final yet… we’ll see… I just hope that if they’ll include Lelouch in the story, it would be on a different echelon since the ending of R2 was crazy-brilliant. It would be a nightmare for all of us fans if they’ll ruin the ending of R2 by initializing a crappy intro of R3. I’m crossing my fingers for that… good luck Sunrise!

Perhaps the most beautiful fantasy movie of all time describes the fictional plot of Neverending Story, a film base on a German fantasy novel by Michael Ende, plublished in 1979. It was my favorite back then when I was just a kid and remains as my much loved fantasy motion picture up until now. It was a 1984 film yet the special effects still mesmerizes my whole being until this time. Neverending Story is truly magical and superb, such magnificent masterpiece from the world renowned award-winning German film director, Wolfgang Petersen. Bastian and Atreyu will live through our hearts and they will be known by my great- great grand children for as long as I live.

The movie adaptation enfolds just the first half of the book. Most scenes in the entire film were shot in Munich, Germany, except for the scenes done by Barret Oliver which was shot in Vancouver, Canada. Michael Ende, the book’s author objected the production of this adaptation since he felt that the film’s content diverged distantly from his novel. He almost succeeds in stopping the entire production but later he lost the case. Neverending Story was Germany’s highest budgeted movie of all time. Given that the movie wraps merely on the first half of the book, some plot and characters like the giant shape shifting Ygramul and will-o’the-wisp Blubb were discarded and changed, most likely due to complexity in rendering them throughout the time when the movie was filmed. There were several more alterations from the original novel but still, the movie sparks and shines all throughout the entire scenes.

The Summary:

Bastian Baux played by Barret Oliver is a young boy whose mother died early and was raised alone by his father. One day, on his way to school he was bullied, while running and hiding from those bullies, he bumped into a bookstore. There he saw a magical book and tries to borrow it from the librarian while he’s tending a telephone call. He was warned that the book is not safe, still he sneak out with it.

He began to unravel the story within the book and stayed in the attic of his school. The story within the book starts with the creatures that live in Fantasia. They were talking about the strange force called “The Nothing”. They are heading towards the Ivory Tower to meet the Empress of Fantasia portrayed by Tami Stronach, seek for an answer and some help as well. Regrettably, they learned that the princess is terribly ill. At that time, the Empress summoned for Atreyu played by Noah Hathaway, a warrior from the tribe of the Plains People. He was given a magical medallion called the Auryn which will be Atreyu’s guide on his quest to find the Empress’ cure.

Atreyu and his horse named Artax began their journey. They first head to the Swamps of Sadness to find Morla, the ancient one who can assist Atreyu on his journey. Meanwhile, The Nothing summoned a wolf-like creature called G’mork to kill Atreyu. Unfortunately Artax was conquered with sadness and depression, he sinked down into the bottom of the swamp and drown, Atreyu left heartbroken upon the loss of his beloved horse. Atreyu met Morla afterwards but he said he doesn’t know how to help the Empress, instead he told Atreyu to find the Southern Oracle. Thus, he was saved by Falkor afterwards when he was almost overcome with sadness and started sinking in the swamp.

Falkor brought Atreyu all the way to the Southern Oracle and was taken cared by his keepers, the two old gnomes named Engywook and Urgl. Atreyu was given an advice by these two on how to get pass through the Southern Oracle. When Atreyu reaches the Southern Oracle, he was told that in order to save the childlike empress, he must give her a new name and the only person who can tell him this new name is a human child, who can only be found outside the boundaries of Fantasia. Atreyu flies with Falkor to find this human child, until he encounters G’mork and defeat him in the end. But he hasn’t find the human child, The Nothing had already destroyed Fantasia and all there is left is him, Falkor, the Ivory Tower and the Childlike Empress. The human child they were looking for turns out to be Bastian, as the Ivory tower began to fall to pieces and by the pleading of the empress to call out her name, Bastian hurriedly open up the window, and screams the name “Moon Child!” out into the stormy night.

Indeed the splendid attributes of the movie makes it classic and timeless. There have been several movie sequels for NeverEnding Story; the late Jonathan Brandis even starred as Bastian Bux on the follow up movie, but still the first installment is unbeatable and incomparable. There are rumors spreading that another movie sequel will be out sometime 2012. I don’t know yet, some say it’s a remake of the 1984 adaptation but it’s still unconfirmed, we’ll see though.

It can’t be argued that Dragonball is one of the best anime and manga series ever developed for over a decade. It was one thing we’ve learned to love and grow up with complete fascination, all thanks to Akira Toriyama, the person responsible for Goku, ChiChi, Bulma, Master Roshi and the rest of the DB character’s existence. He is a pure genius and a brilliant manga artist. Nevertheless, despite its phenomenal success worldwide as a manga and an anime series, its live-action adaptations could never live up to the fans expectations. The live – action adaptations were complete failures, especially the recent release Dragonball Evolution. It’s absolutely insulting and full of crap.

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (1989)

Now, this was the first ever Dragon Ball live action adaptation I’ve ever seen. I was really young then when it was aired on Philippine television via ABS-CBN, if I’m not mistaken it was one of their Sunday night special featured film. I had fun watching it as far as I could remember, ‘twas because the frivolous special effect was able to fascinate a kid like me.

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins is believed to be an unofficial Chinese live-action remake of the Legend of Shenlong, the first Dragon Ball feature film. It was unendorsed because Akira Toriyama didn’t approve of this one. Instead, the characters were renamed, different from the names of the characters created by Akira Toriyama. Goku here was named “Monkey Boy”, Bulma was named ”Seetoe”, Grandpa Gohan was named ”Sparkle”, Oolong was named ”Piggy”, Yamcha was named ”Westwood” and Master Roshi was named ”Turtle Man”.

The story initialized when King Horn tried to get his hands on the seven dragon pearls. He was able to conquer a village that possessed one of the dragon pearls, his men killed all the villagers and he killed the village chief with his vicious power. Monkey Boy and his Grandpa owned the four star Dragon Pearl while Seetoe have the other one. Seetoe met Monkey Boy on her way to find the other Dragon Pearl. Monkey Boy thought of her as an enemy since he couldn’t recognize her. He has never seen a girl before and meeting Seetoe is like meeting an alien for most normal people.

Sparkle was held captive by King Horn and their Dragon Ball were taken from them, Monkey Boy together with Seetoe went to search for Turtle Man with the help of Piggy, an unusual person who has strange funny imitating power. Westwood overheard their conversation, he was defeated earlier by Monkey Boy because of Seetoe, and he has a strange phobia with women. Westwood have the other Dragon Pearl and after learning the power of the seven Dragon Pearls, he wishes to get his hands on them and fulfill his ultimate wish that is to have the courage to face women like a real man should.

The group went to seek for Turtle man’s aid upon obtaining the power of the dragon pearls. Together they tried to defeat King Horn and his armies and at last gathered all the seven Dragon Pearls. A girl by the name of Jade, daughter of the village chief were the one who made a wish on the Dragon God. She had wished for the restoration and peace of her village and it was granted right away. Monkey Boy was able to reunite with his Grandpa and the world is now safe from King Horn’s invasion.

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins was written for screenplay by Jackie Lam, based on the original story by Akira Toriyama and directed by Joe Chan.

DragonBall Evolution (2009)

Dragon Ball Evolution was bombarded with negative criticisms from fans all over the world, which counts me in. It was pure crap, nothing more and nothing less. It was believed to have a sum of $100,000,000 budget, that huge amount should’ve been donated to a charity instead of producing wasteful project such as Dragonball Evolution. I was really disappointed, first two minutes or even less gives me an impression that I’m watching another s*@t anime-movie Hollywood adaptation. My excitements were all gone, just untainted aggravations. I can’t even find something within the entire film that justifies the said $100,000,000 budget. The story and characters weren’t even close to the anime and manga series.

Probably there are at least 2.5% people or less who have watched it which are not a DB anime and manga fans will somehow find it amusing. One of them is my former office colleague; she was the one who told me about this new Dragon Ball movie. In all honesty, Dragonball Evolution is a total joke. One thing is for sure, Goku didn’t went to high school and to top it all, he wasn’t even interested in girls not even when he met ChiChi for the very first time.

The movie somehow circles around the Piccolo Saga wherein Piccolo tries to gather all the seven dragon balls to rule over the universe. Goku, Bulma, Yamcha and Master Roshi endeavor to defeat him at all cost. Of course Piccolo was defeated and Shenron appear in the end to grant another wish. I have nothing much to narrate about this petty movie, except that Goku and ChiChi’s love story were emphasized with too much exaggeration.

Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins vs DragonBall Evolution

If I were going to compare Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins with DragonBall Evolution, I would go for the Chinese version, minus the special effects, I think Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins is a lot better than that of the DragonBall Evolution. The Chinese version got better style and fighting stunts, which the Hollywood version could never compete with.

In Dragonball Evolution, Goku were able to turn into a gorilla or something, they could’ve at least starred King Kong for that part, to be able to emphasize the great monster from Planet Vegeta. Damn, another disappointment! Are they serious about its budget? At least on the Chinese version Master Roshi as Turtle Man is acting like the character we love on the anime and manga series, the perverted turtle-like martial arts master. In Dragonball Evolution I couldn’t recognized which one is which on the anime and manga series. If they were renamed like the characters on the Chinese version, I’d probably get lost somewhere and mistaken it as another stupid piece. Good thing, they were using the names of the original characters. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

What can I say about the plans for a trilogy on Dragonball Evolution? Oh, no, enough! Forget about it! I had enough! For the love of God, please, it’s no fun anymore!

Photos courtesy of IGN.com and Google

This is my first time to see Hyde and Gackt Camui in a motion picture. I’ve been a constant viewer of their concerts and music videos on Youtube™. A perfect duo for an interesting story such as Moon Child which has a movie runtime of 120 minutes. Seeing Hyde appeared on the earliest part of the film makes me sit properly and locked up on my chair. The fact that the movie tells something of a vampire tale is intriguing enough for a person who values this kind of imaginary monster. Truly seeing another captivating man in a vampiric form makes my heart twitch and flutter as it appears right before my very eyes.

Hyde or Hideto Takarai is one of Japan’s infamous lead vocalist of L’Arc~en~Ciel, the band behind the eminent OST of Samurai X. Hyde as a performer on stage and on their music videos is beyond eccentric and mind-blowing. Him playing the role of Kei in Moon Child is another thing; reserve, mysterious yet impious. He could almost be perfect to play as the vampire lead of the story but I think he’s way too short for a vampire. This is probably because I’m so full of Anne Rice’s vampire leads. Nevertheless, Hyde here is too dazzling and stunning like any other vampire heroes out there. Well, vampires are supposed to stand out, like how Stephanie Meyer describes the Cullens. Hyde is a wonderful choice and I couldn’t imagine any other Japanese actors who could play the part of Kei and shine like most vampire heroes I so adore.

Gack Camui on the other hand is playing the role of Sho. I am not much aware of Gackt’s popularity in Japan since I don’t follow his career as much as I do with Hyde. I’ve seen some of his concerts and MV but that interview he had with Yusuke and Hisato Izaki (members of FLAME and the lead actors of Devilman: the live action adaptation) leaves me a fascinating impression about Gackt. Talented, witty, charming, mischievous, smart and refined, that’s how I see Gackt Camui as a person. He, for some reasons wasn’t able to make a great impact on me like Hyde did in Moon Child. Somehow he lacks emotions on heavy scenes; well most of them do as well as Hyde however he’s ideal for his role as Sho, the impish brat under Kei’s refuge.

Moving on to the detail of what the story is all about, Sho as a kid was a petty thief along with his older brother Shinji and a friend named Toshi. While striving to get away from the gangster they just robbed, Sho met Kei, a vampire virtually on his death. Sho saves him and brought him to their hideout. The three orphans were able to accumulate heaps of money from the gangster they newly robbed, just when they tried to keep the money from the gangster, they were almost killed, and Kei then kill the goon by doing what a vampire should do right before the very eyes of Sho. Thus instigate the bond between two individuals in a society full of cruelty beyond thoughts.

Sho grew up under the care of Kei; hence Kei became his protector through his adversaries and from viciousness of the world they’re attempting to blend in. It was fun most of the time, but you can’t have the best of both worlds in most cases. When a group of gangster killed Toshi, Kei in response, ferociously killed his target and as a result was sent to penitentiary and was sentenced to death. On the other hand, Sho became a big time gangster, got married and turn out to be a loving father to his daughter named Hannah.

When Sho’s wife Yi-che became terribly ill, he seek for Kei’s help and ask him to make his wife be like him, a vampire. Kei refuse to follow Sho’s pleading, surely he doesn’t want Yi-che to go through what he’s been through all his life, not even for his beloved Sho. Being immortal in an unkind world is the least thing he’d rather choose.

Both Kei and Sho went through difficult times, but more often than not, they’re at least grateful to have each other like a single soul dwell in two bodies. They live together, laugh together, love together and rest together as the moon succumbs to the orange sun. A simple illustration of two individuals united in the spirit of pure friendship, respect and love, that’s how I see and comprehend what Moon Child is all about.

Photos courtesy of Photobucket dot com.

Supergirl is one of my favorite movie way back my younger years. I was really young then when my father rent a copy of this movie on a nearby video shop. As a kid, I am too fascinated by the film’s shallow special effects, especially seeing the female lead fly and beat the bad guys. To be really honest, I had fun watching Supergirl back then. Well, what can you expect from a child who dwell a lot on fantasy and refuse to accept reality? A child is a child, be in any form and races; don’t say you’ve never been there ‘cause you’ll never make me believe in you.

I tried to dig up a copy of the movie on the internet and was fortunate enough to find it immediately at Veoh™. I watched it again, this time I’m no longer a youngster like I used to be when I first watched it. I can’t believe that this was once my favorite among the so many movies I’ve watched when I was young with my parents and brothers. The lines, the acting… the plot is indeed intended for kids alone and I don’t think it’s nearly favorable to every adults my age these days.

The story focuses on Kara (Helen Slater) from the community of Krypton survivors who is in fact Superman’s cousin. Kara took a journey here on planet earth, not to find the whereabouts of her cousin but to search for the lost Omegahedron which is the source of their city’s energy thus provides unlimited power-source for whoever might possess it.

An amateur witch named Selena (Faye Dunaway), who is more obsessed on world domination held the possession of Omegahedron. With it, her ultimate ambition is within her reach but Kara would never let that happen (I don’t know about Superman, he never came to help Kara on this threatening invasion so I just thought, he’s probably very busy saving Metropolis).

When Superman was sent here on earth, he never wore that Superman costume of him yet, it was I believed made for him by his mother (saw it on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) but I was amazed when Kara easily changes her clothes as the lovely girl of steel herself, Supergirl. She probably was thinking to mimic the style of her cousin. She too has superpowers which are like of Supermans. Hence, ‘twas easy for her to find the Omegahedron this way and of course defeat the witch who possessed it in the end.

So, yeah, there are lots of flaws in the movie which could never be ignored easily by the eyes of an adult viewer but as I’ve said, little boys and girls would definitely give it a thumbs up in most cases. I, myself was once a big fan of Supergirl, I knew how it feels to be amazed with super heroes who has superficial abilities.

“When I think about him, I feel strange inside…when I try to figure out how I feel…my chest hurts even more…”– Sakura chan thinking about Shaoran kun

The strange occurrence at Tokyo Tower has finally concluded. Sakura chan was able to overcome her final ordeal as the master of Sakura cards. Erriol, Ruby, Spinel and Kaho are returning to England and Sakura chan was saddened thinking of her friends leaving. What bothers her most was the confession made by Shaoran right in front of her.

“I love you… the one I love most is you…that’s all I wanted to say…”

Sakura, caught off guard wasn’t able to reply back. Still confused and unable to figure out why…how… was Shaoran Li has fallen in love with her. Prior to that, she had confessed her true feelings to Yukito, that she thinks she likes him and all but Yukito loves somebody else, Yukito likes Touya (sakura’s brother). During those depressing moment, Shaoran was always been on her side, comforting her until she feels better. And this declaration of feelings by Shaoran leaves her thinking…contemplating…mull over the feelings she have had for him all this time. Only one thing is certain for her, “It’s not the same as what I feel for Yukito san and it’s not loving in a friend sort of way”. Kinomoto Sakura, then realize how much she loves Li Shaoran.

She thinks of how she hurts Shaoran during those events wherein she has to tell him how she feels for Yukito san; she realized how sad she made him feel during those times. But after bumping into Chiharu and Yamazaki, she was able to find answers and ways to ease the pain she’d caused him…that is to apologize.

“When I say stuff sometimes I don’t understand things. But I never mean harm…But then I realized I hurt him badly…so then I apologize and say, I’M SORRY!”– Chiharu referring to Yamazaki

Shaoran received a phone call from her mother in Hongkong. He has to leave Tomoeda immediately. After learning the situation, Sakura was in panicked, he has to hear her reply first…she has to let him know how she feels. The feeling was never like before…it’s a lot different. She has to let him know.

“When I knew that Erriol kun was going to England and it was really too bad…but with Shaoran kun…THIS IS AWFUL…AWFUL!”

That night she spent most of her time sewing a teddy bear for Shaoran. She was already given a teddy bear by Shaoran before that, only now did she find out the significance. With Touya and Yukito’s aid, she was able to arrive at the airport bus stop just in the nick of time. She then gave the teddy bear to Shaoran and told him her true feelings for him.

“I understand my feelings…”

And they named their teddy bears Shaoran and Sakura. They promised to write, call, and wait for him ‘til he fixed matters in Hongkong and gets back in her arms again. After a couple of years, Sakura is now in middle school and Touya is still picking her for oversleeping. On her way to school, she met a fine young man…it was Shaoran kun. He said, everything is all mend in Hongkong and he’s staying in Tomoeda for good.

“We don’t have to go through phones and letters anymore?” “Yeah…”

Card Captor Sakura manga will always be a favorite of mine when compared to its anime adaptation. Sakura weren’t able to confess her true feelings for Shaoran in the anime series, though on the movie sequel you can feel the fluttering sensation seeing how cute they seem to be together all throughout the storylines and Sakura’s final confession leaves my heart twitching ‘til my sleep. *wink

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I absolutely adore this movie.

“The Prince and Me” is everything a good movie should be. It’s cute, funny, easy to watch, enjoyable, it doesn’t resort to swearing, violence, or sex, and it’s not pompous, presumptuous, or didactic. It is happy, uplifting, creative, funny, cute, modern, and overall completely enjoyable.

I think it’s silly that this movie is called “a Cinderella story” by many. Just because a girl (unknowingly) meets a European Prince doesn’t mean the girl’s going to be Cinderella. In fact, the main character, Paige, is a modern, ambitious, typical middle-class American college girl with dreams of being a doctor. She’s a hard worker and we get the impression she’s never had a serious relationship because she doesn’t want to get “distracted” like her friends, who all seem to be falling in love and getting married. Paige is obviously the focused, studious one in her group of friends. Meanwhile, her life couldn’t be much more different than the life of the young Danish Prince Edward (who is fictional, by the way; this movie doesn’t pretend to be a documentary).

The playboy Prince is immature and unfocused and resistant to his royal destiny, preferring to race cars in the streets of Copenhagen and make the headlines of tabloids. In the hopes of finding a fun, carefree life with crazy college girls in America, he decides to be an exchange student in Wisconsin at the university that Paige also happens to attend.

The story unfolds from here, as Paige learns that chemistry isn’t just something that you learn in a classroom, and as Prince Edward learns the meaning of hard work, responsibility, and how to be an ordinary college student with a personal egg poacher.

Ultimately they both learn the meaning of true love. However, don’t expect a sugary sweet fairy tale story: while it is sweet, the story has many modern twists and plenty of humour thrown in for good measure (Scotty the roommate and Soren the butler/caretaker are, quite simply, hilarious).

Overall, this is a smart movie, well thought out, well planned, and completely enjoyable. I loved how this movie was a college student romance. Too often with romance movies we’re left with are either 20-something urbanite stories or silly high school romances. I loved the one-liners, irony, surprises, and humour in this movie and I highly recommend it as a perfect Friday night movie rental.

Don’t get tripped up in the irrelevant details (apparently it was a really warm Thanksgiving in Wisconsin, and yeah, the Danish prince has impeccable English, and the technicalities of the Danish government aren’t exactly followed to a “t”)… but this is a movie to be enjoyed and not overly analyzed. It strikes a perfect balance between just being realistic enough with being a fun, modern, sweet, relatively carefree romance.

This film is a rather light and enjoyable trifle and it does have a very fine performance from Julia Stiles.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

‘m a big science fiction fan, and was very intrigued by the idea for “Jumper”. Samuel L. Jackson always lends credibility and I was interested to see Hayden Christensen for the first time since Star Wars ( I haven’t seen “Awake” yet). I persuaded a friend to come with me based on the special effects in the trailer.

The plot goes much like this; Boy discovers he has the power to teleport himself. Boy learns to control his powers. Boy lives idyllic life of leisure and travel until he discovers that people are chasing him, and that he is caught up in a war between people who can teleport, and those who hunt them.

–A Point to Ponder–

For all haters.

To me, there’s an important message hidden in this film. I feel that the makers of this film wanted to deliver a message. In this genre of film, almost all the “gifted” individuals turned out to be some superhero or saviour of mankind. Like Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Daredevil, X-men, Fantastic 4.. just to name a few.

But the question is, if we really got these super-human powers, who will actually sacrifice it all for the good of man kind? This is the message the makers of Jumper is trying deliver to the audiences. The guy in this film, without giving too much away, is nothing but a selfish prick. All the things he does with his power is for himself, no one else.

To me, the most meaningful scene in this film, is the few seconds when he watched the News of TV, saw a bunch of people get caught in flood, and then emotionlessly turned it off.

He could have gone and saved those people, and become a stereo-type hero. But he didn’t. He got superpower, he use it to enjoy life. It’s that simple.

But isn’t it what we would all do, if we got his power? This ain’t an Oscar winning film, but it got a clear and simple message. Which I believe allows it to beat all superhero films, simply because it’s more realistic.

“With greater power, comes greater responsibility”? Bullocks. Get real. We’re all selfish animals.

What can I say? it’s one of my favorite movies. It has everything: love, romance, action, sorrow, and happiness. Shane West and Mandy Moore have wonderful chemistry together, and it shows. It makes you feel like you want to become a better person, and not be so selfish, self-centered, and makes you realize that there more important things in life.

Another reason why it’s such a great movie is because you see the transition of someone who I guess you can say was “heading on the wrong path” given another chance to make something out of themselves, and that makes you feel good. You have to give a lot of credit to the young main actors in the film (Mandy Moore and Shane West) they did a great job for both of them just starting their movie careers only a couple of years ago.

Although for anyone that has actually read the book, like myself, you catch a lot of the differences between the book and the movie, and in your own way you can note what could have made the film a lot better than how good it was. This was definitely Mandy Moore’s best movie, and think it left a big positive mark for her in having a acting career. I undoubtedly give this movie 4 1/2 stars out 5.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Jamie and Landon create a miracle. Landon lacks faith in himself, in the wonder of life and in God. Jamie has the faith that Landon lacks.

Teen peer group pressure in the form of a dare causes a young man to be hospitalized. Landon is partially responsible. His punishment is dealt out by the school principal. The principal wants to somehow reach him, to teach him humility. Landon has to do math tutoring for resistant kids, perform janitorial duties around his high school, and perform in the school play.

He’s known Jamie all his life. However, his attitude as a cool kid, is to ignore her in public. But due to his community service responsibilities he really gets to know her. And he needs her help in rehearsing his lines for the school play. Through working on the play, Landon starts to fall in love with Jamie. He is softened. He sees her faith. She develops faith in him, and he then finds faith in himself. Mandy reaches her audience in portraying a ministers daughter whose faith helps her to resist peer pressure.

Why she warns Landon not to fall in love with her… that’s the point of the movie. The movie will help remind people of the value of life and of simple things!

“I’m a sentimental guy who likes romantic movies.” – jaJAN™