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Reviews catch-up
Mar. 27th, 2007 08:24 pmSo, a four day holiday results in lots of reviews to write!
Borrowed from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lareinemisere (who has already reviewed it herself), The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas tells the tale of five linked episodes in the life of a vampire. I liked the fact that the first three were told from the point of view of different people who encountered the vampire, so you didn't really get to know him until near the end. There were some interesting differences to the classic legend, as well as the modern day setting giving the tale a fresh edge. Interesting structure, intriguing idea and lots of good characterisation.
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch, by Neil Gaiman, is weird and horrible. Effective as all his writing is, but still weird and horrible. It didn't help that it's drawn by Dave McKean, and I really don't like his style.
The Wolves in the Walls, by Neil Gaiman, is less weird and less horrible. Still drawn by Dave McKean, it's actually quite fun, and I particularly like the protagonist, a little girl who takes matters into her own hands after her family are driven out of their house by the wolves coming out the walls.
Howl's Moving Castle was given to me for my birthday by Lindsay, so I thought it would be a good choice for DVD to take on holiday with us. I was never going to watch it on my own, but watching it with Lindsay was an excellent idea. I enjoyed it a great deal more than I did Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away, and I have to admit that it had a lot to do with the voices. We watched it with the English dubbing (which I wouldn't normally do), but I'm really glad we did because Christian Bale has the most gorgeous voice, and I think Howl would just have been annoying otherwise. The story is utterly ridiculous, of course, but it was less weird and disturbing than the other two, and a fair bit sillier, and the perfect film for our holiday. I'm glad we went out and bought a new DVD player to watch it on, though, because it wouldn't have been nearly as good in black and white!
Borrowed from
lareinemisere (who has already reviewed it herself), The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas tells the tale of five linked episodes in the life of a vampire. I liked the fact that the first three were told from the point of view of different people who encountered the vampire, so you didn't really get to know him until near the end. There were some interesting differences to the classic legend, as well as the modern day setting giving the tale a fresh edge. Interesting structure, intriguing idea and lots of good characterisation.The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch, by Neil Gaiman, is weird and horrible. Effective as all his writing is, but still weird and horrible. It didn't help that it's drawn by Dave McKean, and I really don't like his style.
The Wolves in the Walls, by Neil Gaiman, is less weird and less horrible. Still drawn by Dave McKean, it's actually quite fun, and I particularly like the protagonist, a little girl who takes matters into her own hands after her family are driven out of their house by the wolves coming out the walls.
Howl's Moving Castle was given to me for my birthday by Lindsay, so I thought it would be a good choice for DVD to take on holiday with us. I was never going to watch it on my own, but watching it with Lindsay was an excellent idea. I enjoyed it a great deal more than I did Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away, and I have to admit that it had a lot to do with the voices. We watched it with the English dubbing (which I wouldn't normally do), but I'm really glad we did because Christian Bale has the most gorgeous voice, and I think Howl would just have been annoying otherwise. The story is utterly ridiculous, of course, but it was less weird and disturbing than the other two, and a fair bit sillier, and the perfect film for our holiday. I'm glad we went out and bought a new DVD player to watch it on, though, because it wouldn't have been nearly as good in black and white!
