Yeah, okay, that's fair. He did co-write the screenplay, though.

It's tied between Spirited Away and The Secret World of Arrietty, if that counts as "a Miyazaki film."

The movie did get Howl right. And Christian Bale's even Welsh!

The endings are very different. I'd say the book ending is also tangled and confusing, but at least somewhat satisfying.

Ha, yeah, while it was on, I was on the edge of my seat. I even went "noooooo" when they arrested Nolan. It wasn't until after it was over that I thought back and realized it was just a big mess. Eh, it was an entertaining mess, at least.

That's the only grandparent Carl has. But why the hell would you leave an infant with that woman?

According to Wikipedia, there's a species that's a glowing ball of energy.

Was that a bodyguard or just one of his miners? Either way, he does that employ that alien housekeeper that was in the pilot. I dunno, people are contradictory. And it seems he mostly just hates the Castithans—who do tend to lord it over people. I can see how that would make humans resentful of them.

The mine storyline seemed incredibly pointless. They chase Ben into the mines, there's a threat of radiation, and Ben kills himself. Nothing changes, we don't learn anything (Except that Rafe's dad owned a dog food company), and there isn't even much character growth or real decisions. Speaking of which, was I the…

I actually thought the dilemma was interesting and both sides were pretty valid. In the real world, mostly we try to preserve customs unless they go against agreed-upon human rights. But the Castithans are literally not human, so do "human rights" even apply to them?

Yeah, the dialogue really needs to improve. A lot. I hope it will, once the writers find a nice groove.

When Chiana first appeared, I hated her, mostly as a kneejerk reaction to the kind of sassy, hypersexual character I thought she was. But Chiana has a way of worming herself into people's hearts, as (spoiler?) we'll see with the crew. After a few rewatches, she's pretty much my favorite character.

She was 20 in Mirrormask, too.

Orrrrr she's pregnant? There was a whole discussion about that in "The Honeymooners" comments.

Well, The Paradise didn't have Jeremy Piven. So, yes, I'd say it was better. I don't know about originality, though. (And wasn't The Paradise nominally based on an Emile Zola novel?)

What is it made out of? I'm not trying to be flippant, it's just, I've never seen a bra that expensive. The most expensive bra I've ever bought was $75.

How does that mesh with her being evil, though? The show doesn't usually change fairy tale characters so drastically. I really don't see Tiana murdering two people in order to steal magic.

So, any recent theories as to who Tamara is? I think the picture with her grandmother makes it seem like she's normal/from this world, so how did she know about magic? Maybe her grandma is magic? Or she encountered it some other way? To be honest, I would kind of like it if she was an entirely human villain.

That could be awkward. "This one time when I was having sex with that lady in Thailand—" "Eat your peas!"

Or he could be, like, any dragon. There's quite a lot in fairy tales. And the show has usually been good so far about not including characters just made up by Disney.