Thinner for sure, but also more sexual--the older SS looks like a shy little kid, while the new one looks like a precocious flirt.

Sooo sad....

The new Strawberry Shortcake just doesn't even slightly resemble the older one. And sociological mom, she does look like a flirt...

Maybe she was turning into a crazy custard-scented-cat lady. And really, those baked potato-shoes had to go.

i dunno, i think she just looks more up to date. the older strawberry shortcake looks very dated to the 70s, and the newer art is just bringing in a bit of the more popular anime stylings.

but i also was raised by a comic-illustrating dad, so maybe i just have more sympathy for character revisions.

I hate things like this--I always feel it's the result of grownups thinking kids are too dumb to relate to an old concept. You learn by seeing and hearing things that are not all the same!

I do appreciate that she's wearing pants.

I agree with alice. I think she just looks more up-to-date and less Raggedy-Ann-ish. She's in pants and a t-shirt, not some Bratz-style miniskirt and halter top. And thank GOD they didn't give her breasts or something!

So basically, I'm fine with it. Though I miss the old Strawberry Shortcake,this update doesn't offend me at all.

Skinny care bears? Seriously??

It's sad that not even cartoon characters get to be fat. I was kind of a chubby kid, and I found all the skinny Disney characters were kind of depressing (I think my dad tried to get me to eat my vegetables once by asking me if I thought Princess Jasimine ate peanut butter and jelly every day).

Disturbing trends aside, though, plenty of long-enduring cartoon characters get revisions. Mickey Mouse for example has had tons of them.

yea, I agree strawberry shortcake is looking a little too sexy in that pic- the pose, gesture, huge hair. I think the new SS looks appropriate for an older child, 8-12, but not so much for the younger ones (who I assume SS is really meant to target)

While the Angelina Ballerina illustration does look thinner, Strawberry Shortcake doesn't look much thinner to me - she just isn't in a bulky dress with bloomers anymore. She's even wearing pants! She also has almost the exact same facial expression as the old Strawberry Shortcake.

The proposed makeover for the Ninja Turtles, however, saddens me. How can you have Turtles with less attitude? They are teenage mutants; I think that gives them permission to have some attitude!

OMG WHAAAAAT?! I love Strawberry Shortcake, she was so much cooler than Barbie! Where can we complain to stop this insanity?!

Even the bears are getting thinner? I thought little kids and animals are cuter when they're chubby.

I don't like the new one at all. She looks so flat. And why does everything have to look like a Bratz doll nowadays? Her nose is even more nonexistent, her hair is impossibly long and thick and bouncy, and her eyes are huge and far apart.

The Care Bears remake has already happened much to my daughter's disappointment. The new ones look rediculous. And this Strawberry Shortcake doesn't look like the cute, fun girl on the cartoon (scroll down on the wikipedia link) - is she getting made over again?

If by "skinnier" you mean more stylish. The newer version does not look any skinnier than the older version. They both have that over-large, rounded head. The new version looks like she has a cute dress, and is not overly skinny for the child she is supposed to represent.

I'm with you on this one Jessica. "Aging" fictional star - WTF??? I can understand making a product current, but why not just release a new line for the 21st century instead of changing a beloved icon of a whole generation of little girls? And why does "modern" have to translate to coy nymphette when we're talking about toys for little girls who are still years away from puberty? This reminds me of a piece I read in Bitch mag a while back about how the "outdated" My Little Pony dolls were "updated" - of course the come hither "do me" poses they came up with for those were purely unintended. I shudder to think what they're going to do with Smurfette!

This makes me incredibly sad.

FWIW, they did try to bring back a skinny My Little Pony back in the late nineties, but that failed. But they fattened them back up again and introduced them a few years ago and they seem to be sticking around. I was a *huge* MLP fan as a kid and I think the updates are nice preservation of the original franchise.

The updated Looney Tunes is *ridiculous* looking, though. I'm having some serious brand confusion here.

That picture on the right is *not* Strawberry Shortcake. I don't care what the manufacturer says. She will be known only as Strawberry Shortcake's older & wannabe Bratz doll sister to me.

That pose is a basic anime girly pose. It's supposed to be cute, not sexy.
I see the updating of characters to be a positive thing, for the most part. Strawberry Shortcake is 30 years old. She reflected the times when she was made- so if she is to be preserved (hehehe), she needs an update. Little girls today don't relate to the little house on the prairie look! anime is the hot "new" thing, and her new design reflects that. The cool thing is that now a new generation will love the same character that you did when you were a kid- even though she looked a little different.

Does anyone else find it disturbing that the reason they are doing this is parents are anxious to "cocoon their children" by "wrapping them in nostalgic brands"? I'm all for reducing young children's exposure to violence and hypersexuality, but the language is a bit too middle-class-bubble-y for me. Maybe it's just a semantic issue, but it's bothering me.

On another note, they are NOT messing with my Ninja Turtles.

I'm pretty sure the intent is to make the character look more like manga. Manga is HUGE among children, supposedly.

Wait…I thought Strawberry Shortcake had already been updated? I recall watching a SS cartoon a few months ago on a Saturday morning and she certainly did not look like the SS I had as a kid or the updated one pictured above. None of the characters did, especially Huckleberry Pie. The new one pictured here is ok, I guess. I’m not fond of the hair, lipstick look, or the color of the pink (waaaay too bright for strawberries). And, she looks at little to anime for my tastes, but all and all it's not a terrible update. I still prefer the original Strawberry Shortcake and Friends…I’m just a SS purist, I guess. Man, did they smell good – I was always worried I would sniff them to much and they would lose their smell.

Here are the ones I saw http://www.agkidzone.com/meet_strawberry.action - sorry, I don’t know how to link (still prefer the originals).

Skinny Care Bears, however, is the dumbest thing I've ever heard (you can see them at the site above as well). They're bears. Bears aren't skinny. And, I always thought they were supposed to be more like teddy bears come to life. Aren't teddy bears supposed to be plump and cuddly? This will not help Grumpy Bear’s disposition.

If the new Strawberry Shortcake is what is currently appearing on the Hasbro website, then the official redesign isn't as glammed up as the picture in the NY Times. It can be seen here.
I never followed Strawberry Shortcake so I'm not positive this is the official resdesign, or what I think about it, but since the article says it was unveiled on Tuesday the site probably is up to date at this point.

Although I was never a Strawberry fan, the NY Times picture does bother me because it's symptomatic of making all characters aimed girls look exactly the same. For god's sake. give them some choice!!! And if, as the article says, they revive old school cartoons because new ones are flopping, maybe there should be some concentration on creating higher quality cartoons. Most children's shows are awful, give the kids some credit!

Mathgoddess, that was just the quote I was about to highlight. Freeeaaa-ky! “It’s a terrible world, and modern parents are trying to cocoon their kids as much as possible,” “What better way to protect them than wrapping them in nostalgic brands?”

Wrapping them in nostalgic BRANDS? How about offering a childhood not focused on brands at all? A brand-free, innocent, let's play with whatever the heck we want childhood? Protecting a child from the bizarrely corporatized world... by wrapping them in brands?? Ugh.

Had to register just to say this... I like the newer Angelina Ballerina better than the old-school. Newer Angelina isn't doing en pointe, being on the tips of one's toes, which requires *years* of ballet before a teacher will let you move up into that kind of dance. It's painful. I think the newer one, at least in her case, is promoting a much healthier image of ballet and what form a child ballerina could physically and safely demonstrate. (Although getting one's leg to a 90 degree angle to the supporting leg is still a pretty athletic feat.)

FBOW, We live in a very sexually aware society. "Sexing up" a character like this is as inevitable as periodic revampings. I just thank ghod that she's not dressed like a Bratz doll (thanx TAllison)!

Not trying to get off-topic about the shock of the original post, because the new Shortcake's face says anime teen even when her body says "aged seven", but I'm still hung up on the idea that the TMNT are getting yet another makeover, this time with attitude adjustment.

Seriously, those characters go through more reconstruction than a Hollywood starlet, but at least you can tell Raphael from Donatello with your eyes closed. Hopefully theirs and the other characters' "contemporary" makeovers will go the way of Venus the Girl Ninja Turtle (seriously, there was a Venus the Girl Ninja Turtle in the late '90).

I read about this on (Ren and Stimpy creator) John K's blog.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/06/science-of-not-having-your-own-ideas.html

The readers are the opposite of readers here (i.e., cranky conservative psychos that hate "politcal correctness" and all things after the 1960's) but they're up in arms as well.

I don't know, a character who dresses like she's from 1840 and is named after a baked good is hardly a great role model for young girls in the first place.

It's a tough call for me. The entire re-introductions of MY cartoon childhood to my niece, nephew and little brother... at first I'm really excited to sit down with them and play or watch tv. But then nostalgia has to make room for disorientation. These characters- My Little Pony, Speed Racer, S-Berry Shortcake, Transformers- they aren't really mine anymore. They belong to an entirely different gen, that wouldn't be able to attach to the versions that I grew up with.
But when I think back, it's not like "sexualized" characters weren't available to me back then. Anyone remember, JEM?
I guess I have to be really happy that SS isn't running a dual life... in fishnets and day-glo halter tops. In the long run, the SS (and others)( overhauls could be A LOT worse.

It would probably be in poor taste to post the penny-arcade version of strawberry shortcake (it was meant as a parody of dark re-imaginings of childhood icons.)

The first Strawberry's head is the right size for her body, plus a humongous hat. The new Strawberry's head is about twice the size needed for her body plus extra huge eyes and hat.

The pose may be sexier, but the character is now a mutant whose head will snap her own neck. Good job design team. (Big eyes may be anime-like, but what's up with the entire head?)

Wow, kylljoi, I never thought about how hypersexualized Jem was, but you're right. But she was still - and always will be - truly, truly, truly outrageous.

Also, has anyone seen the newest editions of the Candyland games? Princess Lolly has gotten very sexed up, but Queen Frostine and Grandma Nutt have only been given a more contemporary look, rather than a more sexy one.

I was always more of a Rainbow Brite girl, myself.

Strawberry Shortcake smelled not-so-great, and you could do Ms. Brite's hair.

I like anime and anime style. I just wish they had kept the original SS hair ringlets. Where's the curly love?

Now that they've sexualized and slimmed down most of my favorite iconic childhood toys, can they please, please leave Rainbow Brite the hell alone?

I dunno, to me the most apparent difference is that the old Strawberry was obviously 4 and the current one is obviously 9.

I'm 38 years old. Compared to most of you I'm supposed to be telling you to get off my lawn, but I *like* the new Strawberry design. She actually looks like something my girls might have the tiniest bit of interest in as opposed to immediately dismissing for being dressed like a baby suffragette. (Not that there's anything wrong with *being* a suffragette, but girls today do not want to dress like them.)

Of course, my thing as a kid was Holly Hobbie, not Strawberry Shortcake, but if they wanted to update Holly the way they updated Strawberry, all I ask is that they let her keep her hood. I'd be fine with her wearing pants.

(And what's up with this "oh, she's so sexual and flirtatious?" Do you realize you people sound like pedophiles? She looks NINE. She's no more sexual or flirtatious than my ten year old daughter. Yes, she is a conventionally attractive nine-year-old, not a chubby freckled four-year-old dressed in clothes that haven't been stylish in a century, but she is nonetheless a nine year old, not a teen, not a Bratz, not a tramp. I *swear* you all sound like you're going to go off on a rant about prostitots at the mall and girls nowadays have no sense of modesty and then tell the kids to get off your lawn.)

I also appreciate them foregrounding the fruit theme. Children don't really need any more encouragement to eat cake. They really don't. I don't care how fat positive you want the media to be, there is no sense in which "eat more cake!" is a better message to send kids than "eat more fruit!"

Children don't really need any more encouragement to eat cake. They really don't.

I disagree. My graduate research is on food-related disorders. Our current emphasis on childhood obesity and nutrition to children is resulting in a dramatic rise in eating disorders, as recognized by the American Psychological Association. While nutritionally fruit is a better food item to promote to children than cake, the way we're currently going about this kind of promotion is entirely wrong-headed and counterproductive.

Children don't really need any more encouragement to eat cake. They really don't.

I disagree. My graduate research is on food-related disorders. Our current emphasis on childhood obesity and nutrition to children is resulting in a dramatic rise in eating disorders, as recognized by the American Psychological Association. While nutritionally fruit is a better food item to promote to children than cake, the way we're currently going about this kind of promotion is entirely wrong-headed and counterproductive.

I think the problem with strawberry shortcake, and characters in movies, television and pop culture in general is that they seem to always be the person you would be envious of. They are pretty, smart, and don't do anything that is all that different. When I was growing up in the late 80's there were characters that were a little strange, not nessacarily the popular kids, and maybe a little geeky. They weren't the kids that I was envious of, besides the adventures they had, but the kids I could relate to and say hey its ok to be a little strange. But thats just me, it just seems older pop icons had more personality, Meh who knows.

I prefer the Penny-Arcade make over of Strawberry Shortcake. She's a sweet girl with a taste for pain!

I don't know, a character who dresses like she's from 1840 and is named after a baked good is hardly a great role model for young girls in the first place.

Well, what does it mean to *not* look like you're from the 1840's, or rather to look like "today"-looking like a thin, docile, sexpot? That's what seems to be the aim of all these "updates."

Also, SS was just the main character-they were all named after baked goods, even the boys (ie Huckleberry Pie)

I never liked Strawberry Shortcake, but what bothers me about the new design is how bland it is. It doesn't really stand out to me.

I'm also mad about the slimming of the care bears. They're bears. They're allowed to be chubby. This reminds me of when they slimmed down the little ponies a few years ago.

I'm also upset about making the TMNT bulkier. Part of the reason I don't like newer comics is because all the characters are super bulky even when it doesn't make sense (ie, Spider-Man), and that doesn't need to seep over to cartoons. I think that having hyper-masculine characters harms body images for boys similarly to how Bratz type bodies harms girls.

And does toning down their attitude mean that Raphael isn't going to be sarcastic anymore?

Horrifying. Strawberry Shortcake is a classic toy. And she's adorable in her original form. There is NO NEED to "update" her appearance!

Plus, I notice they do this to "girl" toys but no one sexxed up Optimus Prime.

Hate to break it to you, AlaraJRogers, but they've already updated Holly Hobbie, too. She has a hat, if that helps...

Alara, I hate to break it to you, but Holly was remade a little while ago. They even had a special on Nickelodeon if I remember correctly.

http://www.agkidzone.com/hollyhobbie.action

"She's not sexed up, she just looks more anime now!"

"She's NOT SEXED UP, this is just what little girls are into these days!"

1. Anime as a genre is constantly sexualizing and objectifying little girls in really obscene ways. If she looks more like anime, then she looks more sexualized and objectified.

2. Little girls are into sexualized and objectified cartoon characters now more than ever because that is what is marketed to them from a very young age. If they are trained to "choose" BRATZ dolls, then we really can't offer up their "choice" as a defense of anything.

3. Noticing that a small child is being sexualized does not make one a pedophile. It makes one observant. Your rhetoric is pernicious and repulsive and has been used for decades to accuse feminists of victimizing women by noticing that we keep getting raped, etc.

To notice something bad is not to call it into being. It was already there.

Shame shame shame on you for calling people who give a crap about the sexual victimization of children pedophiles.

All I know is, while I was reading this post with my three-year-old son on my lap, he looked at the pictures and said, "Strawberry Shortcake has no more freckles?" He loves SS, and part of what he loves about her is her freckles! (As a person with lots of freckles, it makes me sad!)

Liz's point is right on, about characters being remade to be so-perfect-they-inspire-envy.

That transcends body image and food issues to be a stunningly bad idea. It's a scary notion of conformity, but also hopelessness. It's impossible to be that perfect all the time. Just ask a 1950's housewife (and pass the Valium!)

What about taking pride in a little creative individuality, no matter how awkward or freaky it might be? To counterbalance the Strawberry Shortcake Syndrome- start sitting kids down to watch DVDs of the Muppet Show. They'll get the jokes, I promise!

Growing up in the 80s, I never really "got" strawberry shortcake. Like, why is she dressed like someone's grandma? I didn't get that she was supposed to be a little girl like me.

So, I think the new character is a huge improvement. She looks more like a kid and less like an old lady's knickknack.

moriath commented at June 13, 2008 11:58 AM: "Strawberry Shortcake doesn't look much thinner to me - she just isn't in a bulky dress with bloomers anymore. She's even wearing pants!"

Indeed. I wonder how many kids in the intended market/audience wouldn't recognize the bloomers in the "before" version posted and just think her skirt is too short to cover her panties (a la babies in mid-length dresses over frilly panties over puffy diapers).

iscah commented at June 13, 2008 1:47 PM: "Wrapping them in nostalgic BRANDS? How about offering a childhood not focused on brands at all? A brand-free, innocent, let's play with whatever the heck we want childhood?"

Right on!

No, Robot! commented at June 13, 2008 6:06 PM: "...I'm also mad about the slimming of the care bears. They're bears. They're allowed to be chubby. This reminds me of when they slimmed down the little ponies a few years ago.

"I'm also upset about making the TMNT bulkier. Part of the reason I don't like newer comics is because all the characters are super bulky even when it doesn't make sense (ie, Spider-Man), and that doesn't need to seep over to cartoons. I think that having hyper-masculine characters harms body images for boys similarly to how Bratz type bodies harms girls..."

Which reminds me, since the Care Bears and My Little Ponies aren't humanoid, could pushing skinnier images of them contribute to kids underfeeding their pets the way pushing skinnier images of humanoid icons could contribute to kids underfeeding themselves...?

Yes, for better or for worse, the new design looks more in line with what is currently out there, anime was also my immediate impression, my experience with anime and manga lasting about 30 years; but I cannot draw an association between the new and old character (yes, I am old enough to remember the introduction of the original in the 70s). I can see the new design being introduced as a completely new character, or an alternate universe reimagination like the Marvel Comics "Ultimate" line of characters who date back as long ago as the early 40s Captain America.

My experience growing up watching nostalgic characters and icons has shown me that efforts to extend their appeal to modern audiences can really be hit or miss, and I personally hate what has been done with most of them. For example, the movie "A Very Brady Sequel" (1996) is for some reason, recently being replayed multiple times each week on cable. The 60s/70s theme is still there, but now the family is a bunch of eccentrics (living in a modern world with their exaggerated 70s fashion and mentality - the family considers the word "butt" to be a four letter word), with overt sexual themes that never existed in the original (such as intense sexual attraction between the two oldest children, and sexually preoccupied parents) thrown in. I watched it simply to understand how stupid it was (which one could gather from a preview). My favorite moment was the Gilligan's Island tie-in.

Just because certain themes or trends may be *currently* popular, does NOT mean a revamp of an old theme with anime style character designs, Matrix/Hong Kong martial arts film wireworks style fighting (or remaking shows as action themed in general), time sensitive cultural references or humor (rickrolling, "This is Spartaaa!"), or yes, slimming down or sexualizing, would be a good idea. Remaking Barbie as a career minded woman in business suit (80s?), a 41 year old President who looks like Hillary with Chelsea hair (2000), or as not tied down to Ken (2004), however, were nice ideas (wait - African-American Oreo School Time Fun Barbie (1997) - oh shit); as well as allowing modern sensibilities to tone down the stereotyical racial features of some characters, or doing away with them altogether: you may know the "new" Aunt Jemima, who no longer looks like a house slave or "mammy" but still quite 1950-ish; but when did you last see the Frito Bandito?*

* "The Frito Bandito spoke broken English and robbed people of their Frito corn chips." (Wikipedia). Sweet.

Tori, I totally have to disagree with ypu. It might be cute, but you know how the whole "schoolgirl" image has been completely sexualized. Am I fan of anime? No, but I grew up in Japan, and yes, the manga/anime girls are basically animated sexuality.

I'm not American, so I had no idea who Strawberry Shortcake was, but I have to say I don't like that they made her hair straight and her eyes sooo big, because it looks like (and I'm just speculating from the pictures) they're actually focusing on her looks now, and helping to create an ideal that no one who isn't white can relate to at all, while the first one looks like she's just a girl about to go play in the dirt, like girls should.

BTW, Paddington Bear is getting modernised too. From "Paddington Bear faces questions on asylum statusn" by Richard Lea, The Guardian, December 11, 2007, http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2225679,00.html :

"Paddington's back - and this time it's his status as a refugee that's getting him into trouble.

"Michael Bond, the 81-year-old writer who created Britain's favourite asylum seeker back in 1958, returns with his first novel-length collection of Paddington stories for 30 years, and the bear in the duffel coat is confronted with what his creator calls a 'very different world'.

"The opening story of Paddington Here and Now, to be published next June to mark his 50th anniversary, begins when Paddington finds that the shopping trolley he's left outside the supermarket has vanished and he goes to the police to report it missing. The junior constable he meets soon discovers that Paddington is from darkest Peru, a straightforward admission from another era which takes on a different resonance in the current feverish climate surrounding issues of immigration..."

All of this really makes me wish that the books I still have from when I was little were in any fit state to pass on, because clearly by the time I have kids everything's going to have the same crappy, brightly-colored lookalike illustrations with giant anime eyes. (They've completely fucked up Goofus and Gallant, by the way. I grew up in the era of blond-bowlcut Goofus and blond-cowlick Gallant, not the originals, but now they've got some impish little computer-aided moppets with pointy chins and quirky ears on their abnormally large heads, and the layout is all funky and modern. And they both look like entirely happy, innocent children -- how am I ever supposed to learn to detect latent evil in my peers if not by their sloppy haircuts and sullen facial expressions?)

I hate what they've done to American Girl, too. Sigh.

I think it's new computer animation that is prompting all these makeovers. The new strawberry shortcake is a lot more simple and 'shiny' because of it.
The thing I'm sad about is her hair and her hat makeover. I didn't grow up with Strawberry Shortcake, but I've always thought that was cute.

At the bookstore where I work, I've seen a few of the new Strawberry Shortcake kids' books -- and the character design is the one ShelbyWoo and RandiRadio linked to.

This makes me wonder where the NYT got their picture. Are they working on a third SS makeover, despite the success of the second one? Or was this one of the possible makeover designs, but a rejected one?

Err, I mean third character design, second "makeover". Blah.

"the manga/anime girls are basically animated sexuality."

I was going to disagree, but you're right, even shojo (aimed at a young female audience) characters are idealized feminine (which may include modern traits such as strength of character and will) forms and traits. There aren't a lot of shojo heroines who don't look like fashion models, or wouldn't appeal to males in their world or ours (like Sailor Moon and other "magical" girl characters). I should say especially shojo heroines represent feminine ideals.

A male commented at June 15, 2008 6:01 AM: "There aren't a lot of shojo heroines who don't look like fashion models, or wouldn't appeal to males in their world or ours (like Sailor Moon and other 'magical' girl characters)."

Yup. If only more of them were like Nausicaä...

I'm 41, a bit too old for Strawberry Shortcake, so the makeover doesn't really bother me, as I have nothing invested in the original character. To me, what it looks like is that they took away the 70s Holly Hobbie /Gunne Sax/Little House look to make her more modern. Which is fine, little girls don't get that look, other than when they see it on the American Girls, who are firmly rooted in their time periods. When I was a little girl, it was everywhere. My favorite doll was a modified Holly Hobbie (my mom sewed her from a pattern and updated her a little.) But little girls nowadays don't get it, it's not an everyday thing to them. Also, as someone pointed out, the original Strawberry Shortcake looks four, while the new one looks nine or so. I guess you all don't have much experience with kids but kids like characters that are older than they are by a few years, it gives them something to emulate. (Except when the characters are obviously babies, which is something different.) Dora the Explorer is older than the kids she first targets by a couple of years.

The only part that makes me kind of sad is that the new Strawberry Shortcake is all pink, not red. Strawberries really are red, but our little girls are enveloped in everything pink these days. I'm going to have a baby daughter in a few months and while I like pink, I don't want everything of hers to be pink, and I'm trying to avoid it if possible. It's probably a losing battle!

"If only more of them were like Nausicaä..."

Well, Miyazaki and Ghibli consistently put emphasis on the plot, not making characters visually appealing to mainstream male sexual appetites. See: Howl's Moving Castle. How many heroines looking and passing for 90 years old do you see? Gee, anywhere?

less belly fat...on a bear. i hope they survive hibernation.

A male: Howl's Moving Castle is based on the Dianna Wynne Jones novel. She writes children's/young adult's novels, and definately doesn't care about male gaze.
I don't think the credit is theirs in that case.

"Howl's Moving Castle is based on the Dianna Wynne Jones novel. She writes children's/young adult's novels, and definately doesn't care about male gaze.
"I don't think the credit is theirs in that case."

See how much (or I should say how little) input she had on the film. The animation itself is Studio Ghibli's work. I was shocked by the account myself:

[start quote]

Diana Wynne Jones did meet with representatives from Studio Ghibli but did not have any input or involvement in the production of the film. Miyazaki travelled to England in summer 2004 to give Jones a private viewing of the finished movie. 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."[2]

As Jones noted, the film is significantly different from her original novel. Roughly the first third of the plot is similar, after which the movie branches off into original territory, flavored with many of Miyazaki's familiar themes: airships, redemption, solving one's own problems, beautiful natural landscapes, Victorian to World War II period European or Japanese societies (roughly 1860–1945), and cute non-human sidekicks.

[end quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl%27s_moving_castle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl%27s_Moving_Castle_%28film%29

Well, I hope she got her cut out of a near $250 million box office. I do what I like (one guy I helped write a book in 1998 (the number two seller in the publisher's genre, Amazon.co.jp ランキング: 本で279,330位 now) asked me to get involved in a planned series of IIRC, six books - I immediately said I wasn't interested, because it took away from my time surfing the Internet, and I also had a day job - this was blowing off a guy with 30 years' experience in Japanese scriptwriting and a PhD in UK law, AND our publisher willing to give us 10% of cover - we were getting freaking paid, even if NO books were sold - in fact, there were at least six printings in about a year), I GIVE MY STUFF AWAY to people who ask for it (since I consider my "work" to be simple doodles and whatnot (including poster sized portraits) I usually create on the spot and most often I treat them like trash, only saving my sketchbooks because I actually make an effort in those), and I support my family at mainstream jobs only (teaching and nursing). Except for getting involved in Ben Stiller's movie on a lark between jobs last summer. Look for a 39 year old slim Asian guy with a fake AK-47 acting like a guerilla among the well muscled guys. And as a young villager in painter's cap among all the elderly village guys. I'm also the guy throwing stuff onto the fire next to the road when you see Stiller being dragged into town right past me.

Very well, so the idea of a 90 year old heroine did not originate with Miyazaki or Ghibli (he has a wealth of his own grandmotherly support characters in his stories of adolescent girls), but he cared and dared to pull it off and make it (inter)nationally famous anyway, despite deliberately altering most of the story, and probably finding it a wider, more appreciative audience. After reading how the books compare to the movie, I am not interested.

He also changed Wynne Jones' young and beautiful Witch of the Waste INTO a physically unappealing character, and later, into a sympathetic grandmotherly character. In contrast to the US illustration showing a handsome young Howl and a winsome Turnip Head, naturally, one of the main Japanese movie posters shows [old] Sophie alone. Courageous.