After much waiting and anticipation, I finally saw Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle. Forgoing the opportunity to see it on the big screen since I didn’t want to watch it in downtown Chicago, I’ve waited 8 months to see this film. Miyazaki’s latest film that hit stateside last summer is a treat; awash with originality and rich designs.
Howl's Moving Castle
Miyazaki’s style is the same in Howl’s Moving Castle as with most of his films; same way with design, same music, unique precept for the actual plot. Like most studio Ghibli pieces, the story takes place in an alternate reality.
This version is a picturesque place filled with turn of the century technology, architecture, and attire, with witches and wizards thrown in to the mix. The designs are very charming and inventive, just like nearly everything else Hayao Miyazaki has done. Everything was aglow with rich colors and sparkling scenery and you really appreciate the attention to detail in this flick.
The story starts off with Sophie performing her duties at her late father’s hat shop. She gets mixed up with the Witch of the Waste who has a nasty temperament and puts a curse on young Sophie, making her not so young.
After that Sophie seeks refuge with the handsome wizard known as Howl in his “castle” (a cobbled together mobile abode powered by a fire demon named Calcifer), only she can’t tell him she’s under a curse because of her curse. Howl is a powerful wizard capable of many things, but for some odd reason, courage is not on that list and he begins to rely on Sophie to make up for that lack.
Howl
Howl’s Moving Castle is an adaptation from the book of the same name, but from what I hear the book is not so great. The story told in the movie is supposedly oodles better than the book, which isn’t hard to believe as the film is in a league of it’s own.
Howl’s Moving Castle has an anti-war message to it, but not in distracting amounts, and serves more as a backdrop to the film.
I really liked Howl’s Moving Castle and I’ll own this one just like I plan on owning nearly everything else done by Hayao Miyazaki.
3.5 out of four Kasugai™ Melon Gummies.
I’m glad you posted this art rather than the DVD one. It’s much cooler. I would have to give it 4/4 Kasugai after watching it the 2X time.
Oh, and I want a room just like Howl’s.