Howl's Moving Castle

[StevePulaski]

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle.

Rating: ★★★

NOTE: This film was recommended to me by Karina R. for "Steve Pulaski Sees It," a yearly event where I take recommendations from readers.

While it might not always make logical sense, and sometimes it meanders a bit too long, Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle is a splendid movie experience that captures the heart and the eyes.

Based on the British fantasy novel from Diana Wynne Jones, the story revolves around Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer), a young girl who is transformed into an elderly woman (voiced by Jean Simmons) after a curse is placed on her by the Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall). Wandering in the woods hoping to reverse the curse, Sophie stumbles upon Howl (Christian Bale), who lives in a mysterious castle. The castle itself is an assortment of odds and ends that laboriously chugs along the pastures, and Howl himself is a powerful yet emotionally insecure wizard. The castle itself is powered by a fire demon known as Calcifer (Billy Crystal), and is partly kept afloat by a young boy named Markl (Josh Hutcherson). The elderly Sophie comes aboard the castle to serve as a live-in maid, but forms a connection with Howl, who is too cursed with his own affliction during a time when a violent war is raging against the backdrop of the land.

This oddball collection of misfits make up a story that's gorgeously textures, which should come as no surprise to anyone even tangentially familiar with the work of Miyazaki, one of the world's greatest animators. Whether he's realizing sun-drenched landscapes filled with glass and bright blue skies or gloomier pastures, it's a feast for the eyes that helps carry Howl's Moving Castle even during moments when the story starts to sag.

Narratively, keeping things interesting is Sophie's gradual discovery that she is, in fact, a heroic soul. In the beginning, she's a young milliner who is looked at as a societal reject with no voice of her own. Although it initially seems like an unfair pox, her jumping several decades in age makes her feel more free to have a voice of her own. She has no problem scoffing at Howl when he's in the wrong, or taking charge of Calcifer and Markl when the situation allows. Her growth and character development throughout the movie is by far the most interesting progression.

Howl's Moving Castle was released during the dawn of the Iraq War, and digging deeper into its subtext — from Howl's own views of the war to the positing of the violence in contrast with the "safe-space" that is the castle — reveal these ideas and make this one of the loftiest films in the esteemed director's catalog. A hectic climax nearly nulls some of the gracefulness in pacing that precede it, but contribute to Miyazaki's overarching anti-war themes throughout the film. However, both the obvious visual and underlying thematic beauty of the picture carry it into a class of its own in being an imaginative film sure to please older, more particular viewers while tantalizing the younger ones who might've grown tired of talking animals before their peers.

Voiced by: Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Josh Hutcherson, Lauren Bacall, and Emily Mortimer. Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki.