Howl’s Moving Castle

Out of all films by Studio Ghibli, Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro, 2004, Japan) has affacted me the most. Based on an English fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the film is almost a five star experience. It happens to be also the most finacially succesful Japanese film in the history.
The story is about Sophie, an 18-year-old young woman, who consideres herself ugly and mostly unwanted. She is the oldest daughter in her family, so she will inherite the family’s small hat business. Her future looks rather settled.
Yet, the life of the little wallflower is about to change. One day, heading to meet her younger sister Lettie, she encounters a strange and charming stranger, Howl, who is a powerful and commonly feared wizard. Later that night, as she is closing the hat shop, a mysterious woman comes in. Sophie refuses to serve her after closing time but the woman, who turns out to be The Witch of The Waste, curses her.
Now Sophie gets to experience life from a different perspective: she is now trapped in a body of a 90-year-old woman. Not being able to tell anyone about her curse, she leaves her hometown, and ends up wandering in the ”Wastes”, a wasteland up in the mountains. When the sun is setting, she has no place to spend the night. Luckily, a scarecrow, whom Sophie names Turnip-head (I believe you can all guess why), leads her to Howl and his castle.
So far, we’ve already seen two diffirent sides of Sophie: although the curse didn’t affect her personality, the new body gave her a chance to finally be free of her family and their expectations towards her. She is finally free of the anxiety. She doesn’t have to care what others think of her.
Throughout the film, Sophie’s age changes with her mood as she gradually learns to control her curse. The change can happen in one scene; in just a few seconds she can turn from a 30-year-old to a grey-haired granny. The youngest she is when she’s with Howl.
Howl is the diva of all divas. He’s vain and stubborn and a coward. Still he is the most intriguing (and in my opinion the most lovable) character in the whole movie, probably because of the character developement. He grows to love Sophie and at the end he is willing to risk his own life for her.
Calcifer the fire demon, to whom Howl has sold his heart, is the main power source of the castle. At first he seems like a minor character, but in the end, he is the one that saves everyone, with Sophie. He also brings humour to the film.
The last member of this odd family is Markl, the assistant of Holw. He is an adorable little boy, perhaps 12 years old.
It’s very hard to tell the where and when the story is set. The world is filled with magic and early 19th century inventions. And every Miyazaki fan knows the director loves flying and airships, so why wouldn’t there be a ton of them in Howl’s world too? Even the castle flies at the end.
First time I ever saw this film was at the age of 10. At that time I was mainly enchanted by the story and action, and the dream-likeness of the whole film. What I mean is that even the strangests things, such as doors with multiple exists and Sophie’s changing age , feel completely normal. These days I’m even more charmed by the music. The amazing soundtrack is composed by Joe Hisaishi, who has made music and main themes for many Ghibli classics. Secondly, as always in Miyazaki’s films, the scenery is amazingly beautiful and animation good.
One of the best details of the film is the castle itself. Beautifully drawn and build from diffirent-sized pieces of metal and wood, from time to time it seems to have feelings: for example, it gets offended when Sophie says it doesn’t look like a castle at all. Nevertheless, it is still willing to help Sophie in the end and even gets destroyed just so she can see Howl again.
My favourite part is the flashback to Howl’s childhood, to the very moment he sold his heart to Calcifer. The scene is a bit scary, in fact, with all the star-shaped demons firing down from the sky. That is not all, music for this scene is only a simple trumpet solo, and since it’s both a dream and reality at the same time, Sophie’s panic is conveyed to the viewer and the whole atmosphere becomes strangely ominous. The demons are also seen in Mrs Suliman’s court, where they’re used to remove sorcerers’ powers with their grim, sinister singing.
Because the film has some peculiar themes, it can be slightly intangible at first. The main plot is understandable, of course, but some little things (e.g. the story of The Witch of The Waste and Howl) may be hard to grasp But after watching it for the second or third time, the entire story opens and you’ll see its true beauty.
I honestly have almost nothing to criticize (except for Howl being a lil bitch sometimes), most likely because this film is so meaningful for me. Similarly to other Miyazaki’s films, the main themes are friendship, loyalty and love. Even though the war rages on, there are still mothers, fathers, friends, and lovers, who will always try to help and protect you. These are of course extremely used and worn out themes, but I believe that means that they, after all, are valid to everyone at anytime. Therefore I recommend this film to everyone. I had my perconceptions, for this is a Japanese film, but year by year I have learned that everything with Miyazaki’s name on it is worth watching.