Howl’s Moving Castle Review

The story of Howl’s Moving Castle begins with Sophie, a nineteen year old girl living in a steam powered, Victorian era European city, working in the hat shop founded by her dead father. Her mother and sister have moved on but Sophie continues with her father’s work because ‘he would’ve wanted it that way’. A chance encounter with the famous and feared wizard Howl draws the attention and ire of the jealous Witch of the Wastes who curses Sophie, instantly aging her from nineteen to ninety. Sophie then sets off into the wastes herself, in search of a witch or wizard who can break her curse, befriending a magical turnip headed scarecrow before taking up with Howl himself as cleaning lady for his fantastic – and fantastically filthy – castle.

With its emphasis on magical and fantastic, along with the early chase sequences, it is only natural to approach Howl’s Moving Castle as a fantasy adventure film and there is a strong element of that to it. Thanks to the scenes depicting the war between Sophie’s country and a neighboring kingdom it is also perfectly reasonable to go looking for political allegory. These are both familiar territories for Miyazaki and while both are certainly present it is vitally important that the audience understand that these elements are, to Miyazaki, interesting but secondary. Howl’s Moving Castle is really, at it’s core, a (ha, ha) coming of age story. In fact, you can make an argument that it is four coming of age stories with the growth of Howl and Sophie reflected, to a lesser degree, in developments with the Witch and the Howl’s fire demon Calcifer. It is also a film very concerned with the importance and nature of family, another of Miyazaki’s recurring themes.

The central story tracks the development of Howl and Sophie, young people who are polar opposites in many ways. Sophie has been forced to age prematurely, living a life driven by duty rather than passion. Howl on the other hand has lived his life as a perennial child, partly do to the easy life his power affords him, partly as a result of a deal he made to gain and bolster his powers as a child. Through Howl’s influence Sophie learns to follow her passions, to pursue her self as well as serving others. Through Sophie, Howl learns commitment and responsibility. Both are made whole by the other.

On a technical level Howl stands rather comfortably as Miyazaki’s finest work. The scope and scale of things is dazzling, the magic that is uniquely Miyazaki fully in effect. He bolsters his trademark visual style with subtle CG effects to bring the titular castle to life, filling it with a personality of it’s own, so strong that it becomes a character all its own. The now expected flying sequences are flawless, and Howl’s magic is by turns charming, frightening and tragic. Plus the film is stocked with memorable characters with fire demon Calcifer providing a handful of classic moments. The man makes a stick with a turnip on it a powerful, emotive character and that really tells you all you need to know. If Miyazaki can make a turnip generate emotions there is no limit to what else he may accomplish.

As for the DVD release itself the Hong Kong set makes it pretty much unnecessary to wait for the upcoming Region One release unless you need a copy that includes the English dub. The picture is anamorphic widescreen with a strong transfer and includes the Japanese audio track in 6.1 sound. The English subtitles are clear and well translated. The second disc does not include English subtitles, but that is an issue on only one feature, a documentary explaining the use of CGI that includes only Japanese sound with Chinese subs. Of the rest the storyboard-to-finished-animation comparison (which should be standard on all animation releases) features no dialogue whatsoever, and the interviews with Howl’s author Diana Wynn Jones, English dub director Pete Docter, and Pixar head John Lasseter were all conducted in English. The questions asked are presented in Japanese but the answers are all perfectly clear. The Jones doc is fascinating as the original author takes some about the changes made from her novel for the film, and Docter and Lasseter are worth watching purely for their fanboy enthusiasm for Miyazaki’s work. The shot of Lasseter blowing past Miyazaki’s offered handshake to grab him in a bear hug when the Japanese legend pays an unannounced visit to Pixar headquarters is absolutely classic.

Howl’s Moving Castle still feels too fresh to really place in the context of Miyazaki’s broader canon. In theme it is a fusion of Totoro and Spirited Away, in terms of overall quality my hunch is that it will eventually settle somewhere in Miyazaki’s top three, certainly no lower than fourth, jostling for position with Totoro, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Howl’s Moving Castle once again demonstrates Miyazaki’s unique gift to make films simple, universal and magical enough to appeal to the smallest children while also layering in such a depth of theme and meaning to reward the most demanding adult viewer’s repeated viewings. A brilliant film, well presented and highly recommended.