katsup

I have watched this movie many many times since it is one of my favorite Miyazaki films, so why not write a review? I have also read the book, which takes a much different direction than the film does. And yes, it may seem like I rate highly but for some i was between 9 or 10, and I have explained things that I disliked that may not reflect in my number ratings. Story: the story is about a girl named Sophie who gets turned into an old woman and ends up living with a wizard named Howl in his moving castle. The story is theonly part I felt was lacking in this movie. Though I have to admit I see more flaws with the story after reading the book (even though I find the movie much better). Overall, I felt many of the war scenes were overdramatized and left a lot of questions. There were also a lot of small things throughout that they could have done a better job at explaining. Even after watching the movie so many times I cannot fully explain some scenes and still have questions about the movie. Animation: The animation is absolutely stunning and many of the backgrounds look realistic. I also have to say that I am impressed with how Sophie is animated, and how it is so easy to tell when she is aging/regressing just simply by looking at the animation (her voice also helps). Overall this is the most impressive Miyazaki art I've seen and I really haven't seen much that can top it. Sound: I'll just start off by saying the music in this movie is so beautiful. I love every single background music in this movie, and the only song I don't like so much is the theme with the words that plays at the end. Aside from the beautiful soundtrack, the sounds in the movie are so dead on. Hearing Sophie's bones crack as an old woman is really painful, and as much as I don't like Sophie's voice, her seiyuu does a great job at portraying the character and how she fluctuates between young and old so frequently throughout the movie. I think all the seiyuu in the movie were good as well. Character: The characters in this movie make up for all the lack of closure in the plot. Each character has their good points, even the Witch of the Waste. I personally adore almost all the characters, though I actually like Sophie the least of all. Calcifer, Heen, and Turnip head are such adorable and fun characters to watch (and Heen and Turnip have pretty much no lines in the whole movie). Howl is also another loveable character as well. The characters have such different personalities that you will probably like at least one character or more. Enjoyment: Obviously I enjoy this film a lot. I've watched it so many times! Each time I sit there in awe of the animation and empathize with the characters. It's one of those movies that I love to watch and I have not gotten bored of it yet. I do have to say that towards the end I get slightly bored with the stressed focus on the war, but that only lasts at most 15 minutes. This movie is defenitely worth watching, and even if you watched it and didn't like it, you only spent two hours watching it since it's a movie. I think it's defenitely one of Miyazaki's better works. If you have time or interest, I think it's worth checking out the book, since it's a completely different take on the story. It's got a lot less romance between Sophie and Howl in it, but it brings a lot more character development to Markl and Sophie's sisters (she has more than one in the novel). But if not, just watch the movie!!

kiriska

I'd figured that waiting so long to see this made me a bad Miyazaki fan, but after seeing it, I wasn't much bothered by my long delay anymore. STORY - This movie was apparently based off a book, but as I haven't read the book, I'm judging this movie as a work all on its own, for better or worse. So I suppose this was, in a way, a story about courage and facing one's fears, but it was approached in such a roundabout way that I'm really not sure, even now. The premise of the movie -- Sophie getting bewitched into an old woman --seemed almost completely random, and I was left wondering why? and what was the point of that? Those questions were, for me, repeated a ridiculous number of times throughout the course of the movie. Indeed, most of the scenes seemed haphazardly spliced together with little rhyme or reason connecting them. Eventually, the focus of the movie fell onto Howl and his troubles, which was fine, except that we seemed to forget entirely about Sophie's initial dilemma because of it. In some ways, Howl's reminded me of Spirited Away, what with its eclectic assemblage of characters, all with their own problems and goals. But while Spirited Away maintained and remembered its initial story and theme, Howl's Moving Castle was seriously all over the place. The further we progressed into the movie, the more it seemed like Sophie's problems were taking a backseat to Howl's, and even her position as a member of his castle and one of his helpers didn't seem very important. One of the things that annoyed me the most was also the fact that the spell placed on Sophie was never explained the depth -- all you knew was that she couldn't tell anyone about it (which was pretty useless since most characters seemed to be able to tell anyway). Nothing was explained as the spell seemed to gradually fade; when Sophie randomly appeared to be her old self, you were never sure whether it was for real or a dream. Eventually, you sort of accepted that she was slowly regaining her old self, but even then, you weren't sure why. There's also the matter of the war. Throughout the entire movie, it seemed like more of a background element more than anything else. We were never told why the war was going on or against whom they were fighting; thus, it didn't seem like all too important of a thing, even when leaders were requesting the aid of magical folk. In a way, I find this impression interesting as there seems to be a distinct separation between the affairs of our characters and the world around them. Despite the war, they're in their own little world, even with airships attacking every so often and Howl's subsequent injuries. I'm not sure why that is or whether it's a positive or negative element, but it's there all the same... CHARACTER - I wasn't really all that impressed by any of the characters in this movie. Most of them seemed to be typical of Miyazaki both in personality and goals and were consequently predictable. Sophie is an all around "good" character who only wants the best for her family and friends. Howl is the mysterious one with great power and internal insecurities. Calcifer is the sharp-tongued, sarcastic one who just wants to be free, despite a seemingly good relationship with his master. And Markl is just a good kid, more or less in the same vein as Sophie except younger, and the Scarecrow was a similar personality as well. The Witch of the Waste is a completely stereotypical semi-villain, as is Suliman. Though there are certainly attempts at expanding on some of the characters' very flat personalities, I don't really feel as if any of them are successful. Sophie's fascination and eventual love for Howl was a little interesting, but the feelings could be attributed very easily to the typical goodness of her personality, and it didn't seem like Howl was very special to have her affections. Similarly, Howl's feelings for Sophie seemed generic, or perhaps he (and all the other characters) could not help but be attracted to her goodness, as there didn't seem to be very many flaws in that purity at all. ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - This is easily what contributes the most to the entire movie. As we have come to expect from Studio Ghibli, Howl's Moving Castle was an exceptionally beautiful film. The highly detailed background renders were superb and featured all sorts of fantastical elements, giving the environment a wonderful personality. The streets and storefronts were inviting and cheerful, and the darker alleyways held a mystery of their own. The characters were all wonderfully animated, especially Howl, who transformed slickly between his human and harpy-like form. The design for the castle was especially fun. As more or less a gigantic heap of metal parts, its lack of uniformity gave the viewer a lot to look at, and all of it was interesting. It was also great to see rooms and halls within the castle shift, contract, and expand as Howl magicked them around. MUSIC - I don't remember anything especially extraordinary, but I think it's safe enough to say that most of the music was satisfying and fitting for their scenes. VOICE ACTING - I've only seen the movie subbed. The voices were about average, but I would say that's more because of the characters' flatness more than lack of talent on the part of the actors. Calcifer is the only one that had a particularly memorable voice -- it was a little whiny and a little scratchy: absolutely perfect for his grumbling character. OVERALL - Howl's Moving Castle was a very fun movie to look at. The visuals were gorgeous and everything smoothly animated. Unfortunately, the story and characters definitely left a lot to be desired; there was so little substance that I might have gotten about the same impression if I'd seen the whole thing on mute (or without subtitles). I've been told that the original novel is better, and I wonder if Miyazaki's downfall is only in that he was trying to adapt someone else's work, because certainly I know the man's capable of telling a story better than this.