Howl's Moving Castle (film)

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This article is about the Studio Ghibli film. For the original book by Diana Wynne Jones, see Howl's Moving Castle.
Howl's Moving Castle
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by Toshio Suzuki
Written by Dianna Wynne Jones (novel)
Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay)
Starring Christian Bale
Jean Simmons
Emily Mortimer
Lauren Bacall
Billy Crystal
Blythe Danner
Josh Hutcherson
Crispin Freeman
Jena Malone
Music by Joe Hisaishi
Distributed by Toho (Japan)
Buena Vista Home Entertainment (USA)
Madman Entertainment (Australia)
Release date(s) Japan November 20, 2004
United States June 10, 2005
United Kingdom September 1, 2005
Australia September 22, 2005
Running time 118 minutes
Language Japanese
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城 Hauru no Ugoku Shiro?) is an Academy Award-nominated Japanese anime, Romance/Fantasy film based on Diana Wynne Jones' novel of the same name and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. Mamoru Hosoda, director of two seasons and one movie from the Digimon series, was originally selected to direct but abruptly left the project, leaving the then retired Miyazaki to take up the director's role. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2004. Diana Wynne Jones did meet with representatives from Studio Ghibli but did not have any input or involvement in the production of the film. She's quoted as saying, "It's fantastic. No, I have no input—I write books, not films. Yes it will be different from the book—in fact it's likely to be very different, but that's as it should be. It will still be a fantastic film." Miyazaki travelled to England in summer 2004 to give Jones a private viewing of the finished movie.

The animated film was released to cinemas in Japan on November 20, 2004. The film has also been dubbed into English by Pixar's Peter Docter and is being distributed in North America by Walt Disney Pictures. The film began showing in select cinemas around the United States and Canada on June 10, 2005. It was released nationwide in Australia on September 22 and in the UK on September 23.

Contents

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

18-year-old Sophie works in a hat shop and lacks confidence and direction. Her chance encounter with the handsome but mysterious wizard Howl results in Sophie's being turned into a 90-year-old woman by the villainous Witch of the Waste. On self-imposed exile and in search of Howl, Sophie encounters an animated scarecrow whom she names Turnip-head. With Turnip-head's assistance, she finds shelter in Howl’s moving castle; a mobile, chaotic ensemble of metal scraps but a feat of magical engineering nonetheless. For example, the front door of the castle is magically connected to several buildings in different parts of the country, where Howl maintains a different identity at each one. Inside the castle, Sophie encounters Markl, Howl’s eight-year-old apprentice, and Calcifer, a feisty, smart-talking fire demon who plays a key role in Howl’s intrinsic being, is the source of the castle's power to move, forced to work for Howl because of a spell that binds him to the castle. Sophie’s love and support comes to have a major impact on Howl, who, while a grown man, is still a boy in many ways.

When summoned by his nation to help fight a war with a neighboring kingdom, Howl is at first afraid to respond, believing the summons to be a trap set by the king's head sorceress, his old mentor Madame Suliman. Sophie agrees to go to the capital city and pose as Howl's mother, in order to convince Suliman to leave Howl alone, and to stop the war; Meanwhile, after giving her a magic ring for protection, Howl followed behind her in disguise. However, just when Suliman had cornered both of them, Howl used his magic to help Sophie escape on a flying machine (along with Suliman's errand-dog Heen, and an aged, powerless, and more kindhearted Witch of the Waste in tow), while he kept the palace guards distracted with an illusion.

Later, as the war gets worse and Suliman tries to track Howl down, the dashing wizard begins fearing for the safety of Sophie and the others. After setting things up for them in case of his absence, he takes Sophie to a cottage in a flowery field, where he used to stay as a child. Unknown to Sophie, the self-confidence she has gained since being cursed, along with her developing affection towards Howl, has caused the spell to begin reversing itself, returning herself little by little to her original age (although her hair has completely turned silvery-gray in color); However, even when Howl tried to comfort her after he admitted he'd be leaving, she herself still didn't think of herself as beautiful.

When the appearance of Suliman's monstrous henchmen forces Howl to retreat Sophie back to the castle, he uses his powers to partially transform himself into a bird monster in order to protect Sophie's old hatshop, one of the buildings magically connected to the castle. Sophie fears Howl won't be able to change back to himself after too long, and convinces Calcifer to detach the magic linking the castle and the hatshop, collapsing the castle in the process. Using Sophie's braid of hair as an extra fuel source, Calcifer manages to reanimate a part of the castle in order to reach Howl, but is grabbed by the Witch of the Waste (realizing Calcifer had swallowed Howl's heart), whose longing for a kind heart has burst through again. As the heart begins to set the witch on fire, Sophie throws a bucket of water on her and Calcifer, which causes Sophie and Heen to go over a cliff as the castle starts to collapse again.

Having survived the fall, Sophie starts crying over the thought that by dousing Calcifer, she might have killed Howl. Suddenly, the ring that she received earlier lights up, and when Sophie asks if it can find Howl, it points to the remains of the front door, connected to a portal that only Howl knows the destination to. Taking a chance, Sophie (with Heen on her heels) enters the door to find herself in Howl's childhood; after witnessing Howl swallow a shooting star and Calcifer popping out of his chest, Sophie is pulled back to the door, yelling to the young boy that she can help him in the future. Sure enough, bird-monster Howl is standing outside the door, ready to take them both back to their friends.

Upon returning, Sophie convinces the witch to give back Calcifer, and attempts to give Howl back his heart by pushing Calcifer into his chest. Suddenly, a bright light appears, and Calcifer emerges in his true form, as a shooting star spiraling into the distance. As whats left of the castle gives way without Calcifer, Turniphead uses his balancing pole to stop the remnants of the floor from sliding off a cliff. Sophie thanks him by giving him a kiss, and he instantly transforms into a human being. Specifically, he's the neighboring kingdom's prince, whose disappearance ignited the war, transformed by a spell that could only be broken by 'a kiss from your true love'. However, when Howl revives, Sophie (having since had the curse on her broken) shows she's really in love with him, giving the Witch of the Waste a chance to flirt with the prince. The story ends with Heen appearing before Madame Suliman in a crystal ball to show her that there was no more reason to continue the war, and as the kingdom's aerial warships return home, Sophie, Howl and their friends fly away in the rebuilt castle, supposedly living happily ever after.

[edit] Differences in the Story

Concept art for the film's moving castle, which walks about on mechanical legs.
Enlarge
Concept art for the film's moving castle, which walks about on mechanical legs.

As Jones noted, the film is significantly different from her original novel in many ways. Roughly the first third of the plot is similar, after which the movie branches off into original territory, flavored with many of Miyazaki's familiar themes: airships, redemption, cute non-human sidekicks. The focus is still on Sophie and her adventure while being cursed with old age, but the main action of the film's story takes place during a war, reminiscent of World War I and located in a fantastical nation somewhat reminiscent of pre-World War I Alsace. Indeed, many buildings in the town scenes are identical to actual buildings in the Alsatian town of Colmar, which Miyazaki acknowledged as the inspiration for its setting. Whereas the novel is concerned with Howl's womanizing and his attempts to weasel out of locating a lost wizard and a prince, the film has Howl avoiding helping in a national war for pacifist reasons, and deals with the consequences of this decision. The movie also delves into spectacular scenes of radically alternate realities co-existing within the normal reality of the main story, and phantasmagorical visuals are prominently featured throughout the second half of the film. The book also sees the protagonists detour for one chapter into the 20th century world, where Howl is known as Howell Jenkins. This element is not used in the film, although one of Howl's aliases is "The Wizard Jenkins."

Many of the book's characters are modified for the film. The character of Howl's apprentice, Michael Fisher, is a teenager in the book but a young boy, "Markl", in the film. Sophie has only one sister in the movie compared to two in the book (although the other sister is alluded to as an aside near the film's opening). The Witch of the Waste, instead of looking young and beautiful, is a huge heavyset woman that later becomes an old crone—as opposed to terrorizing the characters as a frightening villain, she is treated as a "grandmother" character and is even taken into Howl's home. Calcifer, who is a scary looking fire demon in the book, is portrayed as an adorable little flame in the film, although in two instances he blazes up into a wicked-looking blue flame strongly reminiscent of his appearance in the book. Finally, while in the book there is a 'Wizard Suliman', in the film this is changed to a 'Madame Suliman'. Various other characters in the film are composites of the book's characters, with different motivations and personalities. Sophie and Howl themselves most strongly resemble Jones's characters (though Howl has a completely different background), but with gentler personas and less selfish motivations; that is, typical Jones character traits are softened into typical Miyazaki character traits.

Spoilers end here.

The film was released on DVD and VHS March 7, 2006 in North America along with Whisper of the Heart and the long-awaited My Neighbor Totoro; and March 13, 2006 in the UK.[1]

This was the first traditionally-animated feature film theatrically released by Disney since Pooh's Heffalump Movie.

[edit] Staff credits

  • Producer: Toshio Suzuki
  • Directed, written by: Hayao Miyazaki
  • Based on the novel by: Diana Wynne Jones
  • Music: Joe Hisaishi
  • Theme Song: "Sekai no Yakusoku" ("The Promise of the World")
  • Editor: Takeshi Seyama
  • Supervising Animators: Akihiro Yamashita, Takeshi Inamura, Kitaro Kosaka
  • Art Directors: Yozi Takeshige, Noboru Yoshida
  • Digital Animation Director: Mitsunori Kataama
  • Color Designer: Michiyo Yasuda
  • Camera (color): Atsushi Okui
  • Audio Director: Kazuhiro Hayashi
  • Sound: Shuji Inoue
  • Sound Effects: Toru Noguchi
  • Released by: Toho

[edit] Cast

The movie stars the following actors:

Character Japanese version English version
Howl Takuya Kimura Christian Bale
Grandma Sophie Chieko Baisho Jean Simmons
Calcifer Tatsuya Gashuin Billy Crystal
Young Sophie Chieko Baisho Emily Mortimer
Witch of the Waste Akihiro Miwa Lauren Bacall
Markl Ryunosuke Kamiki Josh Hutcherson
Madame Suliman Haruko Kato Blythe Danner
Prince Turnip Yo Oizumi Crispin Freeman
Lettie Jena Malone
Suliman's Servant Mitsunori Isaki
Heen (Dog) Daijiro Harada

[edit] Awards

[edit] See also

[edit] Media


Japan DVD Cover

[edit] External links


The Works of Hayao Miyazaki
Films Director, Screenplay, and Storyboard: The Castle of Cagliostro • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind • Castle in the Sky • My Neighbor Totoro • Kiki's Delivery Service • Porco Rosso • Princess Mononoke • Spirited Away • Howl's Moving Castle
Screenplay and Storyboard: Panda! Go, Panda! • Whisper of the Heart
Chief Animator and Concept Artist: Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon • Horus: Prince of the Sun • Puss in Boots • Flying Ghost Ship • Animal Treasure Island • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
TV Series Director, Screenplay, and Storyboard: Lupin III • Future Boy Conan • Sherlock Hound
Scene Design and Layout: Heidi, Girl of the Alps • 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother • Anne of Green Gables
OVA Director, Screenplay, and Storyboard: Lupin III's Greatest Capers
Manga Story and Art: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind • The Age of the Flying Boat
Misc. Director, Screenplay, and Storyboards: On Your Mark • Mei and the Kittenbus • Mizugumo Monmon
Future Projects: I Lost My Little Boy


 v • d • e 
Studio Ghibli Films
Pre Ghibli Films

Hols: Prince of the Sun (1968) • Panda! Go, Panda! (1972) • Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1977) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind  (1984)
Ghibli Films

Castle in the Sky (1986) • My Neighbor Totoro (1988) • Grave of the Fireflies (1988) • Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) • Only Yesterday (1991) • Porco Rosso (1992) • Ocean Waves (1993) • Pom Poko (1994) • Whisper of the Heart (1995) • Princess Mononoke (1997) • My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) • Spirited Away (2001) • The Cat Returns (2002) • Howl's Moving Castle (2004) • Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Studio Ghibli Shorts

Nandarou (1992) • On Your Mark (1995) • Ghiblies (2000) • Ghiblies Episode II (2002) • Mei and the Kittenbus (2003) • The Night of Taneyamagahara (2006)
See also...

Ghibli Museum • Katsuya Kondō • Yoshifumi Kondō • Gorō  Miyazaki • Hayao Miyazaki • Kazuo Oga • Yasuo Ōtsuka • Toshio Suzuki • Isao Takahata •
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