Japan has come a long way in terms of animation in filmmaking. Originally starting with movies that were featuring more traditional Japanese folk tales, the country has now seen a resurgence in film with its animation style known as anime. And Hayao Miyazaki is at the forefront for both the story and visual aspect of anime. Often considered the Walt Disney of Japan, Mr. Miyazaki has been in the film industry for more than 33 years. His films have given him a cult status, but it wasn’t until 2002’s “Spirited Away” that gave him the recognition he deserves. His follow up to that film was the 2005 effort “Howl’s Moving Castle” based off the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. While not the film audiences didn’t expect from Miyazaki, it’s still a remarkable movie on its own. “Howl’s Moving Castle” tells a simplistic story about courage with beautiful animation.
The story involves a young girl named Sophie at the turn of the 20th Century where a huge war is being held for unknown reasons. One day, Sophie runs into the dark and mysterious Witch of the Waste, who puts a spell on the girl transforming her into an old woman. Now Sophie must gather her strength and find the Witch of the Waste to reverse the spell. On the way, Sophie runs into a giant mechanical fortress that is run by a wizard named Howl. Whenever people see this fortress, they call it a castle, but in reality, it looks like a giant mechanical chicken. Sophie must be brave and have courage in order to break the spell that’s on her and escape the castle.
“Howl’s Moving Castle” is a great fantasy film that everyone can enjoy. Even though this is a Japanese film, the English dubbed version is not that bad to listen to. With stars like Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal, and others provided in the translation make the movie stand out. The writing is good as it is based of a book, which can be hard to transfer to film, by providing a good romance and delivering a good message about believing in yourself in the end. The music is nice and has a waltz-like quality to its nature. But where the film really shines is with the animation.
The backgrounds, the character designs and the scenery are all magnificent and fascinating to look at. Considering that this is based off a book where there are a lot of fantasy elements included, making a movie of this caliber would be impossible to pull off in live action. Also, making the movie with computer generated images would lose the quality of the film. There are even things that Mr. Miyazaki put in that, while not from the original book, definitely gives the film an imaginative touch. Everything looks gorgeous and the film on its own is a piece of art.
In conclusion, “Howl’s Moving Castle” doesn’t look like a traditional Miyazaki film, but it is a well done animated movie that truly defines Japanese anime at its finest.