Howl's Moving Castle (film)

Howl's Moving Castle
Directed by	Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by	Toshio Suzuki
Written by	Screenplay: Hayami Miyazaki Diana Wynne Jones Original Story: Diana Wynne Jones
Starring	Chieko Baishō Takuya Kimura Akihiro Miwa
Music by	Joe Hisaishi
Editing by	Takeshi Seyama
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	November 20, 2004
Running time	120 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Budget	¥2,400,000,000
Gross revenue	¥23.2 billion USD$231,711,096 (worldwide)

Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城, Hauru no Ugoku Shiro^?) is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and loosely based on Diana Wynne Jones' novel of the same name. Mamoru Hosoda, director of one season and two movies 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 and was released in Japanese theaters on November 20, 2004. It went on to gross $231,710,455 worldwide,^[1] making it one of the most financially successful Japanese films in history. The film was subsequently dubbed into English by Pixar's Peter Docter and distributed in North America by Walt Disney Pictures. It received a limited release in the United States and Canada beginning June 10, 2005 and was released nationwide in Australia on September 22 and in the UK the following September.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006.

Plot

Young Sophie Hatter is a responsible and beautiful girl, though she does not perceive herself as such, who runs her late father's hat shop. When on her way to the bakery to visit her sister, Lettie, she encounters by chance the mysterious wizard Howl, who takes a liking to her. This arouses the ire of the Witch of the Waste, who has been seeking Howl's heart for herself. Later that night, she comes to the hat shop and curses Sophie, turning her into an old woman. As the curse prevents her from telling anyone of her condition, Sophie decides to run away. Along the way, she befriends a sentient scarecrow that she names Turnip Head, and they come across Howl's castle. Once inside, Sophie meets the fire demon Calcifer, who powers the castle and recognizes that Sophie has been cursed. Calcifer offers to break the curse in exchange for Sophie's help in breaking the "thing" between him and Howl, which keeps Calcifer prisoner in the house. Markl, Howl's young apprentice, arrives to create potions and spells for Howl's patrons, and is perplexed by Sophie's presence, but doesn't try to throw her out (most likely considering Sophie as a mother; likewise, Howl as a father). She later offers to cook breakfast for him, and he's surprised when she's able to get Calcifer to cook for her, something he normally only does for Howl. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she is the castle's new cleaning lady, hired by herself (because of how dirty his house was). As she adjusts to life in the castle, she discovers that the front door is a magic portal leading to several places.

Currently, the land Sophie is living in is at war with its neighbor following the mysterious disappearance of the other realm's Crown Prince Justin, and slowly the war begins to reach the country. Howl receives summons from the King, who orders his various assumed identities to fight in the war. However, Howl fears Madame Suliman, the royal court's magician and his former mentor, and sends Sophie as his mother to decline his participation. At the palace, Sophie runs into the Witch of the Waste, who had previously been expelled from the court many years ago and now seeks to regain the royal house's patronage; instead, Madame Suliman punishes the Witch by draining all of her power, causing her to regress into a senile old woman. Suliman tells Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not contribute to the war. As Sophie vehemently protests these measures, Suliman comes to realize the true nature of this 'mother'; Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie, with the Witch and Suliman's asthmatic lapdog Heen tagging along. He gives Sophie a magical ring that would guide her to Calcifer, but Suliman begins tracking her to get to Howl.

Sophie learns that Howl transforms into a bird-like creature to interfere in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form (as it is made apparent that any wizard that would perform such a change could lose themselves to madness). Howl shows his appreciation for her by transforming the castle so that it can lead to Sophie's old home as well as Howl's childhood residence, which he gives to Sophie as a gift. Sophie fears he's preparing to leave them, because he knows his remaining time as a human is limited.

Soon after, Sophie's mother visits the house, and somehow recognizes Sophie, despite her old appearance. They then have a happy reunion. However, Sophie's mother is actually under Suliman's threats, and leaves behind a bag containing a "spying bug" under her orders. The former Witch of the Waste discovers it and promptly destroys the bug by tossing it into Calcifer. Unfortunately, Calcifer gets sick after eating the bug, rendering him unable to protect the castle from being discovered when Markl opens the windows to air out the Witch's cigar smoke.

A few hours later, the city is carpet-bombed by enemy aircraft while Suliman's henchmen invade the hat shop. After protecting the hat shop from the bombing, Howl transforms and draws the guards away, while Sophie and Calcifer bring the castle to the Wastes. Sophie pulls Calcifer out of the castle to destroy the magic and cut off all ties to the city, so that Howl would not be continually forced to defend them, then moves him back in to create a smaller version of the moving machine so they can rescue Howl. Unfortunately, the Witch of the Waste discovers Howl's heart in Calcifer's diminishing flames, and grabs it. To save her from burning, Sophie douses her and Calcifer with water. The castle breaks apart, and Sophie and Heen are thrown over a cliff.

Sophie recovers in tears, believing that she has killed both Calcifer and Howl, as their lives are interconnected. As she is sobbing, Howl's ring points to the remains of Howl's castle door, but Sophie doesn't see it until Heen alerts her; she walks through it, with Heen reluctantly following, and finds herself in Howl's past, where she sees Calcifer being caught by a young Howl as a falling star. Howl stares at the glowing star in his hands, until he finally decides to swallow it. The result is that he coughs up the demon Calcifer, with Howl's own heart trapped inside the small fiery spirit. Sophie is pulled back into present time, but before leaving, she yells to Howl and Calcifer that she knows how to help them, and they should find her in the future. They watch in surprise as the strange girl is swallowed up by the ground, with a little dog following her. Lost in time and space, and falling to the earth, Sophie is guided back to the present by Heen, who keeps urging her to hurry, before the passageway collapses.

Back in the present, Sophie finds Howl and realizes that he has been waiting for her all along. When they return to the others, Sophie uses love to coax the former Witch of the Waste to give back Howl's heart, which she puts back in his chest after conferring with Calcifer about it. Calcifer returns to his original form and flies away, but returns shortly out of a new-found loyalty to Sophie. The remains of the castle (with everyone still inside) slide down the cliffs, and Turnip Head is forced to almost sacrifice himself to stop the fall. Sophie gives him a kiss, transforming him back into the missing Prince Justin, who had been cursed by a witch until he could receive a kiss from his true love.

By now, Sophie has fully transformed back to her youthful self (with the exception of her gray hair), and Howl recovers, feeling the new burden of his restored heart. He soon forgets it, after seeing Sophie's beautiful new hair, and Sophie finally realizes that perhaps she's beautiful after all.

Though he has come to love Sophie as well, Prince Justin realizes that her love is for Howl and leaves to put an end to the war, as does Suliman, who has been spying on the group, and only at the end has seen the help her spy dog Heen has given Sophie, acting on his own, probably against orders. Later, Howl, Sophie, and the others are seen aboard a new, flying castle powered by Calcifer of his own free will, high above the war machines still flying over the land. The film ends with Markl and Heen playing on a grassy area of the castle, overlooked by Calcifer, with the Witch of the Waste watching from a chair like a kindly grandmother, while Howl and Sophie share a kiss on a balcony at the head of the flying castle.

Cast

• Grandma Sophie is voiced by Chieko Baishō in Japanese and Jean Simmons in English.
• Howl is voiced by Takuya Kimura in Japanese and Christian Bale in English.
• Witch of the Waste is voiced by Akihiro Miwa in Japanese and Lauren Bacall in English.
• Calcifer is voiced by Tatsuya Gashūin in Japanese and Billy Crystal in English.
• Young Sophie is voiced by Chieko Baishō in Japanese and Emily Mortimer in English.
• Markl is voiced by Ryūnosuke Kamiki in Japanese and Josh Hutcherson in English.
• Madame Suliman is voiced by Haruko Katō in Japanese and Blythe Danner in English.
• Lettie is voiced by Yayoi Kazuki in Japanese and Jena Malone in English.
• Honey is voiced by Mayuno Yasokawa in Japanese and Mari Devon in English.
• Prince Justin/Turnip is voiced by Yō Ōizumi in Japanese and Crispin Freeman in English.
• Minister of Defense is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and Mark Silverman in English.
• Heen (Dog) is voiced by Daijirō Harada.
• Madge is voiced by Rio Kanno in Japanese and Liliana Mumy in English.
• King is voiced by Mark Silverman.
• Kabuto is voiced by Tomoe Hanba.

Additional Voices by Carlos Alazraqui, Newell Alexander, Rosemary Alexander, Julia Barnett, Susan Blakeslee, Leslie Carrera, Mitch Carter, David Cowgill, Holly Dorff, Moosie Drier, Ike Eisenmann, Will Friedle, Bridget Hoffman, Richard Steven Horvitz, Sherry Hursey, Hope Levy, Christina MacGregor, Joel McCrary, Edie Mirman, Daran Norris, Peter Renaday, Kristen Rutherford, and Warren Sroka .....

Differences between film and novel

Diana Wynne Jones did meet with representatives from Studio Ghibli but did not have any input or involvement in the production of the film. Miyazaki traveled to England in the summer of 2004 to give Jones a private viewing of the finished movie. She has been 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."^[2]

As Jones noted, the film is significantly different from her original novel. Much of the plot is similar, but it is flavored with many of Miyazaki's familiar themes: airships, redemption, solving one's own problems, beautiful natural landscapes, societies reminiscent of Victorian or Industrial era societies, and cute anthropomorphic 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, with bombing-attacks, by airships, on civilian cities similar to the those made by the German Empire, and monstrously-large Dreadnought style battleships, involved in the arms race before the outbreak of World War I. The film is located in a fantastical nation somewhat reminiscent of pre-World War I Alsace. Indeed, many buildings in the town are identical to actual buildings in the Alsatian town of Colmar, which Miyazaki acknowledged as the inspiration for its setting.^[3]

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. This aspect of the film's plot is actually rooted in Miyazaki's political views as a pacifist — in an interview with Newsweek magazine, Miyazaki told the interviewer that the movie had started production "just as your country [the USA] had started the war against Iraq", and the subsequent rage he felt about the Iraq war "profoundly impacted" the film.^[4]

The book has the protagonists detour for one chapter into the 20th century world, specifically Wales, where Howl is known as Howell Jenkins and has a sister with children. This element is not used in the film, although one of Howl's aliases is "The Great Wizard Jenkins."

Many of the book's characters are modified for the film. The character of Howl's apprentice, Michael Fisher, is a teenager (15) 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 who later becomes an old crone. In the book, she is a frightening villain terrorizing other characters, but the film's latter half transforms her into a "grandmother" character, and she 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 twice he blazes up into a wicked-looking blue flame strongly reminiscent of his appearance in the book. Finally, while in the book the 'Wizard Suliman' is male and an ally, in the film he is changed to 'Madame Suliman,' a female antagonist who is similar in appearance to the book's Mrs. Penstemmon. Various other characters in the film are composites of the book's characters, with different motivations and personalities.

The film removes the references to Wales - originally the home of Howl (where he was known as Howell Jenkins).

Also, the film is more focused on Sophie's curse, the war, and her relationship with Howl. Sophie's magical talent is very subtle, shown most clearly when she is able to remove a magically immovable Calcifer from the hearth, whereas Howl is somehow transformed into a huge hawk beast that he has difficulty controlling.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack CD was first released on November 19, 2004 by Tokuma. Artist Joe Hisaishi also composed and conducted a Howl's Moving Castle: Symphony Suite, an album published on January 21, 2004 which includes ten re-arranged pieces from the original soundtrack.^[5]

Reception

Howl's Moving Castle received mostly positive reviews. USA Today critic Claudia Puig praised it for its ability to blend "a childlike sense of wonder with sophisticated emotions and motives" while Richard Roeper called it an "insanely creative work". Other critics described it as "a visual wonder", "A gorgeous life-affirming piece", and "an animated tour de force." Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it two and a half out of four stars, and felt that it was one of Miyazaki's "weakest" films.^[6] The film was also listed by Sight & Sound, the official magazine of the British Film Institute, as one of the best films of 2005. It was the only animated film to be included on the list.

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2005.^[7]

• 2nd - Ella Taylor LA Weekly (tie)^[7]
• 4th - Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times^[7]
• 5th - Tasha Robinson The Onion^[7]
• 6th - Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte Observer^[7]
• 6th - Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader (tie)^[7]
• 8th - Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun^[7]
• 8th - Michael Wilmington The Chicago Tribune^[7]
• NA - Peter Rainer The Christian Science Monitor (Listed alphabetically)^[7]

Awards

• Osella Awards for Technical Achievement; 61st Venice Film Festival
• Best Japanese Movie Overall; 2004 Mainichi Film Awards
• Excellence Prize, Animation; 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival
• Animation of the Year; 2005 Tokyo International Anime Fair
• Best Director (Hayao Miyazaki); 2005 Tokyo Anime Awards
• Best Voice Actor/Actress (Chieko Baisho); 2005 Tokyo Anime Awards
• Best Music (Joe Hisaishi); 2005 Tokyo Anime Awards
• Audience Award; 2005 Maui Film Festival
• 1st Runner Up, Golden Space Needle Award; 2005 Seattle International Film Festival
• Nomination, Best Animated Feature; 78th Academy Awards

References

External links

• Studioghibli.tv: STUDIO GHIBLI TV (trailers and other related anime works)

• Official website
• Howl's Moving Castle at the Internet Movie Database
• Hauru No Ugoku Shiro at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Howl's Moving Castle at Allmovie
• Howl's Moving Castle at Nausicaa.net
• "ハウルの動く城 (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/2004/eb004590.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-21.