Howl's Moving Castle

Year: 2004

Running time: 119 minutes

Certificate: U

Language: Japanese

Screenplay: Hayao Miyazaki

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Starring (voices): Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashûin, Haruko Katô, Yô Ôizumi

Howl's moving castle, on the move.

When you've set benchmarks as high as My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, it is inescapable that sometimes you won't quite hit those heights every single time. So it is with the incomparable Hayao Miyazaki and his adaptation of the Diana Wynne Jones novel Howl's Moving Castle. The book is a thing of beauty and wonder and comes highly recommended, and although Miyazaki's adaptation is every bit as beautiful as you would expect, it's the plot that doesn't quite hit the mark.

I can't help but feel I'm being unfair here, as to be honest, an underabundance of plot and an overabundance of magical hand-drawn spectacle is kind of Miyazaki's thing, but this time when the story meanders throughout the second half I am drawn back to the novel, which is more concise and tells a better story.

There is, however, still much to love here. Sophie (Chieko Baishô) is a young woman who makes hats for a living. Following an altercation with some soldiers, Sophie is saved by the rather mysterious young wizard Howl (Takuya Kimura). This attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa), who is an enemy of Howl's. The Witch casts a spell on Sophie that turns her into an old woman, wrinkled and bent double with age. Aghast, Sophie runs away into the wilderness, where she meets a seemingly alive scarecrow, whom she names Turniphead (Yô Ôizumi). Bouncing along on a wooden leg, Turniphead leads Sophie to the eponymous castle.

The castle is a thing of wonder. Astounding in its design, magical in its nature, the castle very nearly steals the film outright from its main protagonists. Just watching the way Miyazaki has animated this thing as it walks around the hinterland between two kingdoms at war with each other, makes it worth seeing the movie, the aforementioned mild disappointment notwithstanding. The whole wonderful contraption is powered by a fire demon named Calcifer (Tatsuya Gashûin). Calcifer is somehow bonded to Howl in a way that leaves him trapped and he makes a deal with Sophie; he'll break her curse if she breaks his bond to Howl.

Sophie and Calcifer work together.

It's from about here that the plot starts to lose my interest a little, although not enough to ruin my enjoyment completely. Howl gets more involved with the two warring nations as they both ask him to help them in their fight. Howl asks Sophie to talk to the leader of one of the countries, but falls foul of the king's sorceress Suliman (Haruko Katô). Howl manages to rescue Sophie but they just barely survive the encounter. The conflict continues to escalate with Howl, Sophie, Suliman and the two fighting kingdoms and the film's strong anti-war message is keenly felt (one of several repeating themes in Miyazaki's work).

Even though the plot drifts somewhat, the artistry is never anything less than the world-class quality we've all come to expect from Ghibli and if it turns out as a slightly lesser entry in Miyazaki's body of work, it is still worth at least one visit.

An incredible feat of imagination, full of stunning artistry, but the convoluted and meandering plot undermine it just a little.

Score: 7/10

There are positive reviews out there as you'd expect, such as this one from Ken at the New York Magazine and this one from Andrew at Empire, who appears in broad agreement with me regarding the problematic plot.