Film Review: Howl’s Moving Castle

2004 brought us another incredible film from renowned director Hayao Miyazaki, who has created many fantastical films still enjoyed worldwide.

Howl’s Moving Castle is based on the book of the same title, which follows Sophie, a young hat maker who seeks out the wizard Howl after being cursed by the Witch of the Waste to be an old lady.

The film is voiced by big names like Christian Bale, who voices Howl and Emily Mortimer as Sophie.

It is a story of love, finding oneself and war. Miyazaki is known as a lifelong pacifist and has often used his films to subtly criticise war and show how manipulative it is. In this story, Howl fights for two countries under different names, Howl Jenkins and Howl Pendragon.

While it is not the main subject of the story, it helps shape the characters and shows Howl’s cowardice; he often talks about using his magical abilities to run and hide and avoid confrontation, even trying to use other characters to get out of situations he doesn’t want to participate in.

Howl’s character shows us that you can still grow up, even as an adult, as we see him become more selfless and brave.

Sophie's character, while also showing similar character development, heavily focuses on acceptance. At the start of the story, she finds herself to be the unattractive, invisible one, comparing herself to her younger sister Lettie, telling her she does not have to worry about her since she doesn’t have Lettie’s natural beauty.

In one scene, Howl remarks, “I give up; what’s the point in living if I can’t be beautiful?” after Grandma Sophie rearranges his spell bottles and he accidentally ends up with black hair. This comment makes Sophie run off and cry as she says that she’s never felt beautiful in her life, not even realising that those around her have always seen her as beautiful.

As she begins to accept herself, we see her curse start to lift.

But apart from great storytelling, like many Studio Ghibli films, the hand-painted landscapes make this film a must-watch. Miyazaki has always been inspired by European architecture, and this can be clearly seen in the art of the film. The city Sophie is from is based on a French medieval town called Colmar.

Many people will also recognise images of Howl’s iconic bedroom, which is filled to the brim with magical trinkets that reflect light beautifully around the whole room.

This film blends heavy topics with humour perfectly, with many scenes with the fire demon, Calcifer, being regarded as highly comedic, and his interaction with Sophie always seems to get him into some sort of predicament.

Howl’s Moving Castle is also known for its iconic music, with the song Merry-Go-Round of Life by Joe Hisaishi being easily recognised. The characters, storytelling and music blend perfectly to create an atmosphere where we can really feel the emotions of the characters and get transported into their fantastical world.

This film, however, is criticised as one of Miyazaki’s less child-friendly films, as some themes in the film may seem confusing to a younger audience, and some have found that the film requires multiple watches to fully understand the ending, as there are many subtle subplots within the main storytelling.

Hayao Miyazaki himself has said this about this film: “While I always say that I have to, or want to make films for children, in reality I often forget about them. That’s how I end up creating films like Porco Rosso and Howl’s Moving Castle.”

I believe that Howl’s Moving Castle is a masterpiece of a film, with brilliant storytelling, subtle messages and stunning visuals, but it’s definitely not a film for all audiences and would not be my recommendation for someone who’s just started watching Studio Ghibli films.

I rate this 4.5/5 stars

Written by Nat Synak