Revew: "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004)

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is an enchanting animated family film that transports you to a magical fantasy world and tells a moving story about the transformative power of love and kindness.

Adapted from a children’s book written by Diana Wynne Jones, “Howl’s Moving Castle” focuses on the story of Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer), a shy, plain-looking and serious teenager who works in a hat shop, and Howl (voiced by Christian Bale), a handsome but vain wizard whom she meets by chance when he literally sweeps her off her feet to protect her from some malicious soldiers. Enraged by jealousy, the Wicked Witch of the Waste (voiced by Lauren Bacall) promptly curses Sophie, turning her into a 90-year old woman. In an effort to break her curse, Sophie embarks on a journey that brings her to Howl’s mysterious moving castle where she befriends the wizard’s young apprentice and a tough little fire demon. As she experiences life through an older woman’s eyes, she not only matures and learns something about herself but helps transform all the castle’s inhabitants, who are “cursed” by their own personal demons.

As imagined by director Hayao Miyazaki, the fantasy worlds of “Howl’s Moving Castle” are visually stunning and not like anything seen before. Miyazaki creates gorgeous and richly detailed images of bustling towns, vast mountains and flowery fields, reminiscent of early 20th century Europe. But the piece-de-resistance is Howl’s castle – a smoke belching contraption that looks as if its components were foraged from a junkyard and which moves about on chicken feet. It’s just awe-inspiring.

The narrative is complex and frequently goes off on tangents, into and out of various worlds and across time and space. Yet the journey is always interesting as the characters are multi-layered and we come to care about them. The English voice cast is excellent all-around, particularly Christian Bale who imbues Howl with a sexy bad-boy vibe.

Miyazaki weaves together a number of messages which should resonate with children and adults alike. One is that old age can be liberating. We see this quite vividly as Sophie develops from a shy, mousy girl into a confident and loving woman. Another is that embracing others with compassion and kindness can help them to tackle personal demons, resulting in positive change.