ハウルの動く城

HOWL NO UGOKU SHIRO

MOVIE

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
OTHER
RELEASE
November 20, 2004
LENGTH
119 min

DESCRIPTION

Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. The vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste, jealous of their friendship, puts a spell on Sophie. In a life-changing adventure, Sophie climbs aboard Howl's magnificent flying castle and enters a magical world on a quest to break the spell.

(Source: Disney)

CAST

Howl
Takuya Kimura
Sophie Hatter
Chieko Baishou
Calcifer
Tatsuya Gashuin
Kakashi no Kabu
Yo Oizumi
Markl
Ryuunosuke Kamiki
Heen
Daijiro Harada
Arechi no Majo
Akihiro Miwa
Lettie Hatter
Yayoi Kazuki
Madge
Rio Kanno
Suliman
Haruko Katou
Honey
Mayuno Yasokawa
Kokuou
Akio Ootsuka

RELATED TO HOWL NO UGOKU SHIRO

Cover Art for Ghibli Park: Yukkuri Kite Kudasai. Ugokushiro-hen

ONA Ghibli Park: Yukkuri Kite Kudasai. Ugokushiro-hen

REVIEWS

Terajima
13/100
A movie that looks like a 120 minutes American trailer.
Despite it's fame there is no way to save this movie, its only virtue is the drawing of backgrounds, landscapes and objects, because the drawing of the characters did not even convince me, something usual in Miyazaki's works, specially in this one and in Kiki's Delivery Service, where the characters don't merge with the background, it seems made by other people or other techniques that make characters look like shiny wax within a world that does have a nice texture and much more attractive colors.

Removing this everything else is a real nonsense. The history has no real interest, even if it plays with the supposed importance of its characters, princess, kings, prime ministers, soldiers of the kingdom, magicians, characters under terrible spells, witches, etc. Some "positions" that do not affect at all the depth of the plot, but without them the movie would not have so much mystique.

Nothing ever happens here, they travel to the castle, then the main character falls in love with Howl because... because one afternoon he helped her to reach to her cousin's shop and then ended up in his castle cleaning the living room, a romance that is below par even for a romantic story of a teenagers magazine for being too cheesy.

Then we have the story of the fire that keeps Howl alive, the residual witch with his heart, the scarecrow that turns out to be the prince of the kingdom next door, and what does that bring? Nothing, the scarecrow has nothing to do in the whole film, same with its true self, the prince of the kingdom, a kingdom that is at war with the other with the only reason that it is better to frame the movie in "Turbulent times of war". The importance of Darth Vader being Luke's father is precisely because of who Darth Vader is, not because the orphan suddenly discovers that his father is still alive and is the ship's engineer. Or those subjects about literally heartless, brainless, gutless characters are much better dealt with in The Wizard of Oz , a movie that use those concepts as a metaphor for deeper thoughts.

A movie that looks like a 120 minutes American trailer: "In times of war, a young woman is involved in an adventure dominated by magic, love, royalty. A journey and companions that will make her discover the value of what each of us carries inside. An unforgettable odyssey. NYT 5 stars: Miyazaki has done it again, children and adults will enjoy this wonderful adventure, do not miss it!".

Not the best example of Ghibli, better to watch Spirited Away or Grave of the Fireflies, masterpieces that are much more interesting than 'Howl's Moving Castle', imaginative, creative, moving, not just another bland and generic anime movie.

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Mightycape
100/100
Howl's Moving Castle is a once in a lifetime experience
This is the first official review i've ever done and i am pursuing a career in film, i will learn and grow as I develop a stronger passion for the media. So enjoy! or not. #____Sound____ Let me start off by saying this is the best anime dub i HAVE EVER heard. Look at the cast too, Christian Bale and Billy Crystal. Every single character sounded like they were full of life unlike the previous ones, where it seemed like there was at least ONE flaw in the voice acting before. But this dub voice acting is better than most western media. Christian Bale captured Howl's playfulness and sometimes brash attitude at time. As well as Billy Crystal bringing the comedic relief as he always has with his iconic voice. Now that that point is made, let me talk about the OST. There is no possible way you can be in the anime community for longer than a year or 2 and not have heard the main theme. It's iconic. Each song played fit the exact tone and emotions when it needed to and the soundboarding was spot on. #____Story and characters____ Ghibli has always had gorgeous themes that make us think. Grave of the Fireflies makes you think about how human vs. human conflict always ruin the lives of a 3rd party and to never take life for granted. Princess Mononoke makes you think about how our actions as humanity has different effects on not only other societies, but our planet as a whole. Whisper of the Heart makes you realize that its not an outside influence or ambition that makes us who we are or what we want to be, its passion for something. This one follows a timid and boring hat maker who offended an evil witch somehow so she was cursed to be an old woman. She then moves into a famous wizard's home to be hired as a cleaning lady and through various events, they fall in love and live happily ever after. As cliche as that would sound, the way they went about it was amazing. Each and every single character in this was flawed and had their own thing going on. They tried to better themselves or capitalize on things to help them. Even the antagonists had their justifiable motives and reasons. Howl by no means was perfect but was a perfect fit for Sophie and vice versa. He was lazy, somewhat brash at times, vain, and he tended to run away from all of his problems despite being SO powerful. His outward image did not match his actual personality. They learned their lessons and tried to be together eventually. To be honest the reason why i brought up the lessons thing was because, i couldn't find one in this story. It wasn't a one dimensional story, it was an experience in its own right. #____Visuals____ I mean, it's Ghibli with its highest budget yet. It's so lively and fluid but simple and not over the top. If you have ever seen a Miyazaki film you would understand what i mean. It's the best among its genre. # ____Enjoyability____ While i did not enjoy it as much as Princess Mononoke on just premise and genre alone, i did enjoy the animation, characters (aside from San), music and overall upbeat vibe it gave off. Even in the darkest moments there was still an uplifting aura to the story that i couldn't grasp the concept of. The more i watched the more i was immersed into its lore and story. I wish it never ended. Anything that makes me appreciate the craft more and inspires me to do what i love to do is a once in a lifetime thing. This movie made me want to do reviews on a regular basis from now on instead of discussing it with my friends, because i love sharing my opinions and seeing other people's opinions on certain things even if i disagree. What i'm trying to say is, i guess i have a new favorite movie. Highly recommend to anyone who loves fantasy or just inspirational films in general
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Aniosophy
95/100
Everything I could ever want from a Ghibli movie, and more.

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Okay so as a trend I decided to finally watch another Ghibli movie that I haven’t seen yet, this time being Howl’s Moving Castle and WOW, guys, I might be in the minority but this movie was, in my opinion, so far the best Ghibli film I have ever seen which is maybe not saying a lot because including this film I have only seen 5, but I did like this movie more then Spirited Away, which is insane because I have only since this movie once so far, and before this I really liked Spirited Away, but anyways.

There was so much I liked about this movie and it really helped after Princess Mononoke kinda put a bad taste in my mouth after all the cliches. But moving on to what I liked about this film other than the obvious Ghibli stapes at this point like, fluent animation, great soundtrack, and an interesting color palette, the top two things that really stood out to me that made me love this film are:

1.) The Setting: like I personally love this whole like Victorian-era architecture/ mixed with these fantasy elements/ that are also mixed together with some steampunk-ist designs for the vehicles, with them all come together to give this rich unique vibe throughout the entire world that I personally really like. And the second thing that I really liked would be

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2.) The Subversion of Expectations: ok like I already stated in my post about Princess Mononoke, one of my biggest pet peeves during a show/movie is how predictable the plot is, which was one of the main reasons why I did not love Princess Mononoke since I felt I could see every decision coming around every corner from a mile away. But here the story was different because it continuously subverted my expectations and surprised me with what was coming next. Like for example, at the very beginning when Sophie first wakes up and realizes she is an old lady you expect her to go and try to find a wizard to reverse the cure, like every other movie, but that never happens, instead she just accepts her situation and just tries to move on to live her new life. Or when the Witch of the Waste is first introduced you expect her to be the big bad of the movie like in every other movie, but then halfway into the movie they show you that she isn’t the big bad but instead just a sad old lady who is just lonely. Story decisions like this are what really make a story stand out to me, and what makes this a classic in my book.

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Conclusion: Because of this, I feel like rating this film a 95/100 with the possibility of me raising it higher after a second viewing to see if the minor concerns I had with the film are resolved after a second viewing. But TL;DR yes really liked this movie, and who knows maybe I’ll watch another Ghibli film later on and talk about it too😊

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