DVD Review: Howl's Moving Castle

By Frankie Dees Mar 24, 2006, 14:02 GMT

Young Sophie is eighteen, and works tirelessly everyday making hats in the hat shop owned by her deceased father.  One day, on a rare outing to town, Sophie accidentally encounters the Wizard Howl.  Howl is dashingly handsome, yet as wizards go, he’s a bit of a wimp.  The Witch of the Waste mistakes the nature of the relationship between the two and casts a spell on Sophie, transforming her into ...more

We see the titular giant move across the landscape from the first frames of the film. An amazing creation full of smokestacks, joints, balconies, cogs, wheels and protuberances; it creaks and lumbers across the screen as only a moving castle can and we can rest confident that we will be transported to another world as only Hayao Miyazaki can.

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki’s first film since 2002’s Spirited Away and was released in Japanese theaters in late 2004 and in American theaters last summer. It perplexes me to realize that Miyazaki is not a household name in America and that his films still only justify a limited release here in the states. Yet, Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke” is the second high-grossing film in Japan (second only to Titanic) and his films are met with a fervor there that could possibly be compared to the reception of our latest CGI pop culture-laden disappointment.

Admirably, however, is that Pixar chief John Lasseter seems to be trying to single-handedly rectify this by promotion of Miyazaki’s (and Studio Ghibli’s) films through the Disney name and the courting of genuine talent for the English dubs (he also is rumored to be attempting to revive Disney’s theatrical hand-drawn animation wing…is there no end to this man’s love for animation?).

After all, who in America wants to see a film that’s not in English? Sarcasm aside though, how great is it that legendary screen icons Lauren Bacall and Jean Simmons, who both provide voices in the English dub, have never acted in a film together until this picture?, a pairing that is definitely long overdue. An interesting anecdote to set aside for film buff trivia.

Howl’s Moving Castle was nominated this year for best animated film but lost to Wallace & Gromit, an equally enchanting film, but I would arguably have to go with Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s nice to see that with Corpse Bride taking the 3rd nominated spot, that all of this year’s nominated animated films were all old-school craftsman films (Corpse Bride and Wallace & Gromit were stop-motion, although I guess it must be said that all three films do use CGI subtly and not so subtly).

Lest I give the impression that I am not a fan of CGI, I must say that I absolutely adored The Incredibles which is a prime example of CGI done right, yet here we are in a year that will see no fewer than 11 major studio CGI films (11!) with only Pixar’s “Cars” really standing out (and even then, judging by the tepid reaction to the teaser, might we be seeing the first chink in Pixar’s armor?). Am I alone in thinking that enough is enough?

But I divagate and will step off my anti-CGI soapbox and back into the capable hands of Miyazaki. Adapted from a British novel by Diana Wynne Jones, in which the material seems to be so tailor-made for Miyazaki as to make me wonder whether Diana W. Jones and Miyazaki were separated at birth, we find ourselves in a vaguely European 19th century landscape where there seems to be a perpetual war between two kingdoms. Sofia, a young, frumpy hat-maker who lacks confidence finds herself rescued by an extravagant wizard named Howl with impeccable hair and fashion to boot (think David Bowie’s Goblin King from Labyrinth) from two nasty soldiers with more on their mind than conversation.

As Howl returns Sophie safely to the hat-making store, she gains the attention of the Witch of the Waste (the waste being the deserted wastelands that surround the kingdoms), a detestable, repugnant mass of flesh with a Breakfast at Tiffany’s hat that sits upon a face barely distinguishable under the numerous rolls of flesh that emanates from her chin. The witch, who strikes out at any who comes in Howl’s favor (due to being Howl’s enemy? Or is she maybe jealous?) unleashes a curse upon Sofia.

Left alone in the store, Sophie looks in the mirror and finds an old woman staring back at her. Denial and then finally shame drive her to the wastelands where she rescues an animated scarecrow she deems turniphead. As the night, winds and coldness bear upon her, turniphead offers his assistance in fetching a castle. The moving castle storms over her upon four shaky legs and stops, an entry door is lowered.

Upon entering the castle, she meets two of the three castle’s occupants. Markl, a young boy who studies magic and is the right-hand man of Howl and the comic-relief Calcifer, a shape-shifting fire-demon who supplies the castle’s energy and loves to moan about his lot in life. Sophie looks around her and finds a dusty, creaky mess and appoints herself the maid.

Howl returns from his place in the wars a tired bird of prey, sweat and feathers follow him as he slumps into the castle and slowly shape-shifts back into human form. Immediately accepting of his new maid, Sophie finds herself caught up in Howl’s attempts for peace and in Howl himself, a well-meaning, vain, almost childish wizard who throws tantrums at the slightest whim.

The plot is endlessly imaginative and almost equally dense and nonsensical. The latter elements were the cause for the slightly less than ecstatic reception the film received from critics last summer. A lot of the narrative is left unexplained, certain motivations are passable at best, numerous questions about this world unanswered. Did this bother me? Not at all. Will it bother you? It might. Miyazaki was quoted as saying this film was straight from his heart, coherence thrown to the wind. This is pure unadulterated Miyazaki and that explanation is good enough for me but if you like your films wrapped up with a nice little bow, you might want to look elsewhere.

Now is “Howl’s Moving Castle” up there with his best work like Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke? Well, no, but those are perfect films and even a slightly lesser work from Miyazaki is still more worthy of your attention than the whole of Dreamwork’s animated films.

The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen television. Japanese, English and French 5.1 audio tracks are provided. Purists will no doubt opt for the Japanese audio track, but as I stated above, The English dub also holds considerable interest. Christian Bale (Howl), Jean Simmons (Old Sophie), Lauren Bacall (Witch of the Waste) and Billy Crystal (Calcifer) are some of the more notable names to provide voices and all do an excellent job. If you’re a fan of the film, I would recommend watching the film in both Japanese and English.

All the usual requisite Disney/Studio Ghibli DVD special features are here. The Behind The Microphone featurette has interviews with the English dub cast and shows some of the voice-recording sessions. A little more interesting due to Lauren Bacall and Jean Simmons involvement. There is an interview with Pixar’s Pete Doctor, an animation director, who was assigned the direction of the English version. Doctor comes off as a humble, affable guy but nothing too much of note here.

The special feature I most enjoyed was the featurette “Hayao Miyazaki Visits Pixar Animation Studios”. It was great to see John Lasseter, one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, bound out of his office to the Pixar lobby to greet and hug Miyazaki. Like a little kid meeting his hero, the reverence and glee on Lasseter’s face was hard to mistake. A lot of lovely, heart-felt moments here in which I almost felt a little voyeuristic guilt for watching!

TV Spots and Trailers are also provided along with the 2nd disc being totally devoted to the full-length original Japanese storyboards. The storyboards are always a nice addition so you can actually see the hard work that can go into hand-drawn animation.

As usual, Miyazaki lets loose his particular brand of wonderment and magic in a beautifully animated world. If you’re new to Miyazaki, I would recommend starting with the three films I mentioned above and work your way down to this film. If you’re already a fan, then I would highly recommend picking this film up as long as you are cognizant of the fact that the magic is still there but maybe not the rock-solid storytelling we have come to expect from Miyazaki. Nevertheless, another satisfying and worthy addition to Miyazaki oeuvre.

Howl’s Moving Castle is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.