Howl's Moving Castle (film)
is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on Diana Wynne Jones' 1986 novel. The film was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toho. It stars the voices of Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, and Akihiro Miwa. The film is set in a fictional kingdom where both magic and early 20th-century technology are prevalent, against the backdrop of a war with another kingdom. It tells the story of Sophie, a young milliner who is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his refusal to fight for the king.
Influenced by Miyazaki's opposition to the United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003, the film contains strong anti-war themes. Miyazaki stated that he "had a great deal of rage" about the Iraq War, which led him to make a film that he felt would be poorly received in the United States. It also explores the theme of old age, depicting age positively as something that grants the protagonist freedom. The film contains feminist elements and carries messages about the value of compassion. The film differs significantly in theme from the novel; while the novel focuses on challenging class and gender norms, the film focuses on love, personal loyalty, and the destructive effects of war.
Howl's Moving Castle premiered at the 61st Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2004, and was theatrically released in Japan on 20 November. It went on to gross $190 million in Japan and $46 million outside Japan, making it one of the most commercially successful Japanese films in history. The film received critical acclaim, with particular praise for its visuals and Miyazaki's presentation of the themes. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, but lost to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It won several other awards, including four Tokyo Anime Awards and a Nebula Award for Best Script.
Plot
Sophie, a young milliner and eldest of three sisters, encounters a wizard named Howl on her way to visit her sister Lettie. Upon returning home, she meets the Witch of the Waste, who transforms her into a 90-year-old woman. Seeking to break the curse, Sophie leaves home and sets off through the countryside. She meets a living scarecrow, whom she calls "Turnip Head". He leads her to Howl's moving castle, which she enters without invitation. She subsequently meets Howl's young apprentice Markl and a fire demon named Calcifer, the source of the castle's magic and movement. Calcifer makes a deal with Sophie, agreeing to break her curse if she breaks his link with Howl. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she has "hired herself" as a cleaning lady.Meanwhile, Sophie's nation is caught up in a war with a neighboring kingdom, which is searching for its missing prince. The King summons Howl to fight in the war. However, Howl decides to send Sophie to the King, under the pretense of being his mother, to tell him that Howl is too much of a coward to fight. Before leaving, he gives Sophie a charmed ring that leads her to Calcifer and guarantees her safety. Sophie meets Suliman, the king's head sorceress, and also the Witch of the Waste, whom Suliman punishes by draining all of her power and reverting her to her true age, thus reducing her into a harmless and very elderly woman. Suliman warns Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not fight for the King. Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie. Suliman tries to trap him by turning him into a monster, but with Sophie's help, he remembers himself and just barely avoids death. The duo escapes along with the Witch of the Waste and Suliman's dog Heen. Soldiers break into the homes of both Jenkins and Pendragon, finding them to be nothing more than abandoned buildings in disguise; the castle's magical door had allowed travel through both false shopfronts.
Sophie learns that Howl's life is somehow bound to Calcifer's and that Howl has been transforming into a bird-like creature to interfere with both sides in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form. Howl then has the castle magically linked to Sophie's home, parking the castle itself on the town's outskirts. A few days later, the town is bombed by enemy aircraft and Suliman's henchmen attack the house and Sophie's hat shop. Howl heads out to protect the group. Sophie then moves everyone out of the house and removes Calcifer from the fireplace, which collapses the castle. The Witch of the Waste realizes that Calcifer has Howl's heart and grabs the fire demon, setting herself on fire. Sophie panics and pours water onto the Witch, which douses Calcifer. The remainder of the castle then splits in two; Sophie falls down a chasm and is separated from the group.
Following the charmed ring, Sophie wanders into a scene from the past, where she sees a young Howl catch a falling star – Calcifer – and give him his heart. Sophie calls for them to find her in the future as she is teleported away. She returns to the present, finds Howl, and they reunite with the others. The Witch returns Howl's heart, and Sophie places it back inside Howl, reviving him and freeing Calcifer, though he decides to stay. Sophie's curse is broken, though her hair remains silver. After she kisses Turnip Head on the cheek, he returns to human form, revealing himself to be Justin, the missing prince from the enemy kingdom. He reveals that only his true love's kiss can break his curse. After seeing Sophie's affection lies with Howl, he promptly heads for home to cease the war, but promises he will see them again. Suliman, watching through a crystal globe, also decides to end the war. Sometime later, bombers fly under dark skies over a recovered and green countryside headed to another war, while Sophie, Howl, and the others travel in the opposite direction in a new flying castle. As the castle soars away, Howl and Sophie kiss on the castle's balcony.
Voice cast
| Character | ||
| Sophie Hatter | Chieko Baisho | Emily Mortimer |
| Sophie Hatter | Chieko Baisho | Jean Simmons |
| Howl | Takuya Kimura | Christian Bale |
| Witch of the Waste | Akihiro Miwa | Lauren Bacall |
| Calcifer | Billy Crystal | |
| Markl | Ryūnosuke Kamiki | Josh Hutcherson |
| Suliman | Haruko Kato | Blythe Danner |
| Lettie | Yayoi Kazuki | Jena Malone |
| Honey | Mari Devon | |
| Prince Justin / Turnip Head | Yō Ōizumi | Crispin Freeman |
| King of Ingary | Akio Ōtsuka | Mark Silverman |
| Heen | Daijiro Harada | Dee Bradley Baker |
Themes
Pacifism
Howl's Moving Castle contains strong anti-war themes, influenced by Miyazaki's distaste for the 2003 Iraq War. When he received an Oscar for Spirited Away, he said that he "had a great deal of rage about . So felt some hesitation about the award." Miyazaki identifies as a pacifist. On the eve of the Iraq War, Miyazaki decided to make a film that he felt would be poorly received in the United States. The brutality and futility of warfare are graphically depicted in the film; entire cities are set aflame, and the titular castle is made to fall apart. Animation scholar Susan J. Napier writes that Howl is placed under a "spiritual form of curse", his horror and fury growing throughout the film as he witnesses the fighting. According to film critics Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc, the film shows people being exploited and " into something they are not", in many cases in service of a political agenda. Napier also draws a comparison to the character San of Princess Mononoke; she and Howl are isolated from humanity by circumstance, and both ultimately go to war to defend the goodness in their lives.The universe of Howl's Moving Castle is depicted as not having clear-cut villains and heroes; instead, the characters are complex, and even those that are initially portrayed in a negative light, such as Howl, are shown as capable of change. The film also combines scenes of war and violence with softer moments focused on the characters. Matt Kimmich stated, however, that the simplistic message of the film is that "war is bad". A scene where Sophie is standing in a beautiful field of flowers is interrupted by a war machine, "a finger accusing empire as the destroyer of peace." This portrayal is in contrast to other Miyazaki films like Princess Mononoke, which criticizes military conflict in a more nuanced manner. Andrew Osmond stated that "Howl's pure-hearted anti-war stance is presented as nihilism with no alternative as he fights forces from each side and becomes the worst terror of all", in the form of the monstrous bird. By transforming into the bird, Howl risks losing his humanity; Calcifer comments at one point that he will soon not be able to return to human form. In contrast, Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke fights the demonic sickness with which he is afflicted, and tries to negotiate peace between the two sides. Osmond states that both films also point out the limits of masculinity, as exemplified by Howl and Ashitaka.