HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE

Cursed characters living in a cursed world trying to live on despite their many curses.

76/100

Original Release: 2004

Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki

Cast: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa

Favourite Quote:

"They Say That The Best Blaze Burns The Brightest When Circumstances Are At Their Worst."

Favourite Shot: 

There’s an iconic scene in Howl’s Moving Castle where Howl (Takuya Kimura) has just taken a bath and it has tragically reverted his beautiful blonde hair back to its original colour. And he looks at his hair and yells, quite dramatically, “I see no point in living if I can’t be beautiful.”

And although this scene may seem dramatic and insignificant it seems to encompass exactly what the film is trying to say. What is the point of living if we cannot be perfect and beautiful?

Almost all of the characters in Howl’s Moving Castle have been cursed. Howl has had his heart stolen from him, Sophie has been turned old, Calcifier is stuck being a fire, The Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa) is madly in love with a man who has no heart (Howl) and Prince Justin is a scarecrow. 

All the while there is a war going on which means that the world they’re all living in is cursed as well. Howl’s Moving Castle is less concerned with the curse and more concerned with how to live with a curse that is probably never going to go away.

The film follows Sophie (Chieko Baisho), a shy, relatively ambitionless young lady who works at her family’s hat shop during the war. 

Quite early on she is cursed to be an old lady. And instead of feeling trapped, Sophie acts as if she has been liberated. She leaves the hat shop and goes out into the world and it is here that she stumbles upon the titular moving castle. 

Howl’s castle is probably one of the greatest cinematic castles of all time. It is able to be in four different places at the push of a button, it contains an endless amount of rooms, the interior can be changed at any moment and, of course, it moves. 

And Howl’s Moving Castle acknowledges that there is no way for this to be solved, we will never be able to live in a perfect utopia of peace, but that we have to somehow continue to live in spite of this. 

In the first half of the film, the plot is quite simple. Sophie is trying to break her curse, Howl is stuck trying to end the war. And that’s about it. The characters spend the first half of the film just figuring themselves out in true Miyazaki style. 

Sophie cleans the whole house, has a picnic on the water and relishes her time being old. While Howl cooks breakfast, fights some demons and gets worked up about his appearance. 

The film does become convoluted in the second half with all sorts of different plot points and back stories that complicate what was such a simple story. 

But Howls Moving Castle is at its best when it lets us live with its characters. It's at its best when it’s just a story of all these cursed characters living together in a castle that moves, trying to live on despite their issues. 

The film is also a literal image of the good and bad which we have to conquer in our lives. In one shot we are in a beautiful field full of colourful flowers and a blue lake. We are seeing nature at its greatest.And then in the next moment we are in a battlefield of darkness and fire and bombs that have eyes and dark creatures that are fighting with each other. 

Our lives cannot be entirely this beautiful field, it is impossible. Living in this world we are forced to face darkness - even if it is not directly happening to us but we are just hearing about it. And it is something we have to face, something we have to leave our beautiful field to try and face.

And Howl’s Moving Castle acknowledges that there is no way for this to be solved, we will never be able to live in a perfect utopia of peace, but that we have to somehow continue to live in spite of this.