Hey, what's up guys, how we doing? Let's talk about Howl's Moving Castle. This Studio Ghibli film is directed by thelegendary Hayao Miyazaki and is based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. This film was released in 2004, and like allof their previous films that were distributed by Disney and now GKIDS, have an ensemblecast in their voice dubbing. I'd say this is probably his second most popularfilm compared to his Oscar-winning Spirited Away. Which was also the first film he made afterthat came out. So the film is about a young woman named Sophie,played by Emily Mortimer, who lives an ordinary life working in a hat shop.
One day as she's walking through an alleyshe encounters dark shadowy figures, and a mysterious man by the name of Howl, playedby Christian Bale. All of Miyazaki's incredible imagination comesout here as well as a magical world, where we see the two of them start floating in thesky, and flying on nothing but air. Shortly after this encounter, she meets theWitch of the Waste, played by Lauren Bacall, who puts a curse on her to where she becomesa 90-year-old woman. She then leaves her hometown in an attemptto find a way to break the curse and then runs into this gigantic moving castle. She's assisted by a mysterious scarecrow thatcan move and apparently help and understand what she's trying to do, who she nicknamesTurnip Head. And on board the castle she meets one of Howl'sassistants, Markl, a young boy, as well as the fire demon Calcifer, played by Billy Crystal. In the midst of all this we have Howl workingfor this kingdom, as well as a war going on, and all sorts of interesting plot lines. Now many people that know about Miyazaki'sfilms know that he is very anti-war, and that was no different here. In fact, it's probably even more prevalentthroughout this film compared to the rest of his, because even some of the charactersblatantly say how much they can't stand war. This, of course, came out during the Iraqwar in the U.S. and there was a lot of speculation whether this wouldn't perform very well becauseof it. However, it actually did really well and thatmight be because it was his first film to followup Spirited Away. One thing Miyazaki did really in this filmwas present how age can be a positive thing as one grows older. We see how Sophie finds a sort of calmnessin growing old, even though she has to get used to it at first. I found that very refreshing and really enjoyedhow they portrayed it throughout the film. Of course many if not all of Miyazaki's filmscontain feminist elements in them, with their strong female lead characters throughout. This film is no different in that way. He has gone on to say that this is actuallyhis favorite film that he's directed. And my theory there is that perhaps comparedto a lot of his other films it's because maybe this one didn't have to deal with censorshipor at least getting a lot of cuts compared to some of the other ones he had to deal with.
I'm sure there was plenty of censorship overall,but he had a lot of issues with some earlier projects especially films like Nausicaä ofthe Valley of the Wind when that came over to the U.S. and Spirited Away which he wantedto be a little bit longer. But this film has a lot of good things goingfor it, it's got a lot of great, fun and interesting characters throughout. It constantly makes you wonder whether someof them are inherently good or whether their inherently bad, or what their real deal ismost of the time. And let's not forget to say this film is completelygorgeous, it has some of the best imagery compared to any of his films. It is stunning to see this in high quality,you guys. It is also really well paced and I say itcould probably be a little bit longer, but part of me really enjoys the exact lengththat we got here because some of his other films did go on a little bit long at times. This film does at times though really doesfeel like it's just a ton of really incredible spectacles and magical moments, one afterthe other. It justs, from scene to scene, it's just like'take a look at this' and then 'whoa check that out,' there's just so many cool thingsthat go in this film. And I will say, guys, it was amazing to actuallysee this film in theaters, I was so happy that GKIDS put it on as part of their StudioGhibli Fest this year. Now that it's over I can only hope we getto see another one next year with some other films and probably bring back a few of thesefavorites.
The only thing I'm not sure if they will continueto do is to include their Mini-Fest which contained short films either before or afterthe movie ends. I for one love shorts but I could tell audiencemembers in this film were not a big fan of some of the stuff we saw, but I don't knowI mean, one of the things we saw was about this really kind of interesting fish thatwe just saw getting cooked and with some classical music in the background and stuff, it was,it was very fascinating. But hey, it's not everyone's cup of tea soI understand. But this film truly shows off Miyazaki's stunninganimation abilities. It's like he's pretty much blatantly showingyou and saying it out loud sometimes. It's like you're seeing one happening andgoing like 'whoa check out this, see what I can do here?' it's like, wow, this film really gives youthe opportunity to see what he's capable of. Overall this is a thoroughly entertainingand fun film that if you've never seen, you gotta check it out some time. Grab the Blu-ray, hopefully, if possible evensee it theaters if you can. Howl's Moving Castle is a spellbinding displayof artistic amazement, and arguably Miyazaki's most visually beautiful film. And that's why this film is a diligent pick. So what did you guys think of Howl's MovingCastle? Is this one you've always wanted to see? What is your favorite Miyazaki film or any Ghibli film or just general animation film out there? I want to know.
One day as she's walking through an alleyshe encounters dark shadowy figures, and a mysterious man by the name of Howl, playedby Christian Bale. All of Miyazaki's incredible imagination comesout here as well as a magical world, where we see the two of them start floating in thesky, and flying on nothing but air. Shortly after this encounter, she meets theWitch of the Waste, played by Lauren Bacall, who puts a curse on her to where she becomesa 90-year-old woman. She then leaves her hometown in an attemptto find a way to break the curse and then runs into this gigantic moving castle. She's assisted by a mysterious scarecrow thatcan move and apparently help and understand what she's trying to do, who she nicknamesTurnip Head. And on board the castle she meets one of Howl'sassistants, Markl, a young boy, as well as the fire demon Calcifer, played by Billy Crystal. In the midst of all this we have Howl workingfor this kingdom, as well as a war going on, and all sorts of interesting plot lines. Now many people that know about Miyazaki'sfilms know that he is very anti-war, and that was no different here. In fact, it's probably even more prevalentthroughout this film compared to the rest of his, because even some of the charactersblatantly say how much they can't stand war. This, of course, came out during the Iraqwar in the U.S. and there was a lot of speculation whether this wouldn't perform very well becauseof it. However, it actually did really well and thatmight be because it was his first film to followup Spirited Away. One thing Miyazaki did really in this filmwas present how age can be a positive thing as one grows older. We see how Sophie finds a sort of calmnessin growing old, even though she has to get used to it at first. I found that very refreshing and really enjoyedhow they portrayed it throughout the film. Of course many if not all of Miyazaki's filmscontain feminist elements in them, with their strong female lead characters throughout. This film is no different in that way. He has gone on to say that this is actuallyhis favorite film that he's directed. And my theory there is that perhaps comparedto a lot of his other films it's because maybe this one didn't have to deal with censorshipor at least getting a lot of cuts compared to some of the other ones he had to deal with.
I'm sure there was plenty of censorship overall,but he had a lot of issues with some earlier projects especially films like Nausicaä ofthe Valley of the Wind when that came over to the U.S. and Spirited Away which he wantedto be a little bit longer. But this film has a lot of good things goingfor it, it's got a lot of great, fun and interesting characters throughout. It constantly makes you wonder whether someof them are inherently good or whether their inherently bad, or what their real deal ismost of the time. And let's not forget to say this film is completelygorgeous, it has some of the best imagery compared to any of his films. It is stunning to see this in high quality,you guys. It is also really well paced and I say itcould probably be a little bit longer, but part of me really enjoys the exact lengththat we got here because some of his other films did go on a little bit long at times. This film does at times though really doesfeel like it's just a ton of really incredible spectacles and magical moments, one afterthe other. It justs, from scene to scene, it's just like'take a look at this' and then 'whoa check that out,' there's just so many cool thingsthat go in this film. And I will say, guys, it was amazing to actuallysee this film in theaters, I was so happy that GKIDS put it on as part of their StudioGhibli Fest this year. Now that it's over I can only hope we getto see another one next year with some other films and probably bring back a few of thesefavorites.
The only thing I'm not sure if they will continueto do is to include their Mini-Fest which contained short films either before or afterthe movie ends. I for one love shorts but I could tell audiencemembers in this film were not a big fan of some of the stuff we saw, but I don't knowI mean, one of the things we saw was about this really kind of interesting fish thatwe just saw getting cooked and with some classical music in the background and stuff, it was,it was very fascinating. But hey, it's not everyone's cup of tea soI understand. But this film truly shows off Miyazaki's stunninganimation abilities. It's like he's pretty much blatantly showingyou and saying it out loud sometimes. It's like you're seeing one happening andgoing like 'whoa check out this, see what I can do here?' it's like, wow, this film really gives youthe opportunity to see what he's capable of. Overall this is a thoroughly entertainingand fun film that if you've never seen, you gotta check it out some time. Grab the Blu-ray, hopefully, if possible evensee it theaters if you can. Howl's Moving Castle is a spellbinding displayof artistic amazement, and arguably Miyazaki's most visually beautiful film. And that's why this film is a diligent pick. So what did you guys think of Howl's MovingCastle? Is this one you've always wanted to see? What is your favorite Miyazaki film or any Ghibli film or just general animation film out there? I want to know.
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