Howl’s Moving Castle
#34 in my movie challenge for the year, Howl’s Moving Castle was both lovely and disappointing. Disappointing because the story got muddled in the middle and was hard to follow. I found this probably the least well done of director Hayao Miyazaki’s films. Then again, a lesser Miyazaki film is still well above average. There was a lot to like about the film. The visuals were lovely. I enjoyed the varying portrayals of the main character Sophie, both as a girl and then later, under enchantment, as an old woman. I thought the pretty, non-threatening appearance of young wizard Howl contrased nicely with Christian Bales’ deep voice, and was a very believable object of attraction for a young girl. I also very much liked the appearance of Calcifer the fire demon, and thought that Billy Crystal did an admirably funny, restrained job of voicing him. And the moving castle was a wonder to behold. As usual for Miyazaki’s films, the young girl has to find solutions and help both herself and those around her, not just without adults but often in spite of them. Miyazaki’s film, like the Diana Wynne Jones book it is based on, does not gloss over the fact of evil in the world, or the sometime stupidity of adults. The book and the movie honor their young audience members by portraying a complex story with complex heroes. The movie perhaps works best as a companion to the book, which is one I have recommended before. Diana Wynne Jones is a British author of children’s fantasy books, and the Harry Potter series owes much to her work.
August 26th, 2005 at 10:59 am
I put you in my Blog… wasn’t sure how to trackback to you though. You should leave a trackback address!
August 26th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Thanks for the link. I think we have trackbacks disabled because of their susceptibility to spam.