Film Review: Howl’s Moving Castle – 9/10

‘The nice thing about being old is you’ve got nothing much to lose…’

I’ve previously proclaimed, loudly and some would say drunkenly, that I consider the output of Pixar to be cinema’s finest achievement. And while I can confidently state that Pixar reigns supreme over Disney, Dreamworks and any other western animation studio you could care to mention, could it be possible that the iconic Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli is just as good? Having only seen Spirited Away and now Howl’s Moving Castle, it’s difficult to argue that Studio Ghibli contains as much magic as even the great Pixar Animation Studios…

Sophie (Chieko Baisho) is going about her business, happily working as a hat maker, when the Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa) appears and turns Sophie into an old woman (as witches are want to do). Refusing to dwell on this unfortunate turn of events, Sophie recruits a mute scarecrow (Yō Ōizumi), a talking fire (Tatsuya Gashuin) and a small boy (Ryūnosuke Kamiki) in her quest to break the witch’s curse and elope with her true love Howl (Takuya Kimura) – a selfish but gifted magician who roams the land in an elaborate, ramshackle castle able to alter its shape and move freely between one war torn city to another. There is a lot going on in this movie.

First off, it should be noted that I didn’t watch the version dubbed into English and featuring Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer and Billy Crystal because I simply didn’t know that version existed until after the movie had finished. While this was pretty annoying, it was also satisfying to sit through such an iconic film in the way that the filmmakers intended – in glorious Japanese but with English subtitles.

That admin out of the way, let’s get to the film itself. And what a truly gorgeous, beautiful film this is. Possibly the most aesthetically appealing animated film ever made, every single frame of Howl’s Moving Castle is a work of art. You could watch this movie a hundred times and still notice something new in each bewitching shot. The plot is complicated and nuanced and yet somehow as simple as a fairy tale at the same time. This truly is one for the ages.

Adapted from Welsh author Diana Wynne Jones’ book, Hayao Miyazaki’s film is about as good as an animated flick could be. In fact, it might be the only animated film able to match the visceral genius of Wall-E – the jewel in Pixar’s crown.

Sitting pretty as it is in the IMDB top 250 (#139 at time of writing), I went into Howl’s Moving Castle with high expectations and I absolutely was not disappointed. A true masterpiece of animated cinema.