Howl no Ugoku Shiro

Howl's Moving Castle is the second biggest film from Ghibli studios .. the hype was huge, the feeling from the cover was huge .. the title was promising (a fucking moving castle !!), everything in this movie was promising because it's from Ghibli and everything from Ghibli it's piece of art..

But this wasn´t the case. When I finished this movie my mind was about to blow trying to compile everything and trying to find a way of understanding this movie because literally in the end there were so many things that I did not understand that I just gave up.

Where do I begin ... .. this movie does not follow any specific plot line, throughout the entire thing they simply skipped, jumping around developing multiple stories with no conection what so ever and in the end none of it it's explained properly and we end up being compeletly confused about what the fuck just happened.


We have 3 main plot lines here:

- A war between some people (literally the plot moves on because of this war, but they never explained who was figthing and why they were figthing in the first place !)

- Our main protagonist problem (I think Shopie was the main protagonist, but i'm not sure since they really didn´t gave 2 fucks about her)

- Howl's problem and everything related to him.

Only the last one of those 3 gets resolved !! The other 2 are never explained, we do have some development but it's so nasty, so confuse, so out of position that it's safe to say that they never cared about it even though they were crucial for the story and more interesting than the third point.

But wait a second there is more, the last point, Howl's problem, even though it was resolved, it is not explained ! THE FUCK ?? Let me explain. We never know why Howl had that problem, they never told us. What exactly was the relation between him and the other characters? What about Markl, where the fuck he came from? What about Calcifer ? Why he needed him?

The story is so confuse, so nasty that blowed everything up. I could´t stop thinking "why this is happening !! " ; "Why is he still alive?" ; "Why the fuck that old lady wants his heart?" ; "How the fuck was he able to open that portal in the end ?" ; "How exactly opening that portal could resolve the problem?"

I don´t wanna spoil you anything but who watched the movie will understand everything that i'm talking about.

About the art .. it's Ghibli's studios what you were expecting .. 10/10 no doubt. If there is one thing that this movie has to offer, just like "Spirited Away" it's his astonishing art. Everything made so perfectly well.. Howl's castle by itself is enough to make fate series look like a floppy cartoon. How far can they go, how much detail can they put into something, how well an animation can be made. This movie will show that there is no limit for that, you can always make things a litle bit better.

The backgrouds, the foregrounds, the animations, everything looked just great. The movie may be weak but for sure the animation makes up for it.

The super detailed backgrounds makes you pay attention to them. Makes you stare at it, noticing every single thingl. It's beyond amazing, I have no words to describe what I felt while I was enjoying this amazing art.

The sound tho, was weak. Unlike "Spirited Away" and it's mind blowing tracks, this movie didn´t have anything that called out my attention. Only the final track was appealing. The rest was "normal". Nothing really stood out, which is a shame because when you have such amazing art, you should also get an amazing soundtrack.

About the characters, they are like every other character. We have the main protagonist that cares about everyone. The other protagonist with some dark mystery, the "semi-villian" character, the character that is there just because it is there and some other characters that are there only to light up a bit the comedy of the show. Nothing really great, nothing really bad.

If it wasn´t for the nasty plot that was left withotout any kind of explanation, I would have enjoyed this movie so much ! But well not everything is perfect and we have to deal with it. If I was a kid, I could accept it well because let's face it, kids don´t give 2 fucks about the plot and if it makes sense or not. But I care, and a lot! The art saved the day once more, but I needed more to call this movie a good movie.

Overall, even though the story doesn´t make any sense and only the art was good, I still reccomend this movie. Why? It still managed to create a wonderfull world, the fantasy was amazing. And you just have to see with your own eyes that moving castle ... W O W.

The story is a bit odd and lacks meaning and also not explained very well.

The art style/animation is absolutely amazing, I love every frame in this movie so much, especially the landscapes, so much detail, and the art style is so warm and vibrant.

Characters were also very good, I liked all the characters and they are all special, from the main characters all the way to the dog they’re all enjoyable to watch.

I also like all the “not important” scenes in this movie so much, little stuff that are just so funny/wholesome.

I think 9 out of 10 people who’ll watch this movie will like it, ... I really can’t think of any reasons to not love this movie.

There is no way to save this movie, its only virtue is the drawing of backgrounds, landscapes and objects, because the drawing of the characters did not even convince me, something usual in Miyazaki's works, specially in this one and in 'Kiki's Delivery Service', where the characters don't merge with the background, seem made by other people or other techniques that make people look like shiny wax within a world that does have a nice texture and much more attractive colors.

Removing this everything else is a real nonsense. The history has no interest, even if it plays with the supposed importance of its personages, that ... if princess, kings, prime ministers, soldiers of the kingdom, magicians, characters under terrible spells, witches, etc. Some "positions" that do not affect at all the depth of the plot, but without them the movie would not have so much mystique.

Nothing ever happens here, they travel to the castle, then the protagonist falls in love with Howl because... because one afternoon he helped her to reach to her cousin's shop and then ended up in his castle cleaning the living room, a romance that is below par even for a romantic story of a teenagers magazine for being too cheesy.

Then the story of the fire that keeps alive Howl, the residual witch with his heart, the scarecrow that turns out to be the prince of the kingdom next door, and what does that bring? Nothing, if the scarecrow has nothing to do in the whole film, and same with its true self, the prince of the kingdom, a kingdom that is at war with the other with the only reason that it is better to frame the film in "Turbulent times of war". The importance of Darth Vader being Luke's father is precisely because of who Darth Vader is, not because the orphan suddenly discovers that his father is still alive and is the ship's engineer.

A movie that looks like a 120 minutes American trailer: "In times of war, a young woman is involved in an adventure dominated by magic, love, royalty, a journey and companions that will make her discover the value of what each of us carries inside. An unforgettable odyssey. NYT 5 stars: Miyazaki has done it again, children and adults will enjoy this wonderful adventure, do not miss it!".

Better to watch 'Spirited Away', a masterpiece that has nothing to do with 'Howl's Moving Castle'.

To start with, I haven't read the book that this movie is based on. As such I can't comment on how good of an adaptation this is. I'm sure you're all completely devastated by the fact that you don't have to listen to me rant about adaptation decay but you'll just have to move on.

The story follows a young hat maker named Sophie. A coincidental meeting with a wizard named Howl results in her being cursed by a witch and transformed into an elderly woman. To return to normal she makes a deal with a demon named Calcifer to free him from Howl's control. All ... she has to do is discover the truth about the enigmatic wizard.

The story deals with three primary themes. Transformation, love and war. Two of these themes are handled really well. The theme of love... well it suffers from an old cliché I like to call "They met and can stand each other, it must be love." This happens when two characters who barely know each other fall in love for no reason aside from the plot saying that they should. To be fair this could be a weakness of the original book or it could be the result of time constraints, but since this happens all the time in media I'm not going to give Studio Ghibli the benefit of the doubt, even if they are generally awesome.

The only other major story weakness is that everything wraps up far too quickly and neatly. They basically wait until the last ten minutes to start wrapping things up. If they'd used a little ambiguity for some of the secondary plots it wouldn't feel so rushed, but they try to tie everything together and it just seems like a really cheesy ending as a result.

The characters are pretty interesting, Howl especially. All of the major characters are pretty three dimensional and solid. The only problem is that some of the secondary characters are pretty pointless. The major example of this is Sophie's sister who shows up in one scene, has a conversation with Sophie and is never seen again. Even the conversation is pretty pointless since all it does is show the audience that Sophie isn't confident in her appearance, which is done in other ways throughout the film. Actually, this becomes a problem with Sophie's character because she mopes about not being pretty multiple times and it gets pretty grating.

The visuals are just what you'd expect from Studio Ghibli, stunning. Studio Ghibli draws the viewer into the story's world with rich and unique visuals. Which is really one of their big strengths as an animation studio. The colours are very bright and vivid. The scenery is rich and beautifully rendered and the characters are highly stylised.

The voice acting is decent, but nothing stellar. The music is atmospheric and pleasant to listen to. Which is another thing that Studio Ghibli tends to be very good at.

This is another anime with no yuri, which is probably a good thing since the major and secondary female characters are either elderly or related. So the yuri factor is 1/10.

My final score for Howl's moving castle is a solid 8/10. It's a very good movie. It has a few problems, but there's really nothing so bad that it should seriously affect your enjoyment of the film. The visuals and music are top notch and the story is pretty solid. If you haven't watched it yet, you should check it out.

Another Ghibli movie, eh? Well, Ghibli always got me hooked with its works. They're are all unique in their own way. And so is Howl's Moving Castle.

So the story is about a decent lady named Sophie and her meeting with Howl, an infamous wizard known for his reputation for eating hearts. The story lacks of intensity, got to say. It has no main goal to achieve; and in the end we're left with so many questions. For example: how the heck did Sophie got her usual appearance back? What is this war Howl was participating in? What the heck happened with Howl's teacher (that woman ... mage) and why did she stop chasing for Howl? Who exactly is Howl anyway? The story just wanders wherever it wants to go, and that was kinda mystifying. They haven't solved any mysteries at all when suddenly the story ends. Da-dah. Yes, it's kinda mindf***ing but at least it's enjoyable enough for us to keep watching 'til the end.

The artwork, there's nothing left to say. Ghibli is always fascinating with its beautiful artworks. It's simple, but it doesn't lack of details and creativity. There's nothing mainstream about the art! I love how they even noticed the smallest of things like how shadows move as the object moves. And how they design old ladies, it's always cool. The background is soooo awesome and breathtaking, with lots of colors. We'll never deal with normal humans in Ghibli movies. That's it.

Sounds are also awesome. The BGMs were also beautiful and the seiyuus really fit the personality (i was kinda shocked to know that Sophie's seiyuu is a real granma). Well... nowadays seiyuus are trying their best to match with the characters but sometimes they exaggerate a bit. That never happened here, it's all natural, it's as if we're listening to normal people speaking in real life... and oh, i love Calcifer's voice.

What's left is the characters... seriously, in all Ghibli movies, I've never found a character I got to hate. All of the characters are soooo lovable even if they used to be the antagonist (for ex, Witch of the Waste in this movie). Some antagonists just remain annoying as usual, but we've shown some traits of them that we can't just afford to hate. And if we even like the antagonists, what about the protagonists? Heck yeah! In this movie, we have Sophie as the main character. I kinda like her strong and clever personality, she just fits to be a granma (ha ha). Then also the flamboyant Howl is just so...... so..... so.... indescribable. Besides the main charas, i also love the supporting charas, such as Calcifer and Turnip. Graaaahhh weird creatures are always the best in Ghibli movies! I suddenly remembered that certain ghost from Spirited Away which I really really loved.

Well.. this movie has lots of flaws in the stories, but the other aspects were as fabulous as ever, sasuga Ghibli! It's not my favorite Ghibli movie, but it's still notable to me since the characters were just too cute. To me, this movie is kinda enjoyable, and i believe you too will enjoy it, unless you're too stuck and can't understand the story just as it is. Overall it's good, i still recommend it to get some fun when you're bored!

Howls castle is just... there. The protagonists spent almost all the film just existing, then in the last 5 minutes deus ex machina resolves the conflict you were barely aware existed.

You'd have a more satisfying story if you put a blob of paint on the top of a wall and filmed it's decent, at least then you'd have payoff, and if you're lucky a bird might take a shit nearby.

The best character is turnip head as he doesn't speak, but suffice it to say Howls moving tumor fucks that up before the end.

Still, I am willing to give praise where it is due, howls moving ... castle has one purpose it serves admirably, if you live under a oppressive goverment regime you could hide the DvD inside a Hentai cover, so when corrupt military officers are looting the remains of your home after you got burned at the stake for not saluting fast enough one of them will suffer blue balling before being shot for watching anything other than action movies staring the dear leader.

This movie made me so happy! I stumbled upon it and just thought the idea of a moving castle was great. This movie opened me up to the world of anime, so I guess I have a soft spot for it. The animation was beautiful, the characters were endearing and comical, and I really didn't want it to end. Watching this movie made me feel like a kid. Not like I was an adult watching a kid's movie, but like I suspended my disbelief just like a child. I think the only way you might not enjoy this is if you are most attracted to ... action films. But honestly, I would recommend it to anyone. And I do, all the time!

Howl's Moving Castle is an amazing movie. Studio Ghibli never fails, and Howl's Moving Castle is probably their best, besides maybe Princess Mononoke. It is by far my favorite movie.

- STORY - 8 - If you have seen Studio Ghibli, you know how crazy and weird they can be (if you haven't seen any Studio Ghibli movies, DO IT NOW!!!!) this one is no exception, but it one of the more laxed and normal ones, although it is still- crazy. I did love this movie, but if you think about the story, it really is quite abnormal, and not in a bad way, but ... not exactly good either. I mean, a girl that is cursed to be an old woman by a hugely repulsive witch, who goes on an adventure to meet a wizard said to steal and eat the hearts of women everywhere? The movie just made it work. (IF it sounds stupid now please don't give it up, if you don't like it, it only wasted 2 hours of your life.)

- ART - 10 - Again, Studio Ghibli is amazing. Their artwork is always beautiful. ;3

- SOUND - 10 - IT had AMAZING music, not to mention it was amazing in both dubbed and subbed, not something all animes can say.

- CHARACTER - 10 - I LOVED ALL the characters, especially Calcifer. He'll really make you laugh, as will the others. The characters were all amazing, and they really went into depth all of their personalities.

- ENJOYMENT - 10 - I literally enjoyed every single last millisecond of this movie. It was funny, but both serious and sad at times. This is definitely an anime you do not want to pass up.

I really can't say I enjoyed this film. For me, story points and character play a large role in my investment into a film, with the art and sound playing supporting roles.
With that being said, there was no coherency to the story. The first 15 minutes or so, I was following right along, but as soon as Sophie leaves her town, things just... happen, for no particular reason. The story progresses but there is no purpose driving the scenes. Sophie's curse must be broken now here's a series of events that lead up to that. I'll give a couple of examples of scenes that ... had no purpose as far as I could tell.
- The war in general. Who was fighting? Why? It just served as a device to move the story forward.
- Sophie's mom visiting her while she's old to tell her she got a new husband.
- The scene were Sophie steps through a door to see Howl as a child. The scene explains a bit, but the means by which it happened are dubious.

As for the characters, I enjoyed the family-like relationship that was developing, but not much else. I couldn't understand Howl's motivations or his purpose in general. He would go off and fight in the war sometimes even after telling the king's wizard lady he wouldn't. Also, I think the feelings that Sophie and Howl developed for one another were unearned. Other than their first encounter, nothing about their relationship seemed romantic at all.

Oh yeah, why is the Witch of the Waste in the movie at all after turning Sophie old. She does absolutely nothing.

She kisses everybody at the end and everything is rosy.

To sum up my complaints... Nothing was explained (character motivations or political context) and things happened only to get from point A to point B.

The art was great as usual for Studio Ghibli and the music was solid. No complaints in the art department.
Story needs to be filled in and polished and the fat should be trimmed.
OK bye

"Now I’ve got something I want to protect. It’s you"

A wonderful movie by Studio Ghibli, a studio that a lot of people consider to be the best animation studio ever. With elegant script writing, producing, and directing by Miyazaki, who also a lot of people consider to be the best animation mangaka, director, producer, and writer of all time. When I watch a movie, one of the things I always check is to see if this movie is made of new or repeated mixed stories and ideas. While they say that the world of writing is currently composed of remixes of old scripts and stories, ... Hayao Miyazaki comes to disprove those sayings and shows us that there is still space to submit new ideas and new ways of processing an idea in creative ways. Do I Recommend It? Short Answer: Definitely YES.
The movie talks about Sophie, a teenage beautiful girl who likes to work in hat crafting. A sudden turn in her life occurs when she gets cursed by a witch and becomes an old lady in her 90s. She decides then to go to Howl's moving castle looking to break her curse or at least to find a happy peaceful life. It doesn't take long before she starts working for him out of love.

The movie is like a showoff by Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, it gives a beautiful and smooth animation for a 2004 movie, a great art style that focuses on precise facial expressions and showing human feelings and reactions more realistically. Coloring scenes and frames so well gave me strong feelings that go along with the movie era and world, combining art style, animation, coloring, and script writing was greatly executed. For most of the movie, I felt like I'm watching a Disney movie and not an animation of a Japanese theme.
Interesting and ear-pleasing voice acting, where appropriate and suitable voice actors were chosen for all the characters in the film, without exception. What stunned me most is that only 10 minutes were enough to display all I've written above. Astonishing.

The movie tells some beautiful life lessons such as What goes around comes around (Just like the blade on the chainsaw) where bad and evil people always get what they deserve from punishment for all the bad they did in their lifetime. Also, another lesson is to be careful about who you trust because even your closest friends and family members can use you, harm you, and even betray you to benefit from you and get what they want and need without caring about what happens to you or how would that make you feel.

[SPOILERS] Though all the praise I had some problems understanding a few things as if there were holes in the plot, for example, we saw how the witch of Waste was sorry for what she did to Sophie and that she can't remove the curse and expressed that she specialized in casting curses not removing them, at least she should be able to tell her how to remove it.
Another problem is we saw Sophie throughout the movie go young and grow old again suddenly and randomly, I didn't understand what happened, maybe I missed something but I think there was supposed to be a clear explanation of why that happened.

Ratings:

Plot: 8/10. Simple yet amazing, well-presented, and perfectly executed.

Characters: 7.5/10. Very good characters, major and minor (main and secondary), my favorite was Markl and Calcifer.

Sounds: 8/10. Voice acting, main theme, OSTs, and even sound in general were all really really good.

Animation and artstyle: 8.5/10. I enjoyed them so much, and they gave me old Disney movies vibes.

Enjoyment: 8.5/10. So happy that I watched this movie and completely recommend it to everyone else.

Overall: 8/10. Very Good.

Ghibli doing what Ghibli does best. Giving you a complete immersive experience of a world that probably doesn’t exist.

THE BAD –
I was left with many questions when I finished the movie which remained unanswered. Mostly about characters and their background, I believe for a 2-hour long film this shouldn’t be impossible. For example, the history between Howl and the witch of wastes, the curse on scarecrow, the relation between Howl and Calcifer and few more. Like few rough patches in a beautiful painting, it kept daunting on me.
This one is not particularly a bad aspect of the movie but I felt the soundtracks were not ... up to the ‘Ghibli standards’, I can’t remember a single OST except that outro, that was beautiful.

THE GOOD –
You know when I say Ghibli, the first thing that will come to your mind is its heart-warming Art and Animation, nostalgic and pleasant. So yeah that didn’t disappoint, rather it was one of Ghibli's best. Mesmerizing sceneries plus pretty character designs, great work done by voice actors to compliment one aspect with another, I don’t know how to explain but the voice felt genuine, genuinely matching the characters they were associated to.
The plot felt fresh, maybe because I haven’t watched much fantasy romance. But it wasn’t like other “prince saves the country girl” type of used up material, I might just call it ahead of its time, A Love story beyond beauty and insecurities. I don’t wanna dive deep into and spoil things for you so I might just leave it here.
I enjoyed it thoroughly, I would recommend it to anyone honestly. It’s a great 2 hour break you could ask for from your busy day. But I still feel it was missing something and I can't pinpoint it. So yea this was my short review, thanks for reading!

Howl's moving castle is awesome.
It is one of studio Ghibli's best and most beautifully animated movies ever.
The story is very well written and masterfully told.
the animation is smooth and amazing and there is a lot going on in pretty much every scene.
The characters are well fleshed out and easy to empathize with.
The background scores are very nice and soothing and together with the fantastic animation and studio Ghibli's unique art style makes you feel the scenes you are watching.
The magic elements are wonderful and engaging, as is the way of studio Ghibli.
overall the anime is an amazing watch and will keep you thinking about it ... for a long time.

It would appear I owe Hayao Miyazaki-sensei an apology. For the longest time, I've been saying that Howl's Moving Castle is one of the worst Ghibli movies. Incidentally, it's the very first Ghibli movie I've seen. Alas, my first viewing, some, oh, 6-7 odd years ago, was colored by the company and intrusive circumstances I found myself surrounded by at the time. Without going into too much detail, I was exhausted, constantly distracted, and even fell asleep half-way through. As such, it is of little surprise that much of what was happening made little sense to me.

Having now rewatched it properly, I must confess myself ... very pleasantly surprised.

The structure of the plot is rather fragile and vulnerable to spoilers. All I can say is that you will accompany Sophie on a magical adventure laden with surprises, excitement, the unknown, faith, and heartache. She is a simple girl living in an unnamed town's tailoring shop. We are given to understand that she is rather attached to the shop, seeing as it held some emotional significance to her presumably late father. Then, one day, her uneventful life if interrupted by the appearance of Howl, a world-famous, yet mysterious wizard, and their fates become entwined. What's more, it appears that Sophie's nation is gearing up to go to war with an unknown enemy. How much truth is there to the rumors surrounding Howl's personage? What is the rhyme and reason for the war? Is there a place for Sophie amidst this dangerous world of magic and wonder? Watch to find out!

Princess Mononoke held the record for the highest grossing anime movie of all time for a fair number of years. It wasn't until the release of Howl's Moving Castle that its reign ended. It finally took the phenomenon that was Spirited Away to dislodge Howl from its #1 spot. The Ghibli monopoly was only broken with the advent of Your Name. Since then, I hear that a Demon Slayer and one or other of the My Hero Academia movies have done extremely well and broken all manner of records, but I feel confident in saying that Howl still rests comfortably in the top 10 of all time.

Point in case, Howl is considered by many anime fans to be their favorite movie of all time, and for a not-at-all negligible number of Ghibli afficionados, it constitutes Miyazaki-sensei's best work.

My thoughts?

In terms of it being Ghibli's best, I don't think I will ever change my mind that Princess Mononoke is Hayao Miyazaki-sensei's magnum opus. Truthfully, there is nothing original in Howl. You've got the mysterious locations and technology from Castle in the Sky, the black, gooey monsters and creatures from Princess Mononoke, and the large warship designs from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Understandably, studio Trigger is not the only creative outlet prone to reaching the point of recycling old ideas. Ghibli, and more precisely, Miyazaki-sensei is vulnerable to the same creative ailments as any other artist. That being said, when Trigger runs out of ideas, they churn out vacuous bullshit like SSSS.Gridman. On the other hand, Ghibli graces us with Howl's Moving Castle.

I've long said that you don't need to reinvent the wheel every time you engage in a creative endeavor. You don't need a new gimmick. Originality is overrated. As long as you create what you create with sincerity and passion, that will translate to your audience. As if to make my point, though Howl brings nothing new to the table in terms of ideas and themes, it's one of the more visually ambitious and impressive Ghibli projects. In particular, the 3DCG animation used for Howl's actual "moving castle" stands head and shoulders above the film's constituent elements as its pièce de résistance, for it is so beautifully smooth and delicately blended with Miyazaki's signature hand-drawn animation, that it is, in my estimation, the ultimate ideal that all animation studios ought to strive towards.

The one thing that stands to the movie's discredit is the justification of some of the plot devices. If you're like me and want to have a plot where everything makes perfect logical sense, where every question is clearly answered, and you cannot be satisfied with answers in the vein of "Just because!", then Howl will to a greater or lesser extent frustrate you.

The OST's piano melody is so iconic that if you enjoy lofi hip-hop music, there's a good to fair chance you're already familiar with it.

Howl's Moving Castle, to the attentive and engaged viewer, is 2 hours well spent.

Another masterpiece from the great Hayou Miyazaki.
First, we had My Neighbor Totoro, then we had Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and now comes this little gem. Hayou Miyazaki has captured our hearts for twenty years with his movies, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service. HMC has got to be Studio's Ghilibi's best filmb ever. About Sophie, a shy girl who confronts a magical human named Howl. She soon meets her wicked mother, Witch of the Waste which turn her into a retarded and stubborn old woman. She runs away and comes upon Howl's Moving Castle. She enters into it and ... sees a fire demon named Calcifer, a young boy named Markl. Before then, she met Turnip Head, a Turnip. She befriends all of this and confronts Howl once again and falls in love with him.
HMC is critically acclaimed and a blockbuster in theater. Although, I wasn't born when some Hayou Miyazaki films came out, and saw none of them in theaters. I pleaded to see Ponyo & the Cliff months ago, but my mom couldn't take me for a reason.
Anyways, this has got to be Hayou's third masterpiece behind Princess Mononoke & Spirited Away.
Remember that Howl's Moving Castle will warm your heart, uplift your spirits, and capture attention. An unforgettable romance film will soon never be forgotten.

(Written on 4/11/2013)

Have you ever experienced the time when you felt kind of lost in a blank stretch between fantasy and reality during and after watching a film? I felt the same way when I watched the Studio Ghibli film, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, which was directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away & Ponyo). If you’re a fan of his works, you should probably add this film to your watch list. It was also based on a young adult fantasy novel of the same title by Diana Wynne Jones in 1986.

Ever since I first watched Studio Ghibli films, I couldn’t expect anything less. My fascination for ... fantasy films that have a tinge of reality in their concepts continuously grows through each movie I watch. Even with all of those fantastic and romantic elements that are seen during the course of the films, it will somehow help you become rooted to reality as well. A lot of people were raving about how good “Howl’s Moving Castle” was, so I managed to give it a shot. When I first read the synopsis, I didn’t see what the big deal really was. What’s so special about a girl who’s under some kind of eccentric sorcery? But when I finally watched the film, I never thought it could make such an impact on me. It became a fascinating and influential piece for me at the same time because I was somehow able to identify myself with Sophie, the protagonist.

Studio Ghibli films never fail to fascinate me with their art and animation. Every small detail was impeccably done in order to make the whole background stunning and realistic. I especially love the way the castle was animated. When you think of a castle, the first thing that would probably come to your mind is a grandiose and elegant design. Well, it’s the exact opposite when you visit a flying castle like that of Howl’s. They didn’t make the castle look like the mainstream and stereotypical kind of castle, and that’s what I like about it. The way Sophie was animated was commendable, as well; you can simply tell by the way she progresses and regresses at the same time. I have to say that the art and animation in “Howl’s Moving Castle” is, by far, the best.

The music was really beautiful and fitting, as well. From the background music at the beginning to the peaceful and melancholic song at the end, it suits the mood and story of the film quite well. It displayed a certain vibrancy that makes you feel at peace despite the melancholic sound. The voice acting was good, as well, although there were times when I just didn’t feel the emotion they’re trying to bring out.

The only element that was quite lacking in the film is the story. It left me a lot of questions in the end, especially about the war and what Madame Suliman’s true intention really was. The war scenes were kind of exaggerated, though. As a matter of fact, I didn’t quite understand why they were at war in the first place. I guess it really takes time for me to fully digest and absorb a film like this, especially coming from Studio Ghibli. It will really have you thinking in the end, which is one of the few things that constitutes a great film. Overall, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is definitely worth the watch. You won’t regret seeing it.

This was such a lovely movie. I was in tears at how brilliant this was! The romance in this is so cute!

Howl and Sophie make such a cute couple!

The setting for this was kind of confusing. It seems like a mix of English-European times like the Victorian era and the modern era. Yet, this all adds up to how brilliant this movie is.

If there was another similar movie like this, I'd probably watch it, but I don't think it'll compare to the original.

I wish this movie could live on, and tell its story for the future generations. I really hope this movie makes it ... into the future, so that future generations can enjoy this too.

I'd probably rewatch this in the future, if I have the time. I'd probably make time just to rewatch this again.

I have only seen a handful of Studio Ghibli films to date, although there are still several I plan to watch in the future. The first I saw was Spirited Away, which I loved, and then much later I watched Howl's Moving Castle. And it has remained my favorite, even as I have watched others over the course of the last two years.

I know a lot of people have some hate for this movie because of its flaws and eyebrow raising plot holes. HOWEVER... that didn't take away from my enjoyment in the beginning, nor has it taken away from my enjoyment during each time ... I have watched it since.

First of all, as with most Ghibli films, the animation is lovely. The detail and variation of colors takes my breath away. Its music doesn't disappoint... fitting and beautiful as always.

And the characters... well, they were probably what made the movie for me. Both of the leads, Sophie and Howl, were likeable I thought. Sophie, although lacking in self-esteem at first, really came through and I thought her way of dealing with her situation was actually really cute. And the way her relationships to the other characters changes her and helps her to gain confidence over the course of the movie was quite touching. I like Howl and how he develops as a character through knowing Sophie, and how he slowly learns that outer beauty isn't everything. All of the other characters were interesting as well, especially Calcifer. I think he was my favorite.

Anyway, I just thought the movie was a lot of fun, despite its issues. I also have a soft spot for fantasy and romance, so I guess that probably helped. But I mean, if you think about it, the plot is actually really cool. It could probably use to be cleaned up a little, but... overall, wonderful movie. I give it a ten out of ten for my emotional attachment. :)

One word; overrated.

As much as I loved the movie's story and atmosphere, the execution is horrible. It's all over the place! So many things were happening in one go, and you couldn't even process anything, because they throw major plots in one go.

I heard a few things about the novel and they're extremely important scenes in my opinion, however, they didn't add them to the movie which made many things questionable, unreasonable and funny...
For example, the character development doesn't make any sense, it goes from "haha I'm evil" to "I'm your bestie" in two minutes without any explanation like HOW???????? AM I SUPPOSED ... TO READ BETWEEN THE INVISIBLE LINES?????
Also, lord help me! I swear to god Howl's personality shifts faster than light, I seriously thought he had a split personality or a lost twin brother.
I get it's a movie so things are fast or whatever, but that's faster than Sonic and Flash combined.

Overall I wouldn't say it's a complete waste to watch; it had great animation, so maybe that's worth something, or it's just me trying to sugarcoat lol.

I still cannot believe this movie is on par with Pupa. The movie starts to deviate from the book by making Sulamin the antagonist and its becomes utter shit from there in. Sophie's voice actor was casted so wrongly and the voice acting was incredibly bad that it was hard to believe a human was voicing her. Though the animation is fluid, it's probably the only redeeming quality.

The plot was executed so poorly that even Pupa excelled at this very subject. The romance was forced down the audience's throat, and only the most pathetic people cried at the last moment which was filled to ... the brim with "MUH HOWL" and Sophie's feels.

I feel that the movie could have been better if Sophie was killed off at the very start. Not only was she boring, her whole personality was the embodiment of the word "dull". Howl was a massive retard who had a split personality and was only there to make the fan girls orgasm.

If you can't direct a movie as well as Spirited Away, please don't force yourself to churn out this almost irredeemable pile of trash known as "Howl's Moving Castle" Studio Ghlibli. It's only a good remedy for insomianiac patients.

This movie is bad. The whole experience was boring to me, the beggining seemed ok, but as the movie progressed it kept getting worse and worse. Nothing that was going on was explained, while somewhat interesting things were happening (for some people), there was no meaning behind them. The story was just pale withouth any explanation.
The characters were dumb in my opinion, not a single character had a great developmemt and their actions were just random. Not a single back story or a flashback either. It's like a slice of life with some random fantasy that doesn't make any sense. Not a single character ... was likeable, the story didn't even tell us what they are. I don't see anyone getting attached to any of the characters, except for the dog.
The art was horrible too, some people might say "oh, the art is amazing for a 2004 movie" but it really isn't. While sometimes the background will look really good, you can't forget the fact that the whole animation is CGI. It may look somewhat good to some people, but in my opinion it's not a very good CGI anime, even for it's time. For example, I liked Serial Experiments Lain's art style & animation better, even tho it was from 1999.
The soundtrack in my opinion is the only good thing in this movie. There are some really good elements, but what does a good soundtrack do for a movie with an unexplained story and dull characters.
In conclusion, I didn't enjoy this movie, because most of the time, I had no idea what was going on, the CGI was bothering me and I didn't like the characters at all, the movie didn't seem to have a goal.