Howl's moving Castle is a fantasy story based off the novel of the same name. It follows a young girl with a mundane and boring life and her attempts to break a curse that turns her I to an old woman with the help of different characters she meets along the way. This was released in 2004 and I viewed this movie in Blu-Ray format which looked freaking outstanding.
One of the first attributes you notice when you first start watching the movie is the art and animation. The art and animation here is some of the best I've come across and the amount of detail put in is appreciated. The backgrounds and scenery of the world in which the characters live in have a hand painted look to then. This makes the backgrounds seamlessly blend in to the rest of the animation but still have it's astounding detail noticed by the viewer.
Computer generated animation is very controversial within the anime community. Usually it does not work out and it detracts from the overall animation due to lack of budget or poor execution. However this movie pulls off CGI well without making it look ugly and allowing it to have a smooth intergration into the regular animation. The CGI images and the hand drawn animation of studio ghibli contrast nicely. The color use here is great and brings the detailed animation and most scenes present to life.
The story in Howl's moving castle is very diverse and creative. On one hand we have a industrial revolution modern European type narrative with world war 2 type fee,inns being given off. On another hand we have a fantasy world filled with magic and a sense of wonder and excitement. These 2 vastly different narrative styles manage to blend together in impressive fashion to create something that is quite a site to behold.
The setting in Howl's moving castle is fantastic. The atmosphere and people living in the world are very unique. The building architecture present portrays the setting perfectly and I really loved the European countryside like atmosphere I got from the setting of the movie. One small issue with the setting is that it isn't built upon enough, for example this looming war while being an important plot point isn't really explained enough for my personal liking.
The characters in Howl's Moving Castle really bring the narrative structure to life. All of the characters in my opinion are well developed and characterized. One thing that I liked that they implemented was that the line between protagonist and antagonist were kind of blurred. This created a more complex situation for these characters and allows us the viewers to think and analyze the situation.
The character who you would think would be the centerpiece of the film is Howl. Howl is a wizard who has a very interesting and engaging past that is explained thoroughly. The reason I found howl to be such an interesting character is mostly because of his attitude and how his situation is explained which can make us see him in several different lights. This goes for many other characters as they go through several changes over the course of the film. Thus these changes cause us to see them in a different ways.
The main heroine of this film is quite good in general. She doesn't go through as much exposition and changes as many of the other characters go through which was a little disappointing. However she is still a great character and has a clear cut place in the narrative structure. This issue can also go for some side characters but they are all still very likeable and have places in the story
The musical score in this movie is great. The music works with the setting very well and sets great mood throughout different scenes. The English dub was good as well but a few of the voices were strangely executed. I have yet to see the subtitled version but I will probably do this in the future.
Well in the end there isn't really much I can say. Howls moving castle is one of the best animated films I have ever seen from one of the most storied anime studios ever made. Hayao Miyazaki has once again brought us an astounding work that I will hope to revisit time and time again.
