Story (4/10):
"Howl no Ugoku Shiro" is one of those Ghibli movies where unfortunately despite having interesting fantasy elements these are not used and the film ends up concentrating more on boring slice of life aspects. The story is full of gaps, almost no world building, zero development of themes and a plot that when it just gets interesting, ends with a hurried ending in a point where the viewer had already lost total interest in the film.
Magic is never explored either, we never really know which things can and cannot be done, we never know how powerful magic is, the role of magicians in society is never explored, demons and curses are never explored, and the war never get some development. With all the interesting messages and themes that the movie could have explored, everything is thrown overboard to make boring slice of life moments with the characters being a fake family.
In conclusion the plot is wasted potential.
Enjoyment (5/10):
The elements of fantasy made me quickly interested in the movie, but as after half an hour I was already falling asleep, the pace at the beginning of the movie is very slow and very fast at the end, this makes the viewer bored at the beginning, achieving that by the time the end comes, I no longer give a damn about what happens in the movie.
To all this add that the film lacks the development of themes, messages and characters, making the whole thing even more boring.
Character (2/10):
Here, as in almost all Ghibli movies, the only decent character is the protagonist, since the others are all plot devices with legs. Even so, it's not like the protagonist gets any good development or something like that, she's a stupid one-dimensional character (She literally falls in love with Howl for stupid reasons) and she achieves all with help and luck . As in all Ghibli movies, romance is touched in a very superficial way and more as a set and plot device than as something that really adds richness to the plot.
I hate Howl, as I said, the guy is nothing more than a plot device, his personality is never explored and that is why he never gets a development. At the same time thanks to the magic never explores clearly, Howl fits perfectly to serve the plot, when the plot needs him to accomplish something to resolve a conflict, then he achieves it and when the plot needs him not to accomplish something to generate cheap tension, then he doesn't get it.
The other characters are even less explored and only serve to help the protagonist when she needs it.
In conclusion: the characters are a disaster and almost all serve to move the plot
Art (8/10) and sound (6/10):
It is sad that with such a terrible script so much money has been wasted on this, and I can imagine what it would have cost to animate the castle.
As in all Ghibli movies the animation is beautiful, fluid, detailed and the backgrounds are beautiful.
In sound the music is good and the voice acting is quite good, it is not very good but it works well.
In conclusion: great production values as always from Studio Ghibli.
Overall (4/10):
"Howl no Ugoku Shiro" is another case of money and wasted potential, if the film had a better rhythm and exploration of themes it would have been decent, but since it is not the case I consider this film bad = 4/10.
