Trailer
Genres
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Action, Comedy, Family
Summary
One day, an insecure young woman named Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste into an old woman’s body. Ashamed of her unrecognisable appearance, she is unable to face her family and continue to work in her mother’s hat shop. Sophie sets out on an adventure to find “Howl’s Moving Castle” where the young and handsome wizard known as “Howl” lives, in order to break her curse. When Sophie arrives, she befriends “Calcifer”, the humourous fire demon who powers the castle and who is bound to Howl by a contract (the terms of which Calcifer cannot reveal). They promise to help each other with their problems, so Sophie becomes the “cleaning lady” of the castle and discovers many magical things about the castle as well along the way! Like Calcifer, Howl can also see through the Witch's spell, and he and Sophie slowly fall in love, despite her curse. Sophie brings life to the castle and helps Howl confront his fears. Together they meet many caring companions along the way and overcome the difficulties of war and confront the Witch of the Waste. Can Sophie break the curse?
Thoughts
Howl's Moving Castle is an absolute masterpiece! The characters are engaging, the animation is stunning, and the story is unique. I loved the castle, and it's magical dial on the door that allows the inhabitants of the castle to go to different places each time you switch the dial and open the door.
The war planes were unique as well, and the subplots, such as the war, add some very interesting "background noise" to the film. Howl has so many layers that my only criticism would be a desire to see more of howl's background as he evolves into maturity, but we receive enough to dive in!
The war planes were unique as well, and the subplots, such as the war, add some very interesting "background noise" to the film. Howl has so many layers that my only criticism would be a desire to see more of howl's background as he evolves into maturity, but we receive enough to dive in!
Music
Throughout the film Howl's Moving Castle, "Merry-Go-Round of Life" composed by Joe Hisaishi plays. This peice is absolutely beautiful and I even have it downloaded onto my phone. I would highly recommend listening to it; here's the link below!