Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004)Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal, Josh Hutcherson, Emily Mortimer, Blythe Danner
Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have been a force in animated filmmaking for over a decade now, consistently churning out quality, imaginative animated features. I've seen a couple of his films now, and can't say that I've been blown away. I saw Ponyo last year and didn't think much of it. I was more impressed by Spirited Away, but even then not blown away. Kate and a number of other people had assured me that Howl's Moving Castle was the pick of the bunch. Kate was sitting down to watch it this evening, so I decided to join her.
A young hat maker, Sophie (Mortimer) is put under a curse by the Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall). The curse transforms her into an old lady (the elderly Sophie is voiced by Simmons) and also prevents her from telling anyone of the curse. Ashamed of her appearance she flees her town and heads for the hills where she comes across the amazing moving castle of the wizard Howl (Bale). She infiltrates his castle, introducing herself as the new cleaning lady. She quickly makes friends with Calcifer (Crystal), a fire spirit who powers the castle and is bound to Howl by a contract which, like Sophie's curse, he is unable to speak the details of. The two vow to help each other from their predicaments.
Miyazaki usually likes to write his own stuff, but it isn't hard to see what attracted him to Diana Wynne Jones's novel. Howl's Moving Castle is filled with his trademarks. You've got the young girl heroine (even if in this case she takes the form of an old lady), you've got the alternate fantasy world setting and you've got shape changing creatures. It was practically a ready made Miyazaki project.
While I don't quite click with Miyazaki's films the way I do with some of Pixar's more recent works, I can still appreciate why he has the reputation that he does. With Howl's Moving Castle, on the surface, it looks like Miyazaki is on the money again. The animation, a combination of traditional hand-drawn and subtle computer graphics, is beautifully detailed. The heaving, wheezing castle is definitely a sight to behold. But this film seems to lack a bit of an x-factor. He doesn't quite seem to have hit the mark as he usually does. As I said above, so many of the elements are familiar but they don't seem to be used as well.
Sophie is an awkward heroine who seems to watch the story more so than take part in it. Her transformation into an elderly lady slows her pace a lot. Unlike Carl in Up who can run and jump with the best of them when required too, the elderly Sophie is a slightly more realistic example of an elderly heroine (the scene of the elderly Sophie and the morbidly obese Witch of the Waste racing each other up the long flight of stairs is one of more unique moments of semi-suspense you will see in a film).
Again, the dubbing of the voices for the English version of the film was put in the hands of Miyazaki supporters and the minds behind Toy Story, John Lasseter and Pete Docter. After the success of Spirited Away the calibre of star they have been able to attract has risen, but rather than just going for names, as with Pixar films, they've gone for quality. Hearing the familiar voices of Hollywood legends like Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal (Crystal's Calcifer is probably the strongest, most clearly defined character in the film) and Jean Simmons was great. Emily Mortimer didn't have a great deal to do before her character turned into an old lady and the vocal duties were handed over to Simmons. I'm not sure that Bale brought anything to the table with his voice acting. Obviously the guy is a good actor, and that is reflected in the way he uses his voice, but there is nothing overly characteristic about his voice to justify the amount of money they probably have to pay him. While the English voice cast has a bit of star power, it is said that the Japanese voices from the original version suit the characters slightly better, which is probably to be expected.
I probably came into this film with slightly too high expectations and was left a little underwhelmed. I've had a few people tell me it was really good, but I think they had read the book first. Like all of Miyazaki's films it looks spectacular, there is no doubt it is an achievement in animation, but the story didn't quite grab me. I found it quite difficult to follow early on. Maybe it's an easier watch if you are familiar with the book, but without that back knowledge there were a few points at which I thought I wasn't quite being given all the required information. It felt a bit like more of the same after Spirited Away, despite being a bit faster paced and more story driven, and I didn't think it was as good. If you love the book, you'll love it. If you love Miyazaki's work, you'll love it. If you're not sure, maybe try Spirited Away.
Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have been a force in animated filmmaking for over a decade now, consistently churning out quality, imaginative animated features. I've seen a couple of his films now, and can't say that I've been blown away. I saw Ponyo last year and didn't think much of it. I was more impressed by Spirited Away, but even then not blown away. Kate and a number of other people had assured me that Howl's Moving Castle was the pick of the bunch. Kate was sitting down to watch it this evening, so I decided to join her.
A young hat maker, Sophie (Mortimer) is put under a curse by the Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall). The curse transforms her into an old lady (the elderly Sophie is voiced by Simmons) and also prevents her from telling anyone of the curse. Ashamed of her appearance she flees her town and heads for the hills where she comes across the amazing moving castle of the wizard Howl (Bale). She infiltrates his castle, introducing herself as the new cleaning lady. She quickly makes friends with Calcifer (Crystal), a fire spirit who powers the castle and is bound to Howl by a contract which, like Sophie's curse, he is unable to speak the details of. The two vow to help each other from their predicaments.
Miyazaki usually likes to write his own stuff, but it isn't hard to see what attracted him to Diana Wynne Jones's novel. Howl's Moving Castle is filled with his trademarks. You've got the young girl heroine (even if in this case she takes the form of an old lady), you've got the alternate fantasy world setting and you've got shape changing creatures. It was practically a ready made Miyazaki project.
While I don't quite click with Miyazaki's films the way I do with some of Pixar's more recent works, I can still appreciate why he has the reputation that he does. With Howl's Moving Castle, on the surface, it looks like Miyazaki is on the money again. The animation, a combination of traditional hand-drawn and subtle computer graphics, is beautifully detailed. The heaving, wheezing castle is definitely a sight to behold. But this film seems to lack a bit of an x-factor. He doesn't quite seem to have hit the mark as he usually does. As I said above, so many of the elements are familiar but they don't seem to be used as well.
Sophie is an awkward heroine who seems to watch the story more so than take part in it. Her transformation into an elderly lady slows her pace a lot. Unlike Carl in Up who can run and jump with the best of them when required too, the elderly Sophie is a slightly more realistic example of an elderly heroine (the scene of the elderly Sophie and the morbidly obese Witch of the Waste racing each other up the long flight of stairs is one of more unique moments of semi-suspense you will see in a film).
Again, the dubbing of the voices for the English version of the film was put in the hands of Miyazaki supporters and the minds behind Toy Story, John Lasseter and Pete Docter. After the success of Spirited Away the calibre of star they have been able to attract has risen, but rather than just going for names, as with Pixar films, they've gone for quality. Hearing the familiar voices of Hollywood legends like Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal (Crystal's Calcifer is probably the strongest, most clearly defined character in the film) and Jean Simmons was great. Emily Mortimer didn't have a great deal to do before her character turned into an old lady and the vocal duties were handed over to Simmons. I'm not sure that Bale brought anything to the table with his voice acting. Obviously the guy is a good actor, and that is reflected in the way he uses his voice, but there is nothing overly characteristic about his voice to justify the amount of money they probably have to pay him. While the English voice cast has a bit of star power, it is said that the Japanese voices from the original version suit the characters slightly better, which is probably to be expected.
I probably came into this film with slightly too high expectations and was left a little underwhelmed. I've had a few people tell me it was really good, but I think they had read the book first. Like all of Miyazaki's films it looks spectacular, there is no doubt it is an achievement in animation, but the story didn't quite grab me. I found it quite difficult to follow early on. Maybe it's an easier watch if you are familiar with the book, but without that back knowledge there were a few points at which I thought I wasn't quite being given all the required information. It felt a bit like more of the same after Spirited Away, despite being a bit faster paced and more story driven, and I didn't think it was as good. If you love the book, you'll love it. If you love Miyazaki's work, you'll love it. If you're not sure, maybe try Spirited Away.
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