a review by Jeffrey Overstreet
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Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (the original Japanese version) and Pete Docter and Rick Dempsey (the English-language version); written by Mr. Miyazaki, based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones; music by Joe Hisaishi; produced by Toshio Suzuki, Mr. Dempsey and Ned Lott; released by Walt Disney Pictures.
118 minutes. Rated PG.
STARRING THESE VOICE TALENTS: Jean Simmons (Grandma Sophie), Christian Bale (Howl), Lauren Bacall (Witch of the Waste), Blythe Danner (Madame Suliman), Emily Mortimer (Young Sophie), Josh Hutcherson (Markl) and Billy Crystal (Calcifer).
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Howl’s Moving Castle, the latest masterpiece by the world’s greatest animated-film storyteller Hayao Miyazaki, recycles many of his favorite ideas and introduces dozens more. That’s not a bad thing. While some of these fairy tale elements will remind you of Spirited Away, Miyazaki’s 2003 Oscar-winning triumph, you’ll be having so much fun you’re not likely to care.
Some critics are bothered by the fact that Howl’s Moving Castle has a rather convoluted story that borders on the nonsensical and contains some rather arbitrary twists. Again, you’re not likely to complain. The movie is like a ten-car pileup of fairy tales and adventurer stories. There are more fantastic ideas, awe-inspiring sights, and memorable characters here than in a Disney triple-feature, so it’s awfully good of Disney studios to distribute work so far superior to their own.
Based on a book by Dianna Wynne Jones, this Miyazaki project turns his attention to a European context, and he seems right at home there. It’s an alternate form of Europe, caught in the midst of a frightful war, complete with hulking airships in bombing campaigns over the cities where people scramble around in terror. It turns out that there are wizards meddling in the affairs of men, carrying out personal agendas and placing whole cities at risk.
In the midst of this conflict, a young, timid girl named Sophie (voiced in this dubbed version by Emily Mortimer) has just enough time to fall for a heart-stealing wizard named Howl (Christian Bale) before she falls victim to a spell cast by a wicked witch (Lauren Bacall). The spell transforms her into a very old woman (Jean Simmons), who hobbles along in search of a way to break the curse. She ends up being carried around in Howl’s castle, which lumbers about the hillsides like a magnificent junkyard come to life. Inside, she becomes friends with a Howl’s young apprentice Marki (Josh Hutcherson), and a talkative open flame named Calcifer (Billy Crystal, in an impressively restrained performance).
I could go on explaining the plot to you, but it’s better if you discover it for yourself. The real story here is Miyazki’s ongoing conquest of undiscovered, dazzling, ingenious enchanted kingdoms. There are echoes of L. Frank Baum’s Oz stories, especially in the presence of a happy, hopping scarecrow that Sophie nicknames “Turnip Head.” (Hmmm. That’s the second film this month to feature Christian Bale and a scarecrow.) But it’s also a sort of Alice in Wonderland, a collection of Grimm Brothers’ tales, and something that George Macdonald and C.S. Lewis might have dreamed up after several beers.
Perhaps the most delightful things about Miyazaki’s work here are the honesty of his imagery and the unpredictable nature of his storytelling.
Miyazaki knows how to exaggerate details just enough to make us think. When a train passes, the smoke that the engine belches into the air is so black, we can’t help but wonder what it’s doing to the air… and that’s just an incidental detail. When Sophie walks down the street during a parade, there’s a homeless man sitting on the side of the road hanging his head; he’s not an important character in disguise… he’s just a homeless person. Moments like this give this imaginary world depth and integrity, whereas most family films refuse to acknowledge the rougher edges of our lives.
The fact that a feature film for all ages is focusing on an old woman… well, that right there is startling and bold. As the curse Sophie walks around, you can hear her bones creaking. We listen to her muse about the difference between being young and being old, and, surprisingly, she’s not always complaining. “When you’re old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery,” she sighs, gazing out at a landscape she’s never seen before. We’re not desperate to see her return to her youth; in fact, we become rather fond of the character in this old woman’s face, voice, and personality.
Howl, who would be the Peter Pan-like hero in any other commercial feature, is quite a bewildering, conflicted character himself. He possesses vast powers, but they lead him farther and farther from peace and contentment. This is a boy wonder who needs to simplify his life, reorient his priorities, and decide who he loves and what he’s going to do about it. American movies adore heroes with power and charisma like Howl; Miyazaki knows enough to show us the perils of ego and the corrupting nature of power.
He also knows enough to tell a war story without glorifying war or merely saying that it’s “bad.” Instead, he suggests that war is a personal conflict that has been blown out of proportion through pride, haste, and the hardening of hearts. I’m reminded of the overlooked 1990s film by Vincent Ward, Map of the Human Heart, in which a love triangle set off feelings that led to massive consequences; or The English Patient, in which an impulsive man sold out his country for personal gain.
Even the villains are surprising in this story. As he so often does, Miyazaki confounds our expectations by letting his characters develop and change in unexpected ways, so that characters we consider The Enemy slowly become more sympathetic and ultimately befriend our forgiving, patient heroine Sophie. This is a marvelous idea for a storyteller to share with children who are used to seeing the world in terms of “good guys versus bad guys.”
These observations, along with the vivid and ceaselessly surprising visuals, make Howl’s Moving Castle one of the year’s most enjoyable films. And while the conclusion wraps things up far too abruptly and arbitrarily, you’ll walk away replaying your favorite moments in your mind. Perhaps it will be the wonderfully dour little dog who scurries into the story halfway through and starts meddling. Perhaps it will be Sophie’s cleaning spree inside Howl’s Moving Castle. Or perhaps it will be the bizarre sight of seeing two old women race each other up a painfully long flight of stairs. These days, far too often we pay good money merely to see things on the screen that have been done better before. Miyazaki’s work is so refreshingly engaging, even his recycled ideas seem as if they spring brand new from his kaleidoscopic imagination right before our eyes.
Some have claimed that Walt Disney had himself cryogenically frozen so that technology might someday revive him. Personally, I’d prefer to bestow Miyazaki on future generations. His imagination is a treasure.