HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (Hauru no ugoku shiro) Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Walt Disney Pictures
Grade: B+
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki, from Diane Bynne Jones's novel
Cast: Voices of Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Lauren Bacall,
Blythe Danner, Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer, Josh
Hutcherson
Screened at: Disney, NYC, 6/2/05 If you considered the visuals of the under-rated "Polar Express"
momentous, wait until you see "Howl's Moving Castle," being
shown by some theaters in the original Japanese with English
subtitles and in others with English dubbing. The dubbing is not
distracting, since the characters in this Japanese anime do
appear to be speaking English, depending on the voices of
Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Lauren Bacall, Jean Simmons,
Emily Mortimer, and others. "Howl's Moving Castle" is a
Germanic-style fairy story, akin to the works of Grimm, yet there
is such originality in Hayao Miyazaki's imaginative sweep that
you'll be hard-put to place it firmly in a genre. Still, you'll get the
picture if you've seen any of Miyazaki's previous animes, such
as "Princess Mononoke,"about a young, wounded man's
seeking help from a forest spirit (which asks questions about
man's place in the natural world); and "Spirited Away," about a
sullen 10-year-old girl who, with her parents, finds an enchanted
world (which delves into the inner lives of children). Like "Spirited Away," "Howl's Moving Castle" follows a distinct
narrative for about a half hour of its almost two-hour length, its
story then becoming increasingly complex and convoluted as its
principal character, Sophie, travels about by land and by air.
This time even the theme is questionable: there is little to justify
an interpretation of ecological politics and more to conclude that
at least in part, Miyazaki, coming from the world's only nation
that was A-bombed, is concerned about humankind's future
when so many nations are armed to the teeth. To put across his
ideas metaphorically, Miyazaki is comfortable creating a land
which, like Victor Fleming's "The Wizard of Oz" and like Chris
Columbus's "Harry Potter" is teeming with wizards and witches,
with an assertive personification of fire and a handsome prince
thrown in to the cinematic cauldron. The ninety-year-old Sophie (voice of Jean Simmons), who
changes places hither and yon with the approximately 18-year-
old Sophie (voice of Emily Mortimer), is plunged (like Dorothy of
the Wizard of Oz) into the ride of a lifetime. Instead of a yellow-
brick road, the earthbound part of the film is cast in a quaint
European city, while Alpine-like vistas make their presence felt
when Sophie is airborne. Sophie is a workaholic passing up an
invitation to have some fun in favor of working away in a hat
store. When she meets a playboy wizard, the Howl of the title
(Christian Bale), she is literally swept off her feet into a
ramshackle castle that moves on huge chicken-like legs across
the landscape. Envious that Howl is paying attention to Sophie,
the Wicked Witch of Waste, who is in love with the wizard,
curses the teen, turning her into a 90-year-old woman who
takes up work as Howl's cleaning lady. While she dusts and
sweeps and gets Howl's cluttered rooms into shape, she is
forced to listen to a fire, Calucifer (voice of Billy Crystal), who
kvetches that he is Howl's slave–preparing his bath and cooking
his meals. Howl, who is so handsome and smooth-talking that
he could probably pass any interview and win the heart of any
woman, is fearful of being drafted into an insane war which only
the king's wizard, Madame Suliman (Blythe Danner's voice),
could end. Even more than the anti-war message, Miyazaki appears to say
that in his world, characters would show compassion for one
another. The Witch of Waste, whose powers are taken away by
Madame Suliman, is transformed from a hulk-like but still
presentable woman into an old hag, who regrets what she has
done and who wins even Sophie's sympathy. Suliman tires of
the ludicrous war and takes action to bring it to a conclusion.
Howl turns from a playboy, frightened by the king's draft, is a
tired and wiser person. Story notwithstanding, "Howl's Moving Castle" scores on the
magic of its animation. Far more sophisticated than
"Madagascar" and without that picture's all-too-facile comedy,
the movie, like all others by Miyazaki, comes across as light-
years ahead of any cartoon from the Merry Melodies Looney
Tunes of the fifties to the output of the Pixar Animation Studio
with its "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Nemo" and "The
Incredibles." The big question is how this will go over with the
small fry, whose need for narrative just might trump its
appreciation of graphic beauty. In short, the narrative can be
frustrating, but just try to take your eyes away from what you
see. Rated PG. 118 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com | 
