Howl’s Moving Castle
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki • Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Fantasy
Awards won: 14
Trailer
To be honest when I saw the trailer I got amazed I can not figure out the story but what I understood at first is that the girl got cursed and turned old which made me curious. I liked the trailer very much and got eager to watch the movie. I think I have only seen few anime’s trailer which I like. I hardly have liked any trailer so far because most of them has lot’s of spoilers and I can understand the story only by the trailer. But this one is different it has not shown everything but got me curious to watch it now.
Summaries
A girl named Sophie got cursed by the Witch of the Waste. The curse turns her into an old woman as if she is 90 years old. The curse does not let her to tell anyone about the spell. She is no longer able to continue her job at her mother's hat shop. She runs away from her home into the hills and then she found a moving castle. The castle belongs to the handsome wizard Howl however, he has a bad reputation. Sophie is trying to find a way to break her curse and until then she lives her life as an old lady.
Story
At the beginning we can see Sophie is not a confident girl. She is a 18-year-old girl. One day on her way to her sisters workplace. She got disturbed by 2 man who kept flirting with her but then a mysterious guy arrived. He was so charming he used one kind of magic and saved Sophie from them. Later on few creatures were following them so the guy flew away with her in the air which was done very smoothly. They both could walk in the air. After reaching at her mother’s workplace she talked with her mother but she kept thinking about the guy. As the man was a gentleman to her and looked very handsome. His hair is blonde which makes him look more attractive.
Her sister Lettie asks how she was flying in the air what if the guy is a Howl. She also asks if Sophie has fallen for the guy. As Howl is reputed to eat the heart of pretty girls. Sophie replied that she is not beautiful and left.
When Sophie returns to Hatty shop she moves in the shop but a mysterious lady arrived. Sophie got shocked by seeing her and told her to leave because the shop is closed. But that lady leaves Sophie with a curse and she turns into an old lady she looked like approximately 80-90 years old. The witch of the waste also put a spell on her to not being able to tell anyone about her curse and then the witch leaves. Sophie watches herself in the mirror she could not believe it, she has aged very badly.
Later on Sophie decides not to go to work and leaves the place. She goes to the hill and found a Scarecrow Turnip and helped him to stand straight. Later on the turnip kept following her as she helped him.
She asked the Turnip to find a house for her as a favour. He points out the Howl’s moving castle and gives her sign to enter the house.
When she gets in she found a fire and it was talking. The fires name is Clacifer. It is a Fire demon who is in a magical contract with Wizard Howl. Clacifer used to be a falling star and Howl catches him and extinguished. Clacifer could tell that Sophie was under a spell but he can help her if she helps him to find a way to break the contract betweeen Howl and Clacifer. Anyways, Clacifer does most of the strong magic like moving the castle.
Later on she fell asleep and in the morning she saw a kid who’s name is Markl. He manages Howl's affairs while he is far away. Markl deals with the customers disguised as an old man. In real he is only 15 years old. However, we can see the main door is linked to different towns because this castle is able to create portal to different places. This is because Clacifer allows it to happen. People can only enter this castle if Clacifer allows them otherwise they can never enter.
Sophie decides to work in the castle as a housekeeper. She later on meets the owner of the castle and it is the same guy who saved her in the beginning she got shocked that he is the Howl but she remained calm because she is an old lady now. Sophie share her interest to stay with them and cleans the castle.
Whenever, Howl leaves she spends time with Markl and the Turnip also followed her all the way. She enjoys her life being old and does not complain about it. She realises how hard it is to live when you are old.
One night Howl comes back home and talks to Clacifer about the war which is getting worse and many other wizards have been recruited to fight. Most of them have forgotten that they were a human. Clacifer warns Howl that he should also stop transforming his body otherwise he will also turn like them. There is a curtain drawn to the side of the room. Howl pulls it to see if Sophie is sleeping. He was looking at her and at that time she turned into her youthful form again.
One day, Howl comes running down the stairs with a towel around his waist. He was frustrated that his hair turned from blonde to a vivid red. He got mad at Sophie for cleaning and ruining his bath potions. Howl got depressed and says that he does not look beautiful anymore.
Howl’s behaviour got Sophie upset she went outside the castle and started to cry in the rain Turnip-head comes near her with an umbrella which makes her happy and Markl also came to reach her out.
Then Howl was resting in his bed and Sophie comes in. Howl tells Sophie about the Witch of the Wastes is looking for him. He also admits that he is a coward for hiding. Howl says that once he approached the Witch he thought she is beautiful but she really wasn't. So he ran away from her. That means that witch cursed Sophie because she was jealous to see Sophie with Howl.
Howl says that the war is folly and asserts. Howl asks Sophie to visit the palace in Kingsbury. He wanted her to pretend to be Pendragon's mother. He wanted to be free so she must convince the king that Howl is of no use to him. Later on she went to the palace….
Review
To be honest I like that this movie is highly emotional without a good logic or plot or story to get in the way. The movie is very simple and pure. I found it extremely beautiful. The music is calm which makes me calm. It is a stunning and pleasing movie. I got a crush on Howl how good his character is built also he is a gentleman. He is very protective and I also like his look. I prefer his hair being blonde but later on the colour changed. Anyways, I like how strong Sophie is. Instead of complaining about her situation she accepted it the way it is. At first she was not confident at all but later on she changed her way of thinking. There’s a lot of things I have learned through watching this movie.
Overall
It is not full of romance but you will enjoy it very much. I loved this movie very much that I would recommend everyone to watch it. As I have never suggested you guys to watch any useless movies of anime. Trust the process and give it a go!
THANKS FOR READING💖
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- The Photos were taken from imdb
- Photos edited with PicsArt Mobile app and Canva
- All content are mine unless otherwise noted
