Other names : Howl no Ugoku Shiro.
Year : 2004
Genre : Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Steampunk
Duration : 1 hr. 59 min.
The castle, a ramshackle place and an entrance door that has a somewhat special lock, when it turns, the door opens in different parts of the world. Howl, despite having great ability as a magician and extraordinary power, lives like a messy child with trash everywhere. Sophie takes care of the cleaning and maintenance of the place, keeping everything in order and scolding Howl while he does all that.
Sophie becomes a fantastic protagonist and a feisty old lady. She does not accept the curse lying down, neither does she lament or play the victim, she does not accept mistreatment from anyone, be it evil witch or handsome wizard. Markl is Howl's apprentice, a young man with a magic of his own, who, like most Ghibli movies (I'll talk about other Ghibli movies later), acts as a substitute for the young soul and conveys an innocent perspective on the world.
Ghibli is spectacular paying special attention to the gestures and feelings of the characters, making them appear to be alive. When Grandma Sophie's neck is broken or her back is broken, he feels her enormous effort and enormous pain. There is a lot of care and attention to every detail. The plot of the film takes place in the context of a war and all magicians must respond to the call of duty.
They want to catch Howl, hence the need for his castle to be able to move. Howl's abhorrence of conflict is due not so much to noble intentions as to his somewhat childish way of acting. He is obsessed with his appearance, is very grumpy and unable to take responsibility for various of his acts, this explains the state of his castle.
The level of detail of the castle, the color palette, the world in general and all the care put into the film is incredible, for me the only problem in this film is the ending, somewhat rushed for my taste, if they had taken a few minutes more to explain the ending, this would have been great. Howl's Moving Castle was the first Studio Ghibli movie I saw and it piqued my interest in his movies and this one in particular has it all: witches, wizards, a magical castle, monsters, a sentient scarecrow, and curses. I enjoyed every moment of this beautiful movie.