Howl's Moving Castle (film) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Howl's Moving Castle
Japanese theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by	Toshio Suzuki
Screenplay by	Hayao Miyazaki
Starring	Chieko Baisho Takuya Kimura Akihiro Miwa
Music by	Joe Hisaishi
Cinematography	Atsushi Okui
Editing by	Takeshi Seyama
Studio	Studio Ghibli
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	5 September 2004 (2004-09-05) (Venice) 20 November 2004 (2004-11-20) (Japan)
Running time	119 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Budget	¥2.4 billion US$24 million
Money made	¥23.2 billion US$236 million (worldwide)

Howl's Moving Castle (Japanese: ハウルの動く城, Hepburn: Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The film is loosely based on the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones. The film was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli and distributed by Toho. The Japanese voice cast featured Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura, while the English dub version starred Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer, Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Josh Hutcherson and Billy Crystal.

The story is set in a fictional kingdom where both magic and early 20th-century technology are prevalent, against the backdrop of a war with another kingdom. The film tells the story of a young, content milliner named Sophie who is turned into an old woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.

Influenced by Miyazaki's opposition to the United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003, the film contains strong anti-war themes. Miyazaki stated that he "had a great deal of rage" about the Iraq war, which led him to make a film which he felt would be poorly received in the US. It also explores the theme of old age, depicting age positively as something which grants the protagonist freedom. The film contains feminist elements as well, and carries messages about the value of compassion.

In 2013, Miyazaki said the film was his favorite creation, explaining "I wanted to convey the message that life is worth living, and I don't think that's changed." The movie is thematically significantly different from the book; while the book focuses on challenging class and gender norms, the film focuses on love, and personal loyalty and the destructive effects of war.

Howl's Moving Castle had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 5 September 2004, and was theatrically released in Japan on 20 November 2004. It went on to gross $190 million in Japan and $236 million worldwide, making it one of the most financially successful Japanese films in history. The film received critical acclaim, particularly for its visuals and Miyazaki's presentation of the themes. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, but lost to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, in 2006, and won several other awards, including four Tokyo Anime Awards and a Nebula Award for Best Script.

Plot

Sophie, a young milliner, encounters a wizard named Howl on her way to visit her sister Lettie. Upon returning home, she meets the Witch of the Waste who transforms her into a ninety-year-old woman. Seeking to break the curse, Sophie leaves home and sets off through the countryside. She meets a living scarecrow, whom she calls "Turnip Head". He leads her to Howl's moving castle where she enters without invitation. She subsequently meets Howl's young apprentice Markl and a fire demon named Calcifer, who is the source of the castle's magic and movement. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she has "hired herself" as a cleaning lady. In truth, Calcifer made a deal with Sophie to break her curse if she breaks his link with Howl.

Meanwhile, Sophie's nation is caught up in a war with a neighboring kingdom, who is searching for their missing prince. The King summons Howl to fight in the war. However, Howl decides to send Sophie to the King (under the pretense of being his mother) to tell him that Howl is too much of a coward to fight. Before leaving, he gives Sophie a charmed ring that leads her to Calcifer and guarantees her safety. Sophie meets Suliman, the king's head sorceress, and also the Witch of the Waste, whom Suliman punishes by draining all of her power and reverting her to her true age, that of a harmless old woman. Suliman warns Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not fight for the king. Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie. Suliman tries to trap him by turning him into a monster, but with Sophie's help he remembers himself and just barely avoids death. The duo escapes along with the former Witch of the Waste and Suliman's dog Heen. In the meantime, soldiers from each kingdom break into the homes of both Jenkins and Pendragon (Howl's aliases in those kingdoms). However, the men only find an empty courtyard and warehouse, as the castle's magic nature allows travel between 4 separate residences.

Sophie learns that Howl's life is somehow bound to Calcifer's and that Howl has been transforming into a bird-like creature to interfere with both sides in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form. Howl then has the castle magically linked to Sophie's home, parking the castle itself on the town's outskirts. A few days later, the town is bombed by enemy aircraft and Suliman's henchmen attack the house and Sophie's hat shop. Howl heads out to protect the group. Sophie then moves everyone out of the house and removes Calcifer from the fireplace, which collapses the castle. The Witch of the Waste realizes that Calcifer has Howl's heart and grabs the fire demon, setting herself on fire. Sophie panics and pours water onto the Witch, which douses Calcifer. The remainder of the castle then splits in two; Sophie falls down a chasm and is separated from the group.

Following the charmed ring, Sophie wanders into a scene from the past, where she sees a young Howl catch a falling star – Calcifer – and give him his heart. Sophie calls for them to find her in the future as she is teleported away. She returns to the present, finds Howl, and they reunite with the others. The Witch returns Howl's heart, and Sophie places it back inside Howl, reviving him and freeing Calcifer, though he decides to stay. Sophie's curse is broken, though her hair remains white – a symbol to show that her learning and maturity from the whole experience are intact. After she kisses Turnip Head on the cheek, he returns to human form, revealing himself to be Justin, the missing prince from the enemy kingdom. He reveals that only his true love's kiss can break his curse. After seeing Sophie's affection lies with Howl, he promptly heads for home to cease the war. Suliman, watching through a crystal globe, also decides to end the war. Sometime later, bombers fly under dark skies over a recovered and green countryside headed to another war, while Sophie, Howl, and the others travel in the opposite direction in a new flying castle.

Voice cast

Chieko Baisho, who voiced Sophie in the Japanese version of the film

Emily Mortimer, who voiced the young Sophie in the version of the film dubbed into English

Comparisons between film and novel

The film has several differences from the novel, partly due to the different requirements of the two media. Diana Wynne Jones' novel has a very large cast of characters, and several plot threads that were too complex to be transferred into the film. As a result, characters such as Sophie's second sister Martha are left out, as is the plot thread involving Markl (who is called Michael in the novel, and depicted as an adolescent, rather than as a young boy) courting her. Jones discussed the film with Studio Ghibli representatives, but did not have any input or involvement in the production of the film. Miyazaki traveled to England in the summer of 2004 to give Jones a private viewing of the finished film. She has been quoted as saying "It's fantastic. No, I have no input—I write books, not films. Yes, it will be different from the book—in fact it's likely to be very different, but that's as it should be. It will still be a fantastic film."

The novel depicts Howl's castle as a tall, dark and sinister wizard's tower, very different from the complex image in the film. The film's castle may be seen as a parody of the machines seen in the movie, driven both by steam-engines and by magic. In the film, it is a "rotund collage of chimneys, roofs, steam pipes, and other odd appendages, borne along on mechanized bird legs" that is similar to Baba Yaga's hut in the popular fairy tale. It is vaguely organic, and almost depicted as a life-form. Similarly, Calcifer is a demonic figure in the book, as compared to the "endearing" persona and image that he has in the film. Both film and novel try to render fantastic elements as mundane and ordinary things. Although they are set in a fantasy universe, the characters are often shown performing routine tasks, like cooking breakfast or washing up, in contrast to the heroic actions typical of a fantasy universe. In the novel, Jones disrupts the fantasy-world setting by including scenes in which the characters travel to the real-world Wales. The movie, however, avoids this digression, and maintains a constant setting.

Miyazaki's biggest addition to the plot of the book was the use of the war as a large part of the plot. In the book, the war is only tangentially referred to; the king orders Howl to find the king's missing brother Justin, because Justin's military skills are needed for a forthcoming war. Howl's frequent disappearances are because of his womanizing habits, which makes Sophie see him as a superficial and cowardly person. In the film, however, Howl disappears in order to transform into a giant bird and disrupt the battle plans of both armies.

The roles of several characters also differ between novel and film due to this plot change. The Witch of the Waste is the chief antagonist of the book, whereas in the film she is reduced by Madame Suliman's magic to an ultimately harmless old woman who evokes sympathy in the audience and in Sophie. In contrast, the film conflates the novel's two characters of Mrs. Penstemmon and the wizard Suliman into Madame Suliman. Although Suliman comes closest to being a traditional villain in the film, she is shown as having ambiguous motivations, and reviewers have stated that the real villain is war itself. Howl loses the "rakish" womanizing aspect that was a significant part of his character in the novel. In contrast, Sophie becomes a more conventional figure in the film; she is less grumpy and outspoken, and demonstrates her love for Howl earlier and more explicitly. The storyline in the novel of Sophie being a powerful sorceress in her own right is muted in the film, although she is still shown to have control over her curse.

The thematic focus of the story also differs between the novel and the film. Reviewer Antonia Levi wrote that the experience of watching the film was similar to reading high quality fan fiction; although the characters and the setting were the same, the story was different. Although in both cases the story begins with Sophie being a prisoner of her circumstances and of social norms, the challenges she faces are slightly different. Levi said that "Jones uses Sophie, Howl, and Calcifer in a fairytale format to tell a story about challenging class and gender expectations, Miyazaki uses the same characters to tell a story about personal loyalty, love, and war."

Music

Joe Hisaishi, who composed and conducted the score, in 2011

The score was composed and conducted by Joe Hisaishi, and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic. The soundtrack CD was first released on 19 November 2004 by Tokuma Japan Communications. Hisaishi also composed and conducted a Howl's Moving Castle: Symphony Suite, an album published on 21 January 2004 which includes ten re-arranged pieces from the original soundtrack. He and Youmi Kimura also composed Howl's Moving Castle CD Maxi-Single, a CD single published on 27 October 2004 which includes the film's theme song, sung by Chieko Baisho (the Japanese voice actor for Sophie), its karaoke version, and a piano version of the film's main theme, "The Merry-Go-Round of Life".

Sources

• Corliss, Richard (5 June 2005). "Movies: For Children of All Ages". TIME. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1069080-1,00.html. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
• Geoghegan, Kev (5 December 2011). "Howl's Moving Castle adapted for the stage in Southwark". BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-15859505.

• Kimmich, Matt (2007). "Animating the Fantastic: Hayao Miyazaki's Adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle". Fantasy Fiction into Film. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. 

• Puig, Claudia (9 June 2005). "'Howl's Moving Castle' enchants". USA Today. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2005-06-09-howls-moving-castle_x.htm.
• Scott, A. O. (July 2005). "Where the Wild Things Are: The Miyazaki Menagerie". The Asia-Pacific Journal 3 (7). http://apjjf.org/-A-O--Scott/1549/article.pdf.
• Smith, Lindsay (1 April 2011). "War, Wizards, and Words: Transformative Adaptation and Transformed Meanings in Howl's Moving Castle". The Projector Film and Media Journal 11 (1).

• Travers, Peter (9 June 2005). "Howl's Moving Castle". Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/howls-moving-castle-20050609.

See also

In Spanish: Howl no Ugoku Shiro para niños