Howl's Moving Castle

When: 2004, Bale's 27th film

Genre: Animation, Fantasy

Mike says as a Geek through and through, anime definitely has a place in my heart.  That place may not be as big as in other people with a similar range of interests, but it's there. So it was with a lot of excitement that I sat down to watch Howl for the first time.  I've always intended to see it; however, I just never had the opportunity.  After watching the film, I can offer only one real solid piece of advice:  Don't ever, Ever, EVER watch an anime through the first time with a four-year-old kid.  Seriously.

I didn't know it was possible for the human mouth and brain, no matter the age, to produce that many questions within a 5-second time frame.  Stretch that through a admittedly very weird 2-hour movie (with a kid raised on Pixar and Dreamworks), and it has to be a really good film for both Father and Son to make it through.

Luckily, Howl's Moving Castle is a pretty good movie.

IS it weird?  Hell, yes.  Is the plot easy to follow?  Uh, not really, no.  Add in some particularly odd imagery, character interactions that feel a little out of continuity, and subdued voice acting, and you have something that feels like it was made by an entirely different culture . . . which, luckily, is the entire point of watching anime.

The film's visuals are absolutely stunning.  My only real complaint at first was the inconstancy of how Sophie is presented . . . her height varies, as does the severity of her hunch, as well as her nose size.  This bugged me-- that is, until I realized what was happening.  One of the nice things about Japanese films is how much credit they give the audience: No, we're not going to explain this.  YOU figure it out.  My son noticed Sophie's state of flux almost at once . . . and admittedly, answering three or four dozen questions about it through the course of the film definitely helped me pay attention and work out what was happening to her.

The entire movie works this way: each odd detail is a clue in understanding the extra bits of the story.  While some details are simplified, others are worked out exhaustively. Howl's castle, for example, is amazing in the way it shifts and bounces and grooves as it travels.  How often in animation have we been presented with  miraculous moving buildings that seem to float completely solid and intact from place to place?  Not Howl's Castle.  Every brick seems to balance miraculously and precariously on top of each other, each one rocks to and fro by the castle's legs.  It's instantly understandable: this thing should not, could not exist without magic. Something my son worked out after about ten minutes of rapid fire questions.

Despite it's apparent strangeness to us Americans, the story is quite entertaining, especially in its refusal to follow stereotypes: The wicked witch becomes a friend, the heroine spends most of the film as an old lady, the handsome hero is a bi-polar demon, and the girl doesn't even consider pairing up with her destined "true love" (who has a whopping 5 lines in the film).

Perhaps the only thing I'm still not sold on, and this is an anime thing, NOT a particular complaint about this film, is the often subdued voice acting.  The English dubbing in anime often tries (though not always) to emulate the tone of the original versions . . . the problem is that to my American-English trained ears, the characters all sound calm and monotone in their native language.

To his credit, Bale do a great job capturing this . . . however it can sometimes be a bit disorienting, especially when Howl is grinning and speaking calmly about how scared and upset he is during a suspenseful scene.

Bale's entire performance of Howl is very subdued, though he is able to capture the character's humor (as out of place as it might seam in such serious surroundings).  The biggest surprise in his performance, however, was when Batman's voice began coming from Howl's feathered monster form.  "Ah ha!" I thought. "So that's where he learned to talk like that!"

Overall, Howl's Moving Castle is a beautiful and odd film.  My son seemed to enjoy it too, despite having no real understanding of what transpired.  While I definitely recommend the movie, you might want to watch it without the "preschooler commentary track" activated.

Kate says simply put, this is a gorgeous film. It is one of those films that is so visually stunning, it almost doesn't need a story.

But it has one--a charming romance. I'm using the term here in the medieval sense: a story that involves love, fantasy, and war. Plus well-wrought, captivating characters. The capricious, tortured yet charming and insouciant Howl alongside the shy, witty, industrious and intrinsically tough Sophie are not only unusual and well-rounded personalities, they pull the viewer into the story. They are also such perfect manga characters, I doubt anyone BUT Miyazaki could have brought Diane Wynne Jones's book to the screen.

The English dub is exceptional (thanks to Pixar's involvement). I confess, I didn't recognize Bale as the voice of Howl when I first saw the movie. I saw it about the same time as Batman Begins, though it was made before, and I assumed (mistakenly!) that Bale was too big to be involved in what, at that time, amounted to an art film.

If this list has taught me anything it is to beware those kinds of assumptions.

Bale does a good job, naturally, but I have to admit my favorite voice casting is the endearing Jean Simmons. In fact, this is one of the few films where the switch from young to old doesn't cause a disconcerting disconnect. The shifts between voice (Mortimer to Simmons) and appearance are natural and flawless: thematically correct.

Billy Crystal fits right in, by the way.

Back to Bale--this role suits the tone of Bale's work overall. And there's a lot to be said for a voice that can make you see deadpan ("That can't be good for the table."). By the way, Howl is, as Mike describes him, a bi-polar demon--a disturbed, intellectually stressed, high-maintenance action hero; there seems to be definite trend in Bale's choice of roles in the last decade!

Last but not least, the film's animation is nothing to yawn at--it isn't just the heartrendingly beautiful scenery or the character's expressions. Although not as manically particular as Disney's animation, Miyazaki does show a loving (and humorous) interest in details: the toilet seat being up in Howl's bathroom, Calcifer eating the log, the dropped towel. The dog.

A not-sticky sweet tone runs through the film, pulling it all together. The scene at the lake stands out as encapsulating so much of Miyazaki's vision, specifically what Sophie wants for Howl. It is a surprisingly simple story with surprisingly complicated ramifications, but the story never seems overwhelmed by the "politics". By keeping his eye on Sophie, Miyazaki delivers a powerful piece of animation that illustrates that good animation can be dramatic, funny, clever, sweeping, localized, and romantic all at the same time.

Change of tone coming next: Prestige!