Howl's Moving Castle
2005. Animated. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on the novel by Diana Wynee Jones. Voice cast of English dubbed version includes Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, Billy Crystal, Lauren Bacall, and Blythe Danner.
"What a dump. When I think castles, this is not what I picture."
When making a short list of the greatest animation films of all-time, I would have easily included Hayao Miyazaki's stunning 2002 film Spirited Away. Howl's Moving Castle may be its equal and would certainly belong on the same short list. It was already a year of amazing animation, with stop motion brilliance of Corpse Bride and Wallace and Grommit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but Miyazaki's latest film not only deserved the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature but should have been competing for Best Picture as well.
Howl's Moving Castle is a magical, gorgeous, and captivating film of great imagination and even greater skill. The animation itself is as good as anything that has ever been done. The background and corners are filled with beautiful details. The movement and shadows are extremely impressive.
The story follows a young woman with little self confidence and even less ambition who has a spell cast on her by the Witch of the Waste. The spell makes her an old woman but the irony is that being of old age helps her develop into a far stronger individual with greater hopes and expectations. She comes to live in a mysterious moving castle occupied by an equally mysterious young man who leaves for days at a time.
As with Spirited Away, there was great care taken for dubbing the film into English so that the words match the lip movements. You can also watch it in the original Japanese and use subtitles if you prefer. The voice cast is fairly strong, though Billy Crystal can sometimes pull you away from the fantasy as his voice is so distinct and so typical of what we expect from Crystal. A slight disappointment in an remarkable film.
My grade: A
I will update my 2005 top ten to include this in the top three.
"What a dump. When I think castles, this is not what I picture."
When making a short list of the greatest animation films of all-time, I would have easily included Hayao Miyazaki's stunning 2002 film Spirited Away. Howl's Moving Castle may be its equal and would certainly belong on the same short list. It was already a year of amazing animation, with stop motion brilliance of Corpse Bride and Wallace and Grommit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but Miyazaki's latest film not only deserved the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature but should have been competing for Best Picture as well.
Howl's Moving Castle is a magical, gorgeous, and captivating film of great imagination and even greater skill. The animation itself is as good as anything that has ever been done. The background and corners are filled with beautiful details. The movement and shadows are extremely impressive.
The story follows a young woman with little self confidence and even less ambition who has a spell cast on her by the Witch of the Waste. The spell makes her an old woman but the irony is that being of old age helps her develop into a far stronger individual with greater hopes and expectations. She comes to live in a mysterious moving castle occupied by an equally mysterious young man who leaves for days at a time.
As with Spirited Away, there was great care taken for dubbing the film into English so that the words match the lip movements. You can also watch it in the original Japanese and use subtitles if you prefer. The voice cast is fairly strong, though Billy Crystal can sometimes pull you away from the fantasy as his voice is so distinct and so typical of what we expect from Crystal. A slight disappointment in an remarkable film.
My grade: A
I will update my 2005 top ten to include this in the top three.
posted by Keith Allison at 11:49 PM
1 Comments:
Andy sent me this in an email. I thought it was terrific, so I thought I'd share:
I haven't seen this movie yet. The Washington Post review for Howl's
was funny it reads: "The movie made almost no sense whatever to me. I literally could not follow it, even as I was dazzled by it."
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