Howl’s Moving Castle
dir. Miyazaki
Opens Fri June 10
Fox Tower
One of the few hard things about reviewing movies is what happens when nearly perfect films come along. It’s a lot easier to tear something down than to praise it; listing 50 reasons to avoid National Treasure requires a lot less effort than motivating people to go to a film they might’ve never heard of. Likewise, while criticism often has the elite air of snarky condescension, praise usually has the ingratiating tone of proselytization and hyperbole.
That’s the problem I’m having with the latest from Japanese anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, Howl’s Moving Castle. To proselytize: Go see it. To use what sounds like hyperbole, but isn’t: It’s amazing.
Howl’s Moving Castle begins with a charming and lonely teenage girl, Sophie, who’s cursed by the ridiculously fat and vicious Witch of the Waste–without warning, Sophie transforms into a hunched, wrinkled old woman. Confused and frightened, the suddenly geriatric Sophie hobbles out to the rocky countryside, hoping to find a powerful young wizard, Howl, who might be able to cure her.
And find him she does–in a hodgepodge house that walks on four mechanical legs, groaning and heaving as it lurches through the mists. But Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer and Jean Simmons) discovers that her adventure is just beginning, as she and the enigmatic Howl (a wry Christian Bale) are quickly caught up in a conflict between warring nations, painful obligations to the past, and a difficult, tenuous love. Throughout, Miyazaki deals with some of his favorite themes–war, innocence, isolation, and magic–tying it all together with rich and fluid hand-drawn animation.
But as gorgeous as Howl’s Moving Castle is, it’d be hollow without its story; Miyazaki adapted the screenplay from Diana Wynne Jones’ novel, and the film feels like merely a glimpse into an infinitely deep and dense fantasy world. Sophie and Howl are both fascinating, lovable, and flawed characters in their own right, but the film feels whole and real because of the great supporting characters (including one voiced by Billy Crystal, who’s funny for the first time since his last animated film, Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.). Miyazaki’s best films–Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and now Howl’s Moving Castle–are perhaps so captivating, poignant, and enjoyable because of the filmmaker’s nearly perfect combinations of stunning visuals, warm characters, and universal themes.
In conclusion: Howl’s Moving Castle is amazing, go see it already, and my apologies for the hyperbolic proselytizing. That said, after you see it, you’ll probably start preaching about the damn thing too.
