The facts:

Title: Howl’s Moving Castle

Producers: Studio Ghibli

Director and writer: Hayao Miyazaki

First released: in Japan by Toho on the 22^nd of September 2005

Series: Howl’s Moving Castle (1 film)

Plot summary:

Sophie is a young girl that works in her father’s hat shop. One day she meets and befriends a wizard named Howl.  The evil witch of the waste doesn’t like their budding relationship, so she curses Sophie to make her age quickly. Howl must do everything he can to return Sophie back to her young self.

What I like most:

What I like most is Calcifer. Calcifer is a fallen star that was saved by Howl and I think he is one of the best characters in Howls moving castle with his sharp dialogue and humour. We know that Howl caught him as he descended to Earth, and to avoid the steely grip of death Calcifer made a deal with Howl and became a fire demon in the process. 

What I like least:

What I don’t like about this is the age difference. Sophie is the young age of 17, and she hasn’t even finished high school yet, whereas Howl is 27 years old. This 10-year age gap may not seem like a lot on paper but on the screen, Sophie looks like a teenage girl and Howl looks like David Bowie from the Labrinth.

Interesting fact:

Christian Bale aka Batman was the English voice actor for Howl.  This makes him the second Batman actor to have done a voice-over in a Studio Ghibli film, showing just how much notoriety Studio Ghibli has.

Recommended age:

I would recommend this to kids aged 10+. With some violence and gore, this film probably isn’t suited to young viewers but with it being in an animated context and it is very minimal this movie isn’t too violent or gory.

How to explain to your parents:

This is the story of how Sophie made friends with a wizard and then was turned old and then was helped by the wizard she befriended. 

Film/Tv crossover:

Sadly, there isn’t a Howl’s Moving Castle game, there is a novel called Howl’s Moving Castle that Hayao Miyazaki took inspiration from and there is also a book about the Ghibli version of Howl’s moving castle called The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle.

In Bibliography:

Miyazaki, H. 2022, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle, Crunchyroll [image] Available https://www.studioghibli.com.au/myneighbortotoro/, Accessed 9 October 2022.