You're Never Too Young to Be Old in Howl's Moving Castle

This fall, I’ve been enjoying the Disney releases of some of master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s movies. They’re very unusual, rich in artistry and imagination and full of surrealistic images. One of the weirder ones is Howl’s Moving Castle, originally released in 2004.

Sophie (Emily Mortimer) is a young woman who works at a haberdashery. One day, she runs afoul of the Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall), a woman of monstrous girth who puts a curse on her. Sophie soon realizes that she has instantly aged about 60 years. Instead of young and slim, she is elderly and stooped, and she can’t stay at home in this condition. So it is that Sophie, now looking like an old crone (Jean Simmons), makes for the countryside and eventually seeks refuge inside Howl’s Moving Castle.

Howl (Christian Bale) is a mysterious sorcerer who comes and goes at will. He’s mildly intimidating but mostly kind, and he is happy to welcome Sophie into his home as a housekeeper. His household also includes a cheeky but sweet boy named Markl (Josh Hutcherson) and a wise-cracking fire demon named Calcifer (Billy Crystal) who could be the key to restoring Sophie to her former self.

In her travels she also meets a scarecrow with an enormous smile pasted on his face. Although this cursed fellow who she dubs Turniphead is mute and can only get around by hopping, using the post on which he is stuck as a pogo stick, he proves a valuable ally after she earns his loyalty by saving him from a compromising situation. She also comes into contact with the Witch of the Waste again, and how these two continue to relate to one another is one of the oddest but most touching elements of the movie.

Much of the movie takes place inside Howl’s castle, which wanders over the countryside on mechanical legs and features a magical device that allows its door to open upon one of several terrains, depending on which way the dial is pointed. One of the landscapes added into the mix is a glorious meadow, and there are a couple of idyllic moments in which Sophie sits placidly by a lake, so relaxed that the years seem to drop off her.

In these scenes, we see Miyazaki’s love of nature, but overall, that’s not a huge focus here. The movie does not feature as much cold industrialism as Castle in the Sky, but it does seem to encroach, and some scenes are pretty dark. Additionally, there’s at least one subplot that doesn’t quite seem to fit in. The movie is two hours long, and I wonder if he wasn’t cramming a bit too much into it.

On the whole, however, this is an enjoyable movie populated with fantastical characters and celebrating the power of love. It’s also an interesting commentary on the perspective that old age grants; though Sophie is barely an adult at heart, the wisdom she develops as a result of her curse is most beneficial. Themes of redemption and sacrifice also run strong. Meanwhile, Crystal’s excellent voice work helps to keep the movie light-hearted, as most of Calcifer’s interjections are good for a laugh.

While I didn’t like it quite as much My Neighbor Totoro, I think I prefer to Castle in the Sky and would probably put it at about the same enjoyment level as Ponyo. It’s a strange and surreal movie; you’ll have to accept the magical qualities of this world going into it. If you can roll with the strangeness, however, you may just find Howl’s Moving Castle a moving film experience.