19. Howl's Moving Castle
19-year-old Sophie has resigned herself to a drab life in her family's hat shop ... until she is cursed by an evil witch to have an 90-year-old body. She leaves home and goes searching for a way to break the spell. In the countryside she comes upon Howl's strange moving castle which walks about on large chicken legs.
Howl is the young wizard who owns the castle and Sophie soon becomes part of the household as the housekeeper. As she gets to know the members of the little household, we also see that their land is under attack from flying ships dropping bombs. Not only must Sophie find a way to break the curse upon her, but she soon wants to help the others that she has met along the way.
Naturally, Sophie eventually discovers her hidden potential in the magical castle through her honesty, determination, and bravery. This is a complicated story and my summary is extremely simple. It is a pure delight but be prepared to pay attention.
I thought this movie was a hoot.
ReplyDeleteThe movie was okay, but it didn't hold a candle to the marvelous book by Diana Wynne Jones, which it was based on. :-) I enjoyed it for what it was, but the book was a thousand times more multi-layered, and Howl's character was so different.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I like the movie but I like the book (which I read after seeing the movie) much better.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if they are on your list, but I like Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, and Ponyo all more than I like Howl's Moving Castle. Spirited Away is particularly brilliant.
I've heard good things about the book but have not liked Wynne Jones' books before when I tried them. Is this one significantly different than her others? Meaning... better?
ReplyDeletePonyo ... no conflict. Even My Neighbor Totoro had conflict. Spirited Away was brilliant. Though I usually think that it is a movie people have heard of. Have they?
My 9 and 11 yo daughters both love both movies, but think Spirited Away was better than Howl's Moving Castle. It's interesting watching them take these movies in and how they'll bring up some point from the movie weeks later.
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