Howl’s Moving Castle
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
After getting HBO Max solely to see the Studio Ghibli films (unseen to me before now!) and weeks of going back and forth where to start I jumped right in with Howl’s Moving Castle and honestly think I made an excellent choice!
Now I can worry I started at the top!
Howl’s is lovely film about a young hat maker called Sophie who is cursed by a witch to become an old woman and takes refuge in the cool moving castle of the mysterious wizard Howl.
Which I got to say after she cleaned it up was a darned nice place to live.
It’s even got a magic sentient fire and a rather adorable random kiddo.
While overall I liked the characters especially the fire and the kid. Howl was a bit more iffy probably because at one point he has a breakdown because he accidentally dyed his hair orange and was “no longer beautiful.”
Me: Good Lord drama Queen!
It did take a bit to get into the film but as the story unfolds and the layers get peeled back we get this wonderful fairy tale, war drama, found family, coming of age tale that was absolutely lovely.
A film that’s both beautiful to look at and listen to as I enjoyed the score very much as well.
Though I freely admit it took me until the end to appreciate the relationship between Howl and Sophie but it was worth the ride 🙂
I’m very happy I finally watched it and can’t wait until I get into the rest of the films. Hopefully it won’t take me months to decide this time! I am completely open to suggestions on which one to watch next.
Recommend: Yes.