Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1633 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-01-01
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Like a dream, Howl's Moving Castle carries audiences to vistas beyond their imaginations where they experience excitement, adventure, terror, humor, and romance. With domestic box office receipts of over $210 million, Howl passed Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke to become the #3 film in Japanese history, behind his Spirited Away and James Cameron's Titanic.

Based on a juvenile novel by Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle marks the first time Miyazaki has adapted another writer's work since Kiki's Delivery Service (1989). Sophie, a 19-year-old girl who believes she is plain, has resigned herself to a drab life in her family's hat shop--until the Witch of the Waste transforms her into a 90-year-old woman. In her aged guise, Sophie searches for a way to break the Witch's spell and finds unexpected adventures. Like Chihiro, the heroine of Spirited Away, Sophie discovers her hidden potential in a magical environment--the castle of the title.

Using CG, Miyazaki creates a ramshackle structure that looks like it might disintegrate at any moment. Sophie's honesty and determination win her some valuable new friends: Markl, Howl's young apprentice; a jaunty scarecrow; Calcifer, a temperamental fire demon; and Heen, a hilarious, wheezing dog. She wins the heart of the dashing, irresponsible wizard Howl, and brings an end an unnecessary and destructive war. The film overflows with eclipsing visuals that range from frightening aerial battles to serene landscapes, and few recent features--animated or live action--offer as much magic as Howl's Moving Castle.--Charles Solomon

Synopsis
Acclaimed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki adapts British writer Diana Wynne Jones's popular fantasy tale for this animated feature, adding his own unique and celebrated dreamlike spin. The dreaded Witch of the Waste turns Sophie, a young hat-maker, into an old woman when she attracts the notice of Howl, a young wizard whom the witch desires for herself. As the old woman, Sophie finds refuge as a cleaning lady in Howl's magical castle, an impressively realised mishmash of anthropomorphic shafts and gears, where she meets, among other wonders, a cantankerous fire demon named Calcifer. Howl's courage inspires her to seek a cure for her curse, and vice versa, and the two work together to prevent a major war as the castle roams the countryside on its mechanical legs. There's lots of magic afoot as well, including travel through barriers of space and time, and shape-shifting, requiring full viewer attention to keep track of who, where, and when, but this how dreams really are and the film engages on that same subconscious level. As with Miyazaki's previous work ('Spirited Away', 'Kiki's Delivery Service'), the emphasis here is on creating a beautiful alternate reality, where anything can happen and every frame is a breathtaking work of art.

DAILY TELEGRAPH
"The most enchanting film of the year"

Customer Reviews

Somewhat convoluted but beautiful
The action of Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated fantasy takes place in an undetermined place and age, though it looks like the late 19th century (allowing for a number of anachronistic details) in a Central European kingdom (the Austro Hungarian empire of the time seems the country where the action takes place, and the book happens in a place called Ingary, though the kingdom in the movie has a large port by the sea, which the Austro Hungarian empire didn't). The story starts with a young woman called Sophie working in a hat factory who is suddenly turned into a 90 year woman through a curse by some witch. She then tries to meet the wizard Howl, to see if he can help her. As it later turns out, Howl faces some curses of its own. The story soon becomes very convoluted, almost impossible to follow it wholly in just one sighting. After a while, you give up on understanding everything that is going on, and concentrate on enjoying its vivid details (Howl's literal melting of sadness is probably my favorite scene). What I found most engaging about the movie, rather than certain aspects of the plot, is its background details, which betrays Miyazaki's love for Victorian fantasy. I haven't read the original book, I know some people who had has taken issue with Miyazaki's liberties with the plot, but as it is, this is a very enjoyable movie to watch, even if the ending is a bit preachy in its endorsement of pacifism and environmentalism.

Origanal & unpredictable
One of his best works, 'Howl's moving castle' is a the closest movie to awaken a lot of dream dajafu, especially the front cover scene with the wizard flying in the sky while spirit stars flash round him!
Seeing this, waw, I remember dreams exactly like it.
Another Natural amazement, Nothing Like Disney films which are sometimes childish & predictable

Enchanting
Howl's Moving Castle is one of those rare gems which seem to have everything and suit everyone. There is a beautiful romance, magic, action, humour, vivid and detailed artwork...

It is a film which can be viewed on many levels - the storyline could be understood without difficulty by a child, yet someone older will find a huge amount to question and, through coming to conclusions themselves, the film's overall message is not dictated to the viewer, making it mean something slightly different to everyone. The strong anti-war message which runs throughout the film is made all the more powerful by the fact there seems to be no clear aim to the fighting- a theme which links to the reality of some of today's warfare.

However, this film is not, as the above paragraph may make it appear, highbrow or depressing. It is heart warming and uplifting, a wonderful fairy tale of the power of love, inner beauty and self esteem in a magical land, with a castle which can be in four places at once, a young girl transformed into an old woman by an evil witch, an extremely handsome but very vain wizard and many more bizarre and imaginative, yet beneath the outer layer, very human characters. The voices in English are brilliant, yet the Japanese subtitles are equally enjoyable, being different to the dubbed English. Howl is slightly old-fashioned in his speech which goes perfectly with his flamboyant attire and his romantic disposition and (for those of us who don't speak Japanese) not being able to understand the characters' speech adds to the magic of the story being set in another world.

No, the film is not loyal to the book- Miyazaki seems to have taken inspiration from the novel, not copied it, which adds the extra bonus of being able to read the book and enjoy it as an (almost) totally new story.

Really, there is very little to fault about this film, so buy and enjoy it; many times over!