A shy, introverted girl is cursed with old age by a jealous witch, so she goes on a quest to regain her youth.
Trailer:
Tagline:
Howl's Moving Castle is the latest masterpiece from Oscar-winning director Hayao Miyazaki.
Sophie has resigned herself to a boring fate, but fate has other plans for her.
Quotes:
"You're crazy if you do this Grandma! There's nothing but witches and wizards out there!"
"You turnip head! That's Howl's castle! That is not what I meant when I asked for a place to stay."
"Sophie you . . you sabotaged me! Look! Look what you've done to my hair! Look!"
Plot:
Sophie (Chieko Baishō/Jean Simmons & Emily Mortimer) is doing her best to live the dull, ordinary life she believes a dull and ordinary girl should have.
When local girls discuss the return of Howl's moving castle Sophie has little fear that the magician Howl (Takuya Kimura/Christian Bale) will steal and eat her heart; after all, he only takes the hearts of pretty girls.
A chance encounter with the handsome Howl gets Sophie out of some trouble, but she's exposed to the infamous Witch of The Waste (Akihiro Miwa/Lauren Bacall), whose magical minions were on Howl's trail.
Believing Sophie to be more involved with Howl than she actually is, The Witch of The Waste transforms her into a very elderly lady.
Although Sophie's wardrobe and personality are perfectly suited to her newly-aged form, she nevertheless she sets out on a dangerous quest to find a cure.
As if the escalating war, fought with both conventional means and magic, wasn't bad enough Sophie must venture into the Wilderness in search of the Witch of The Waste.
Here she meets a living Scarecrow who leads her to Howl's Castle, where she encounters a fire demon called Calcifur (Tatsuya Gashūin/Billy Crystal) and Howl's young apprentice and master of bearded disguise Markl (Ryūnosuke Kamiki/Josh Hutcherson).
Sophie, Calcifur and Howl must survive the war, The Witch and Madame Suliman (Haruko Katō/Blythe Danner), an ambitious Royal court magician who is out to control magic.
I can see there's a temptation to say that whilst great this isn't as deep as Princess Mononoke or Spirited away, but it's still a ***** (5 star) film for me :)
Comments
sherylsace
Apr 26th 2011, 20:43
The whole family loves this movie, very clever beautiful story. Great review!!!
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therealeverton
Apr 27th 2011, 18:51
I can see there's a temptation to say that whilst great this isn't as deep as Princess Mononoke or Spirited away, but it's still a ***** (5 star) film for me :)
Alert a moderator