It's no Princess Mononoke, but Howl's Moving Castle is still a Studio Ghibli charmer

In 2006, Gary Allan released the single "A Feelin' Like That" from his album Greatest Hits. For a typical mid-2000s country musician like Jake Owen or Montgomery Gentry, the tune would've been a career high point. For Allan, though, it was a step down from his past singles. There was no planet where "A Feelin' Like That" was a bad or even mediocre ditty. However, compared to his earlier weightier melancholy tunes like "Best I Ever Had" or "Life Ain't Always Beautiful", it felt too lightweight. Even compared to other bouncier Allan tunes, "A Feelin' Like That" lacked the distinctively propulsive instrumental accompaniment of 2004's earworm "Nothing On but the Radio." Gary Allan's impressive discography had set a high standard one couldn't help compare "A Feelin' Like That" to.

In that respect, Howl's Moving Castle is to Hayao Miyazaki as "A Feelin' Like That" is to Gary Allan. Countless animated movie filmmakers like Pierre Coffin or Mark Andrews would kill to have a movie of Castle's caliber on their resume. For Miyazaki, this adaptation of the 1986 Diana Wynne Jones fantasy novel of the same name can't help but evoke memories of his superior works. Then again, Miyazaki has helmed some of the greatest movies of all time, like Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. That’s a high bar for any title to clear. Just because Howl’s Moving Castle isn’t My Neighbor Totoro doesn’t erase its immense virtues.

Howl's Moving Castle opens with a dazzling image of a craggy castle belonging to wizard Howl (Takuya Kimura) walking across the countryside while a farmer herds their livestock in the foreground. It's a vivid depiction immediately solidifying that this world where the fantastical is an everyday occurrence. Wizards, demons, curses, they're all just as much fixtures of the average mountain range as rams. Still, that doesn't make the young Sophie (Chieko Baishi) any less devastated when the Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa) transforms her into 90-year-old lady. Despite this setback, Sophie leaves her town and travels in search of a cure for this spell. 

This leads her to Howl's titular domicile. This place is home to oddball characters like Howl's apprentice Markl (Ryūnosuke Kamiki) and fire demon Calcfier (Tatsuya Gashūin). Sophie poses as a new cleaning lady for this wizard, hoping to find a way to escape her current condition. Further complications arise when she discovers just how vulnerable and scared Howl is of things in the outside world, chiefly that vengeful Witch of the Waste. Then there are all the problems stemming from an ongoing war that’s ravaging the countryside with bombs. In the middle of all this chaos, Sophie may be the unexpected savior the world, or at least Howl, needs.

Howl's Moving Castle's blending of 2D animation and CG firmly solidifies it as a mid-2000s hand-drawn animated affair. As Pixar began dominating more of the pop culture landscape, American 2D features from this era like Treasure Planet, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and Titan A.E. (among many others) often had hand-drawn characters inhabiting entirely digital worlds. Castle doesn’t quite go full-blown Sinbad. However, it does utilize CG more than other prior 2D Studio Ghibli titles like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. The titular castle heavily employs CG, while certain environments were clearly created on computers.

Classic hand-drawn character designs and these digital accentuations just don’t blend seamlessly together within Howl’s Moving Castle. Moments where distractingly obvious CG effects mar wondrous hand-painted backgrounds keep the movie's visual aesthetic from truly soaring. No wonder subsequent Miyazaki directorial effort Ponyo eschewed CG entirely. Eve with that caveat, Howl’s Moving Castle still delivers oodles of glorious imagery. Miyazaki's classically laidback storytelling sensibilities let the animators revel in the astonishing backdrop. Castle’s unhurried pace lets one appreciate the artistry in backgrounds like a shimmering lake or a stunning field of flowers.

It's also a welcome sight to see Miyazaki once again commit to a story where ordinary human beings don't spend an entire story trying to explain or deny the fantastical. Sophie quickly accepts her transformation into an old woman, for example. That doesn't just get the premise going right away. It also opens up the door for adorable lines like Sophie's observation "It's not easy being old". Justifying the preposterous is not the aim of a Miyazaki feature. Instead, these titles are all about exploring the wondrous decidedly unreal possibilities of animation.

Like previous works from this filmmaker, Howl’s Moving Castle is also deeply concerned with humanity’s relationship to nature. In this case, man’s ceaseless taste for bombs and bloodshed is shown to be such a great threat to the world that even initial magical adversaries like Howl and the Witch of the Waste become allies. Though this production adapts a 1986 novel, it’s impossible to watch bombs ravaging animated landscapes and not think of America’s invasion of Iraq. After all, Miyazaki famously refused to attend the Oscars ceremony where Spirited Away took home the Best Animated Feature award because of America's military actions again Iraq.

This sociopolitical context could explain Howl’s Moving Castle's decidedly non-bombastic depiction of bombs and aerial warfare. Grandiose flourishes like slow-motion that could make these horrific manmade entities look “cool” are eschewed. Instead, bombs tumble out of gigantic warships with little tactical precision in wide shots. Many of those bombs transform into demonic monsters devoid of tangible human characteristics. Then there's Howl's ability to bungle a warship with just the flick of his wrist. These machines symbolizing imperialistic bravado are no match for the magical world. America’s post-9/11 justification for endless violence and bombs is sharply rebuked in allegorical terms throughout Howl’s Moving Castle. If only this commentary on the horrors of such warfare still didn’t feel so relevant…

On a lighter note, Howl’s Moving Castle’s greatest pleasures are also some of its simplest qualities. I’ve never seen bacon in a cinema that looks as yummy as the slices Sophie cooks up in one of her first scenes in Howl’s Castle. Meanwhile, it’s constantly fun to see what new shapes the adorable Calcifer takes on throughout the feature. That little color-coded dial by Howl’s front door that lets people teleport to certain locations is also inspired. Howl’s Moving Castle hit American movie theaters in June 2005. This same year, computer-animated U.S. features were obsessively embracing “hip” and “modern” styles of humor. Even Walt Disney Animation Studios put out a feature that year with a “Chickens Gone Wild” joke!

The timeless joys of Howl’s Moving Castle are incredibly easy to appreciate in that context. In a time of cramming as many American Idol jokes as possible into one family movie, Miyazaki embraced classical storytelling and striking imagery to carry the day. Admittedly, this still resulted in a motion picture with an overly crowded supporting cast and a slightly disjointed animation style. However, Howl’s Moving Castle has plenty of pleasures even while being far from Miyazaki’s finest artistic hour. As the best portions of “A Feelin’ Like That” can attest, even an artist’s “lesser” works can be noteworthy in their own right.