Howl’s Moving Castle
Released in theaters on June 17, 2005
Stream on HBO Max
Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
Rated PG
After unknowingly catching the eye of a wizard named Howl, a young woman named Sophie has a run in with the evil Witch of the Waste. The witch casts a curse on Sophie that prematurely ages her. Now as an elderly woman Sophie’s uneventful life is turned upside down. Hoping to confront the witch, and have her curse of old age removed Sophie travels to the waste to track the witch down. During her journey she comes across Howl’s moving castle and meets the colorful cast that lives with him. She quickly gets caught up in the war that is brewing and the and Howl’s resistance against the king.
Themes:
Magic, work ethic, moving castles, airships, love, family, spells and curses, cute fire demons, getting old, war, turnips, vanity, tantrums, fear, jealousy, running from problems, kings, greed, selfishness, running from responsibility, oaths, betrayal, lost love, finding your soulmate, helping those who no one else will, wizards, and witches.
Language:
Name calling such at tacky, fatter than ever, stupid, grandma, and hag. The term, “god forsaken” is used once.
Stuff to be aware of:
Scary - there are ink like monsters that work for the witch. Sometimes they dress as humans, and change forms to fly and have sharp teeth. There is talk of a guy, “eating girl’s hearts.” A wizard spurns into a bird like being. He looks like a bird except for his face. There are some flying lizard monster looking things. The Witch of the Waste can be intimidating and a bit gross (see the Gross Stuff section below). A wizard calls dark shadows that look like creatures that move around on the walls.
Sexuailty - Two guards uncomfortable flirt with a young girl. They call her cute and talk about taking her to tea. A man comes out of a shower in a bath towel. The top of his butt crack is briefly seen. Later his towel slips off and his butt is seen briefly.
Gross Stuff - Similar to movies like The Boy and the Heron and Spirited Away there are some visuals that are bit weird, gross, slightly disturbing. There is an obese woman with rolls of fat. She has to go up a bunch of stairs and sweats profusely. She kind of appears to melt and ends up morphing into a very old person. One character throws a tantrum and starts to appear to melt. He seems very sticky. One character smokes a cigar.
Overall:
Studio Ghibli movies seem to fit pretty nicely on a range or spectrum. There is My Neighbor Totoro on the “any kid can watch side” with movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away going toward the other end. This end of the line, while not overly scary, violent, or disturbing, they can be a bit much for children. Howl’s Moving Castle sits kind of in the middle, but might be a bit closer to the Tototo side. I showed this one to my girls at ages 11 and 9. They didn’t have any issues, even though there is some odd/weird imagery and a few slightly scary bits. There are a few intense “thrill” moments that keep you on the edge of your seats. My girls enjoyed it.
There are a few Studio G movies that are closer to my heart than this one, but I do really like it. I have not read the book this movie is based on, but I would like to after watching this one a few times. As always Studio Ghibli does an amazing job creating a world different than any before. A world that is beautifully animated and will suck in all your senses. Take some time and watch this one.