Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle, or Hauru no Ugoku Shiro in Japanese, is based on a book written by Diana Wynne Jones about a young girl, dissatisfied with her looks and life, is cursed by a witch after accidently bumping into a rival wizard named Howl. And yes, he does have a castle that moves. Sophie, the aforementioned girl, manages to find Howl's Moving Castle (that's catchy) and his stange assortment of assistants the apprentice Markl and the fire demon Calcifer. Unforunately for her, said wizard turns out to be a spoiled brat, and both governments want him to be on their side over a war he doesn't approve off. What's a girl to do?

Disney seems to have done a good job with distributing this Miyazaki film to the States. There are no obvious cuts, that I could tell at least, but it is a Miyazaki film which usually contains a low amount of blood and gore except for Mononoke. I've not seen the Japanese version, but I'd guess that Disney's again guilty of over-dialoguing (adding dialogue to increase exposition because Americans are stupid. Disney's words, not mine.) The only problem I have with the English version is the innane dialogue. In Japanese, this one character would probably have said "Look" or "Up there," but the English version says "There's were the bomb came from."

Surprisingly, Disney went into overkill in hiring English voiceovers, including current Batman Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall (yes, that Lauren Bacall), and Billy Crystal. Crystal was very fitting for the voice of Calcifer, much like the late Phil Hartman was for Kiki's talking cat. But I couldn't help but feel that existing voice actors could have done as good or even better in some of the roles, such as Steven Blum as Howl. Meanwhile, talented voice actors like Crispin Freeman and Will Friedle are stuck with bit parts. And what, no Patrick Stewart?

Anyways, the movie is good, though the writing's a little weaker than some of the other films. Miyazaki's talent has not wain and shows off his usual flair for detail. I always like his strange blend of reality and fiction, but I can't help but wonder if he can't do something different. I mean, all of the characters look like they're from a Miyazaki film. It seems in ways too similar to all the Miyazaki films that have come before and perhaps Miyazaki is becoming a bit set in his ways. Perhaps he should consider doing his new movie as something totally different than everything he's done before. B