Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004)

When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking home.

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writers:

Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay), Diana Wynne Jones (novel)

Stars:

Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin

Top 250 #149 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 16 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chieko Baishô	...	Sofî (voice)
Takuya Kimura	...	Hauru (voice)
Akihiro Miwa	...	Arechi no Majo (voice)
Tatsuya Gashûin	...	Karushifâ (voice)
Ryûnosuke Kamiki	...	Marukuru (voice)
Mitsunori Isaki	...	Koshô (voice)
Yô Ôizumi	...	Kakashi no Kabu (voice)
Akio Ôtsuka	...	Kokuô (voice)
Daijirô Harada	...	Hin (voice)
Haruko Kato	...	Sariman (voice)
Jean Simmons	...	Grandma Sophie (voice)
Christian Bale	...	Howl (voice)
Lauren Bacall	...	Witch of the Waste (voice)
Blythe Danner	...	Madame Suliman (voice)
Emily Mortimer	...	Young Sophie (voice)

Storyline

A love story between an 18-year-old girl named Sofî, cursed by a witch into an old woman's body, and a magician named Hauru. Under the curse, Sofî sets out to seek her fortune, which takes her to Hauru's strange moving castle. In the castle, Sophie meets Hauru's fire demon, named Karishifâ. Seeing that she is under a curse, the demon makes a deal with Sophie--if she breaks the contract he is under with Hauru, then Karushifâ will lift the curse that Sophie is under, and she will return to her 18-year-old shape.

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Plot Keywords:

castle | witch | demon | spell | fire | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [United States]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

17 June 2005 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Howl's Moving Castle

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$29,133 (Chile) (19 May 2006)

Gross:

$82,187 (Chile) (2 June 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, DENTSU Music And Entertainment, Mitsubishi

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX DTS-ES SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the film was not released in the United Kingdom until 23 September 2005, director Hayao Miyazaki personally traveled to England in the summer of 2004 to give a private showing of the film to Diana Wynne Jones.

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Goofs

When Sophie leaves her bedroom, her dress has turned from green to blue. However, she couldn't have changed dresses because none of them would fit her after she was transformed (wider, much shorter, etc.).

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Quotes

[Howl comes running out of the bathroom, screaming. His hair is now orange]
Howl: Sophie! You, you sabotaged me! Look! Look at what you've done to my hair! Look!
Old Sophie: What a pretty color.
Howl: It's hideous! You completely ruined my magic potions in the bathroom!
Old Sophie: I just organized things, Howl. Nothing's ruined.
Howl: Wrong! Wrong! I specifically ordered you not to get carried away!
[tragically]
Howl: Now I'm repulsive.
[slumps into a chair]
Howl: I can't live like this.
[...]

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

Sekai no Yakusoku
Written by Youmi Kimura
Performed by Chieko Baisho

User Reviews

I really enjoyed this film!

It's hard to make any movie that follow after 'Spirited Away' So, when you watch, you have to try and keep an open mind....which is hard to do since the characters, and the whole feel of the film seems so much like his previous works.

But what fun this film is! And interestingly beautiful. I could watch most any of his movies, just to look at the beautiful scenery. I love some of the incredible imagination that goes into his works.

I could easily recommend this film. No, it's not the better than the rest, but I feel it's definitely worth your time.

I look forward to seeing the film again, maybe I will understand some things a bit better.