Howl's Moving Castle

            In June 2008, freakfire-1 watched Howls Moving Castle. Freakfire begins their review by saying “This is the worst movie I have seen this year”. Freakfire must have spent the first half of the year watching some pretty great movies, because I personally enjoyed the movie. Freakfire then boldly states that he does not see any upcoming movie for the rest of the year that will “challenge this heap of garbage”. I’ll admit Howls Moving Castle is not the best movie I have seen this year, but calling it garbage is very extreme. The reviewer’s first complaint is the overall premise of the movie.  Complaining that some of the first things you see is a castle and a girl who eventually gets a spell cast on her and this is “not a good sign”. Its understandable that a damsel in distress is stereotypical, but as we learn, Sophie ends up embracing her old age as best she can, often using it to her advantage, and ends up helping Howl and crew instead of being the victim. One valid point freakfire points out is that some of the scenes are boring, although I would not go as far as to fast forward through them like the reviewer did. I found myself able to take in depth notes during the “boring” scenes and returning my attention to the movie not missing anything.

            Freakfire goes on to evaluate some of the characters, his favorite being Calcifer. It’s easy to see how Calcifer would be a fan favorite, and having Billy Crystal voice him adds to his charm. Perhaps, the sole reason I chose this critique was because his least favorite character was Turnip head. How could anyone not love Turnip Head? His loyalty and willingness to help Sophie won me over. No, he never said a word while in scarecrow form, but I found myself smiling ever time he popped back on the screen. Yes, once again its stereotypical that he turned into a prince once kissed by his love, but wasn’t the whole point of the ending, to mock the European happy ending? Freakfire ends his review by stating “The boy, Howl, and everybody else should never again grace screens with their presence. It just isn't worth the headache”. This really just leads me to believe he stumbled upon this movie expecting a cartoonish Tim Burton type film and not really understanding this is supposed to be Japanese genre heavily influenced by the European culture. The political references and the ways Miyazaki pokes fun at the cultures obviously escapes this reviewer. That is probably why he did not enjoy the film as much as me.