Howl's Moving Castle

*Reviewed by dianas

About the Characters

Howl

He is a very powerful wizard who owns a moving castle. Howl's character is really weird. On the outside, he is aloof and cool, yet he takes long showers and dyes his hair.

Sophie

She works for her mom at a hat shop. A strong willed girl who is able to keep calm on the worst situations.

Calucifer

He is a powerful fire demon. I think he has a soft spot for Sophie as he seems to do what she asks. (Even though she sort of "blackmailed" him). He is actually the power source that allows Howl's castle to move so he is really a powerful demon.

Witch of the Waste

She is so gross! You just have to watch and see to understand why I said that.


Brief Storyline:

Sophie, a young lady, is transformed into an old woman after being cursed by a witch. She escapes to avoid her family and meet a young wizard Howl.

Howl lives in a castle that has legs and walks. Sofie ended up working for Howl as a housekeeper. There, Sofie befriends Calucifer, a fire demon who is bounded to Howl by a contract that cannot be revealed. Apparently, the house is able to walk because of Calucifer. Both Calucifer and Howl are able to look through the witch's spell to see the real young Sophie.

After a while, Howl and Sophie falls in love. The story continues to show how Sophie helps Howl confront his former teacher and the Witch of the Waste.

Thoughts:

The story is actually taken from a book by Diana Wynne Jones. It has been compared with Harry Potter as some of the best children books ever written.

The story is very weird, kind of similiar to Spirited Away. I have ended up opening my eyes wide at various weird creatures that appears in the movie and goes "what is that?"

There are also alot of scenes in the movie where you just burst out laughing. An example would be when Sophie tried cleaning up the house for Howl or when Sophie bullies Calucifer. There's also a scene where Sophie tried climbing up the stairs while carrying a weird dog with the witch struggling beside her, that really had me laughing hard.

The characters are amazingly interesting. You have Sophie, a girl with a really strong character. Then there is Howl, cool external but is actually a sensitive person who will cry because of a bad hairday! Also, you have a cute talking fire who is actually really a powerful demon. And not to forget the witch who after changing back to looking like her age, became like a melted piece of butter. In addition, there is a bouncing scarecrow.

It's funny how Sophie ended up as Howl's housekeeper, reminds me of a Korean drama series. ^_^
I think Sophie is really courageous, I would just cry and be at lost if someone were to suddenly turn me into an old woman. But Sophie did not even shed a tear, she was calm and cool, even packing food before she leave the hat shop.

I think this anime is like a mixture of Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast and Harry Potter. If you are an anime fan, you have to watch Howl's Moving Castle. I have to give five stars, I really enjoyed it.
source:www.spcnet.tv