Howl's Heart

Last night I introduced Howl's Moving Castle to my roomie (yeah, she hasn't seen a lot of movies). This is one of my favorite Miyazaki movies of all time -  tied with Spirited Away. I do also love Princess Mononoke, and Castle in the Sky. The movie is based off of a book by Diana Wynne Jones (I read it and I really like it a lot) and while the stories have more differences than similarities, I enjoy them both - They are both beautiful stories!

Not only is the art and animation stunning, but the heart and soul of this film is splendid! This film is just awesome on so many levels and the english dubbed version is amazing (no thanks to Christian Bale)!

I will give you a quick summary of the film:

A selfless, hard-working Sophie meets a mysterious wizard one day who turns out to be Howl, a rumored evil wizard who eats the hearts of beautiful women and in turn she is cursed by the Witch of the Waste into a 90 year old woman. She finds herself as the cleaning lady in Howl's moving castle and slowly begins to fall for him. During this time, there is a war going on and Howl finds ways to keep his freedom from the King by running away from his responsibilities and all the while Sophie is trying to find a way to cure her of the spell that the Witch of the Waste cast on her. 

I won't say too much more because 1) I do not want to spoil too much or 2) you all have seen this film and don't want to read something that you already know. ;) 

Something that I noticed and discussed with my roommate was that at some point in the film, Sophie kept changing from old to young and old to young. And Audrey, my roommate suggested:"because it was her heart for Howl." Before, Sophie was insecure and she didn't feel worthwhile or beautiful but with Howl, she felt wanted and beautiful. And you know what? She was right. I began to watch the bonus feature when Hayao Miyazaki visited Pixar Studios and when John Lasseter was talking about the reason as to why Sophie's age changes he said it was because of her newfound passions and love for Howl! Also, when Miyazaki explained it he said something along the lines of "love makes a man's heart feel young again" and he was saying this in context to how he feels towards his wife. (awww!) 

This movie isn't just about the beautiful story or animation but also the heart. The heart is not just a major symbol but it was an actual physical thing that was missing from certain characters - not just Howl. At the end of the movie, the Witch of the Waste said that "hearts change"and looking back at the story I realize that almost everyone's heart did change! Sophie's heart changed to one of passion and strength while Howl's heart changed from that of a coward and selfish gain to that of selflessness and bravery. The list goes on but I think you know what I am getting at here. I guess what you could say is that the heart of this film was quite literally in a sense the heart. This film emphasized the heart and its value and significance in people's lives - a good heart can go a long ways and these characters learn that and share that knowledge with the audience. 

Overall, this movie is beautiful and stunning and is most definitely one of my favorite animated movies of all time! If you have not seen this beautiful film then you have missed out because it has so much meaning and heart from Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli! So if you have not seen this film then I suggest you watch it ASAP.