An animate scarecrow she calls "Turnip Head" leads her to Howl's eponymous castle, where she makes a deal with fire demon/Ifrit Calcifer to break each other's curses under the guise of becoming Howl's cleaning lady. Though rather accepting of her new age, which Sophie finds to fit her personality better, she still sets out to find Howl and break the spell. After an encounter with the wizard Howl, she attracts the attention of the petty Witch of the Waste, who lays a curse on Sophie, abruptly making her physically 90 years old. The story starts roughly the same way as the book During a fantasy equivalent version of World War I, a young girl by the name of Sophie works as a hatter and deals with massive insecurity problems. Now, instead of a Medieval European Fantasy, the land of Ingary is a Steampunk/ Gaslamp Fantasy world filled with both technology and magic. It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and made at Studio Ghibli, which accounts for the many lovely visuals in the movie. (There is a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle Castle in the Air.Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城 Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) is a 2004 Animated Adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' novel Howl's Moving Castle. If you are a Miyazaki fan, hie thee to a library or bookstore try Ms Jones' books. Now is a great time, as many of his films are available on home DVD. Then, if you are a Diana Wynne Jones fan, check out the rest of Miyazaki's films. (I did miss the 7-league boots) My advice: go see the movie. Fairfax are also missing, but elements of each are woven into other characters in the movie Michael (Markl) is a different age The battles magical and military are quite different (but equally spectacular) The dog appears at a different time, with a different, yet just as mysterious, agenda The scarecrow's relationship with Sophie is different Thelevel of technology is different. I've tried to phrase them carefully to avoid spoilers for either fans of Ms Jones's work who have yet to see the movie, and those who have seen the movie and have yet to read the book: Why the witch bespells Sophie Where the door opens when the dial points to black Sophie's sister Martha, and the plot line involving sister Lettie are not in the movie Mrs. For those who wonder, here are the differences between the movie and the novel. Much like the 2004 version of Peter Pan much was changed, but the soul is the same.
#HOWLS MOVING CASTLE MOVIE SHOWING FULL#
Think of it as the Series 12C version (for those who have read Ms Jones' Chrestomanci books.) The main elements are there, some re-arranged, some changed, yet with a full understanding of the original. The soul of the story is intact, Sophie and Howl and Calcifer are nearly as I imagined them. I began to pace the floor in anticipation of the movie.
His movies share a lot with her novels a whimsical sense of humor, impossible to pigeonhole into a category, magic and mischief, and a firm respect for the audience's intelligence. Then I saw Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, The Cat Returns, and Kiki's Delivery Service. I really wondered how it would all come out translated into Japanese. This story (as all of her stories) revels in word play. Ms Jones refuses to allow her imagination be neatly pigeonholed as hard sci-fi or straight fantasy, juvenile or adult. The book (one of my very favorites, which I re-read at least once a year) takes several fairy-tale conventions and merrily turns them upside down. When I read some four years ago that Diana Wynne Jones had sold the rights for Howl's Moving Castle to a Japanese animator, I wondered.