Having watched The Boy And The Heron last week, and having started last year with Spirited Away, starting with a Miyazaki film for 2024 seemed like a nice way to start. I do attach some kind of meaning to the idea of the first or last film of the year, and to an extent the 200th film (my annual target). It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I watched something naff or even just unintentional as my 200th film of the year, but I’d be a bit annoyed. I had faith that Howl’s Moving Castle would satisfy.
It’s - and this was unintentional - now the 20th anniversary of Howl’s Moving Castle, which does feel like it adds to the charm of the choice somewhat.
Miyazaki’s said that he was channeling his anger and frustration with the Iraq war in Howl’s Moving Castle, which is a fair enough statement, although I’m not sure how much that really comes through. It’s certainly a contrast to his most recent two films, The Wind Rises (a very explicit non-fantasy set in a war) and The Boy And The Heron (fantasy, but with a more explicit non-fantasy backdrop/context, now the aftermath of war). I wonder what shifts there might have been to make him in future work (not linearly, of course, with at least Ponyo in the middle there) wish to make it more textual.
Arguably I’d say it’s more about the idea of transformation, how love changes both who we are and the way we are seen. It’s a little “classic fairytale”, princess and the frog, etc.
The animation is beautiful, perhaps more primary coloured and saturated than the deeper, redder hues (to my memory) of Spirited Away. It retains the sense of joyful fun to it, which is still sadly missing in a lot of modern animation.