Talk:Howl's Moving Castle (film)

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Contents 1 Japanese or English Cast 2 Release dates 3 Hallucinogenic visuals? 4 Any Criticism? 5 [ Baba Jaga house! ] 6 Wizard of Oz connection? 7 Puzzled about the story-line 8 Plot should be from the movie, not the book 9 Overly long plot summary 10 The best miyazaki film? 11 Plot 12 Differences between book and movie 13 Reappearing Characters

[edit] Japanese or English Cast

The cast listings for HMC in the info-box just got changed from the original to the English-language. Does this correspond to a wikipedia standard for en.wiki? It does not appear to be the case in the other Miyazaki films. If nobody says otherwise, I'll change it back to the original Japanese cast. Deborah-jl _Talk 15:31, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't we be listing both casts?--nihon 18:28, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I would think so. The Wikipedia:WikiProject Movies#Infobox page doesn't give more explicit detail about what ought to go there, besides "principal actors", which in this case, I would assume be voice actors for Howl and Sophie in Japanese (because that's the original) and English (because this is the English-language wikipedia). Deborah-jl _Talk 18:59, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Release dates

The complete set of release dates is a little unwieldy. I move we replace it with the Japanese release dates and the release dates in English-speaking countries, which covers original language and the needs of en.wikipedia.org. Alternately, I'd vote for Japan only, at least in the infobox. It's too much to read right now. Deborah-jl _Talk 20:03, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hallucinogenic visuals?

Where in the film are there hallucinogenic or psychadelic visuals? I think this is an incorrect comment.

Probably refers to scenes like when Sophie and Howl are attached by Madame Suliman with the water, when Sophie goes thru the gateway door into the past, etc. Emb021 15 March 2006

I see what it refers to, but I'm not sure I like the wording. Cmouse 19:45, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

I also didn't see any psychedelic scenes in the movie - see Dumbo's Pink Elephants on Parade for a real psychedelic sequence in popular animation. Perhaps the word the original author was looking for was 'phantasmagorical'? Ordinarily one could use 'surreal', but most of the movie fits that description. I'll make the substitution lest somebody get the idea that Miyazaki needs substances or fevers to invent his wonderous imagery. I don't mean to confuse anybody with uncommon words but 'hallucinatory' is at least potentially misleading, likely insulting, and probably wrong. Better words welcomed. BillMcGonigle 06:00, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Any Criticism?

I know this film has been heavily criticzed, more so than Miyazaki's other works. Could anyone mention it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.110.224.159 (talk • contribs) .

Actually, it hasn't been criticized more than his other works. It's about the same. Perhaps it's more noticeable now, though, asn more of the criticism is in English. (^_^) --日本穣 Nihonjoe 16:39, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] [ Baba Jaga house! ]

When I first saw Howls moving castle, my first impression was "Baba Yaga's chicken-leg house!" Maybe It should be mentioned in article too? Szopen 07:36, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

That would be fine. It sounds notable enough. Finite 15:02, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Spot on. The chicken feet on Howl's castle are certainly a dead give away to Baba Yaga. Also, the Baba Yaga witch is an old hag that ages if asked a question, and becomes younger if drinks a special tea. Howl's Moving Castle shares this character-aging aspect, somewhat.

I also noticed that Joe Hisaishi's score to this movie contains musical references to the "Hut of Baba Yaga" movement of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" piece. This is most noticable when the walking castle is onscreen. Where in the article to add these observations, I don't know.--Tomlouie 15:55, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wizard of Oz connection?

Am I the only one who has noticed the similarities in the film to The Wizard of Oz? I haven't ran across any mention of this in any reviews or other commentary. CFLeon 09:19, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

I assume you're referring to the scarecrows, missing hearts, and the Wicked Witches of the Waste/West? I get where you're going and it is strange that the similarites don't come up often in discussion. Finite 20:24, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Let's not forget: a fierce beast which lacks courage; Dorothy, er, Sophie, goes on a trip to ask the wizard, er, sorceress, for a favor; she receives a magic item which disappears at the end; she and her dog visit the wizard a second time and gets her wish granted and the Wizard and Dorothy, er, Sophie fly off together. There's even a Munchkin/dwarf in a BLUE cloak! Granted, some of these can be considered results of basic archtypes, but, hey, that scene of throwing water on the witch... CFLeon 08:30, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Nicely done - you might write up an analysis section. BillMcGonigle 05:29, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh thank goodness my family and I weren't the only ones to notice! Sailorknightwing (talk) 23:18, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Puzzled about the story-line

I am hoping someone can offer some insight into a question I have about the story-line: What was Howl doing in town that he ran into Sophie in the first place? What - beside trying create a ruse to put off those following him - would have compelled him to get involved/help Sophie?

I belive Howl was looking for Sophie in the village in the first place, having seen/heard her in his childhood, though she had yet to visit his childhood (typical time paradox). The girls in the hat shop at the film's opening spoke about how he was looking for young beauties. He did not recognize Sophie until the aging spell changed her hair to silver.

[edit] Plot should be from the movie, not the book

When I read the plot summary, I was suprised, because it was very different than the film. It turns out that many elements from the book were included. This is not right. Only the movie's plot should be covered here, perhaps with a later section explaining differences from the book, instead of the opposite, which is done here. Everyguy 20:54, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

i agree, this section is lifted directly from the plot section on the book. however as noted in the next section most of it doesn't even apply to the movie.

Exactly. The whole plot section needs a rewrite because the book has its own article.Rebochan 07:22, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree with rebochan. after watching the movie twice, and reading the summarry here, i still don't understand some parts of the movie. i don't know much about the book, but either way, the summarry is inadequate.

I don't normally do these so forgive any general errors, but I was also under the impression that Sophie never broke the spell. From all I've seen and heard it seems more that the spell kept her old when she felt old and she was young when she felt young. In this sense she never broke the curse. Even if this is not true, they never mention Sophie breaking the cure in the movie to my knowledge, so saying she did would be speculation in the movie summery. I think someone needs to clean it up of things like that and wierd opinion stuff like 'dashing'. It would trim the summery too. S.R.Osuna 00:03, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Overly long plot summary

It strikes me that the plot summary for this page is a lot longer than when I last looked at it. While it is certainly a more complete summary, I think it is now a bit too long. The current focus is more on the fictional subject matter than anything else. Unless anyone strongly objects, I'll look at pruning it slightly to make it more succinct. Dr Aaron 11:07, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

• Alright, I've gone through and trimmed the plot summary. It is still probably too long for many people, but it is actually quite a complicated plot. I tried to take out anything not essential as well as anything that cannot be taken from the movie as a primary source.
• I next reordered the article to make it more consistent with other film entries - i.e. story, then cast, then staff listing, awards, differences between film & book, trivia, references.
• I moved one of the existing pictures so as to give an even distribution of illustrations and text.

I think this overall makes the article a bit better. At least B class I hope. Dr Aaron 09:12, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

It's great! This is a VERY good plot summary. It really helped me understand the story better (watching the movie only once left me with quite a few questions that this cleared up nicely). One thing I don't get, though, is that the Witch of the Waste was able to recognize the purse as a trap right away, found the black worm thingy and chucked it into the fire, but then apparently smokes the cigar thinking it harmless? This article says the cigar made Calcifer sick, but he seemed to think it was the worm.

[edit] The best miyazaki film?

i have watched many of hayao miyazaki's films, but i always think that Howl's Moving Castle is the best. but people think that spirited away is even better, why? because that movie's kinda boring... to me at least. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.183.168.248 (talk) 17:20, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

I loved Spirited Away. I found it captivating then Howl's Moving Castle. But I also think Howl's Moving Castle is a wonderful itself. I found this also very captivating especially all the music and the magic. It was a wonderful movie. But Spirited Away was also very captivating. Its just a difference Spirited Away explores many of the Japanese folklore witches and wizard however are more American and so I think that is why people didn't like Howl's Moving Castle as much. But I love them are two different equal parts. You should have put this in the reference desk or something.

Always

Cardinal Raven71.143.3.182 (talk) 15:49, 26 March 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

[edit] Plot

Plot needs to be shortened. Its a plot not tell me the whole movie. That will just ruin the movie for anyone who wants to watch it and hasn't watched it. What I am keeping of the plot is an actual plot. I removing most of it and keeping this part only:

"The film starts off with the protagonist of Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie, a timid and unsure 18-year-old girl who works in her late father's hat shop in the town of Market Chipping. While walking to meet her pretty younger sister, Lettie, at the bakery one day, Sophie has a chance encounter with the handsome but mysterious wizard Howl, who rescues her from some menacing soldiers. Howl charms her with his looks and dashing feats of magic, briefly sparking happiness in Sophie. But later that night, the vain and jealous Witch of the Waste appears in Sophie's hat shop in the form of an obese, wealthy woman, along with two of her minions. The Witch hints at a prior connection to Howl (the Witch of the Waste once came to Howl as a beautiful young woman, which there Howl pursued her as a lover, but rejected her after seeing her true form. The Witch now assails Howl with the fury of a jilted lover) and curses Sophie by transforming her into a 90-year-old woman before disappearing.

Because of her mysterious transformation and afraid that people will ask questions (not to mention the fact that the transformation spell also prevents her from telling others of her predicament), Sophie runs away from home and journeys into the Waste. There, she befriends a magically animated scarecrow whom she names Turnip Head. Turnip Head secures her shelter from the Waste within Howl’s moving castle, a chaotic ensemble that walks upon mechanical chicken legs (similar to Baba Yaga's Dancing Hut of Russian folklore)."

Always

Cardinal Raven71.143.3.182 (talk) 15:51, 26 March 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

[edit] Differences between book and movie

Seems to be speculation. For example, in the movie, Calcifer is still scary looking all the time (but mitigated by him being good). Lots42 (talk) 12:23, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Reappearing Characters

I took out the part that said the movie had "re-appearing characters from other Miyazaki films (with differing ages, forms and roles)" because there is no citation and no evidence for this in the movie. In fact, the entire thing sentence is non-sensical because even if any of the characters happen to share certain traits in common with completely different characters from other Miyazaki films, that does not mean that they are those earlier characters reappearing in a different guise. If that were the case, then any characters from various different media that shared traits could be said to be the same character in disguise. 66.208.215.118 (talk) 03:11, 3 April 2008 (UTC)