"Why, Erica, Why?" Summer Movie Library Series: Howl's Moving Castle

I’d always heard about the great animated films (yes, “films” not “movies”) of Hayao Miyazaki, but I never actually got off my butt to check one out myself.

Enter my indispensible girlfriend Erica.

Thanks to the hit new “Why, Erica, Why?” Summer Movie Library Series, I’ve now seen two Miyazaki movies in the last couple of weeks. (The review for that second movie will be up as soon as I shake off this slacker dust.) I’m not really a fan of anime, but I was particularly interested in checking out a few Miyazaki films since finding out the Japanese filmmaker has been a huge influence on the people who work at Pixar, who just happen to be making my favorite and some of the very best movies today. (Pixar honcho John Lasseter pops up to give us a fawning introduction on the DVD.)

So after being exposed to the world of Miyazaki, all I’ve got to say is, “Oh okay.”

“Howl’s Moving Castle” — adapted from the novel b Diana Wynne Jones — involves a strong-willed, unconfident young woman named Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer) who is turned into an elderly woman (voiced by Jean Simmons) by a spiteful, tubby witch (voiced by Lauren Bacall). She eventually meets up with the vain, insecure wizard (voiced by Christian Bale) who lives in the titular structure.

Maybe it was the fact that we decided to watch the dub (which was actually pretty solid) instead of viewing the movie with subtitles, but I had trouble connecting to any of the characters besides beyond Sophie. (I decided to go with the dub since they went through the trouble of hiring relatively famous actors.) This helps explain why my favorite character was probably Turniphead, a helpful, mute scarecrow.

More importantly, I never really felt like the characters effectively connected with each other. I didn’t totally buy the connection between Sophie and Howl. It just felt like those two characters are thrown together because they’re the female and male protagonists.

I can’t really fault the performances. Simmons/Mortimer make for an admirable, strong heroine, Bale’s voice conveys his mix of creepiness and magnetism equally as well as his live action work, and Bacall makes for a compelling Witch of the Waste. I was considerably less impressed by Billy Crystal’s capital C Comic Relief turn as Calcifer, the fire demon who lives in Howl’s castle. His shtick just didn’t seem to fit in with everything else that was going on.

What works about this movie (and what I suspect REALLY earns Miyazaki all the adoration) is how stunning it looks. Computer animation and 3D technology can try to dazzle us all they want with their lifelike renderings, but they’re no match for the power of imagination.

Miyazaki simply visualizes and is able to realize on screen unbelievable and dreamlike/nightmarish images like a castle that walks along the countryside and a man who morphs into a bird to do battle. Most importantly, these images complement and sort of end up grounding his stories. Rarely have more fantastical things seemed more normal.

The filmmaker’s hand-drawn animation feels just as (if not more) fresh than any shiny Hollywood cartoon with marquee voice talent. I just wish I could say the same for the characters populating his movies.

Howl’s Moving Castle…B