I can't believe there isn't a thread for this! :lol:

Ah, I just finished watching it, (yes, I'm slow!) and what can I say? Absolutely loved it. Gotta be the first Gibhli movie that didn't freak me out or give me nightmares. I loved the romance elements of it too, and -- I can't be the only Howl fangirl around!! :sad: Howl was so amazing I think I squeed my throat hoarse everytime he appeared. :fangirl:

Has anyone else watched this movie??!!? Squee-emergency, plz!!! If nobody else melted during the flowerfield scene, I shall die a lonely loveless fangirl!!! :lol:

I've seen it, yin-chan! :hyper: And, yes, OMG, Howl is TEH HAWTNESS! :drool: And the flower field scene was so ClAeris! :cleris:

Hoorah!! Someone's seen it!! *smother FF_G in flower petals* :wub:

Yes yes, the first time Howl appeared I think my heart stopped beating for a second. :lust:

The flowerfield scene was pretty parallel to Cleris no?? His secret garden that he gives to her as a present so she can live comfortably there and open a flowershop....and it's the place where they first met in the past where she promised to come back to him. :wub:

Cleris much!? :fangirl:

I like how her spell wasn't completely broken at the end, only that she forgot her age. And he still thinks she's beautiful anyhow. Love that transcends borders!! :fangirl:

*Laughs* I've meant to make a thread about this for MONTHS! Silly Sefie

Anyways, what do you guys think the details of the curse were? Cuz there were several times where she didnt' revert all the way back to being young, but definatly got younger looking. I think that those times were where she focused less on herself and her lack of confidence, and more on others.

And yez, Howl=LURVE *Licks him* Gah, and his voice too!! *bounces*

I also adored their little family, it was so sweet how everyone just kind of got adopted.

I wish I could see the prince trying to steal Sofie's heart though! :lol:

I love this movie too! Especially the scene where Howl's hair changes color! What's ClAeris? Anyway, I thought this movie was great fun. I love Calcifur especially. I was hesitant because I didn't like Mononoke. Too violent.

Well, not exactly Cleris, but I saw similiraties in the flowerfield scene in Howl's Moving Castle to Cloud/Aerith. The flowerfield in HMC was where Sophie promised to return to Howl in the future. Aerith promised Cloud "I'll come back when it's all over." when she left him in FF7. ^_^ And there she is in Advent Children, isn't she? Especially in the Calling ending, waiting among the flowers to return to her love. :fangirl:

I didn't really understand that either. :huh: I think you're right, times when she's very determined and confident, she gets younger. But does she stay young after the film?? :unsure:

I think there's a book...? Or manga? Of HMC...maybe it has to be read to fully understand everything? :unsure:
And the prince...scarecrow...dude. Is he the son of Sulliman?? What was the whole point of Sulliman's plan in the first place? Oh dear, now I'm confused. :lol:

Ahhh I loved Howl's Moving Castle. The part where Howl and Sophie first meet and he takes her for a stroll through the sky... the music that played during that scene was so magical. XD~

And Calcifer... darn Ghibli and their adorable mascot-ish characters. v.v; Totoro, kodama, those little ash bobbles from Spirited Away, and now Calcifer.<3

Well seeing as I bought the movie the day it came out lol...of course I LOVE it! My favorite part has to be where he saves her from the falling bomb and she runs over to him...ahhh love!

Actually I think she does fully revert back. At the beginning when she finds Calcifer, she makes a deal with him that if she can find out how to free Calcifer, he'll break her spell. On that same note, however, I think she learns to break it herself. Whenever she's happy, and with Howl, or thinking about Howl she grows young again, because she gave her heart to him (unknowingly) at the beginning of the movie. About the time when the bombing is happening to her hometown, she totally reverts back to being the age she once was, I think it's due to the fact that she actually has someone that she wants to put her trust in, and she's never felt that way before.

Also, at the end, when they are up in the sky, you can see her in a dress and hat, and she and Howl lean in for a kiss, she's still young. So I think we can safely say that as long as she's with Howl, she'll stay young until it's time for her to grow old naturally.

And about the Prince...hmm...I think it was Sulliman that turned him into "Turnip" just for the sake of starting a war...I still haven't figured out what the grounds for that was...I think maybe she just wanted some excitement? After she attacked Howl, she was all happy about it >.<. I also think the Prince was the King's son, not Sullimans...The Prince and the King look very much alike, with the eyes, and the hairstyle. They also keep calling the King a "fool" and he pretty much acted like an arse when Sophie got to meet him.

I see....but her hair is still white during those scenes though. Which utterly confuzzles me. :dizzy:

I don't understand....how would turning the Prince into turnip start a war? :unsure: And if she was doing it just for excitement, why would the King agree with her?

LOL one of my favourite bits was when granny!Sophie was all mad and angry and started cleaning the place in a fit of rage. Hilarious!! And Howl's nekkid-ness horrified expression when his hair turned orange was priceless! :lmao:

Has anyone hear read the book? Or watched the sequel? :lol: I heard Castle in the Air was the sequel or something.

I thought her hair was white because she was accepting as who she was. It wasn't her hair that made her beautiful, she gave most of it up at the end.

I didn't know flowerfields were associated with CloudxAerith! I bought a flower from her yesterday, but Cloud barely talked to her. :(

Yes, but if the spell was broken - wouldn't her hair return to its natural colour, before she aged? That's why I don't think she's broken the spell - she's just forgotten her age. :unsure:

:giggle:
Oh, flowerfields and flowers and churches and whatnot are all very symbolic of Cloud and Aerith. Especially the flowerfields. Just look at Advent Children, hark at the flowerfields all over the film! :lol:
You can't really mention flowers without thinking of Cleris, really. :D

And don't worry, you get heaps of Cleris interaction later on in the game. :fangirl:

The movie is rather loosely based on the book from what I've read (on Wikipedia). Also, Castle in the Sky is its own movie and came out FOREVER ago, so no, it's not a sequel ^_^

And yes! Nekkid Howl was HYSTERICAL! "I see no point in living if I can't be beautiful"

I think the thing with Sofie's hair was just something that she had accepted. And to show what changes she'd been through. Howl's line "Your hair looks just like starlight. I love it!" and Sofie's "Really? Well so do I!" shows this. It seems like something that should upset her, but she just takes it as a part of whats happened and actually likes it. It's...really hard for me to explain, but I think the hair was more part of her than it was the curse.

As for breaking the curse, I really don't think it has much to do with her being with Howl. It was entirely her own thing. She stopped caring so much about her looks and vanity since she now had a family to look after and protect. I think that was the curse breaker.

I was also thinking...when she goes back to Howl's past...she had her white hair then, so maybe that might be another factor in it not changing back to the color it was before. You know how those aleration things go in anime LOL.

Let's not forget that ClAeris-y line: "Now I have something to protect... You...." or something like that. :wub:

I wanna see this movie really bad! :( It looks so amazing! With Spirted Away, Castles in the Sky, and Princess Monkoto,(however you spell it) being so good, this movie has to be wonderful! :D :D I'm gonna make sure i see this movie! :P

I love that movie!!! It's one of my all time favorites!! And the movie is based of the book Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. There are differences between the book and movie. I was kinda upset that the book and movie weren't more alike, but I still loved them both!!!

Eeee! Someone who's read the book! :fangirl: Is it extremely different from the movie?
So, pink rosebud, you must know the answers to all the mysteries eluding us in the movie! Does Sophie break the curse? Who exactly is the prince? What was the point of the war? Does Howl sleep nekkid?

:hyper:

I don't mind a little difference between books and movies. The Princess Bride was better as a movie, in my opinion.

This movie was just so amusing! I didn't like it quite as much as Spirited Away, but probably more than Princess Mononoke. My favorite scene is definitely when Howl runs down the stairs wearing only a towel! I sure didn't expect him to freak out when his hair changed color since I assumed that he was the "calm" kind . And he thought that it made him ugly! :lmao:

:lmao: Yes, that scene was so unexpected!! Eee, panic!Howl!!

I preferred him with his blonde hair though. :fangirl: The black wasn't bad, but I would have killed myself if he'd kept it orange! Just....no! :lol:

The uncanny thing about blonde!Howl is that in fanarts, they all look somewhat Clerisey, seeing that Sophie has brown, curly hair. :shifty:

OMG, i finally saw HMC!! Its was soo awsome! Howl is sooo adorable! Quite the charmer too! LOL, he's got a new fangirl! :fangirl: :fangirl: LOL! I love his dark blue hair! So SMEXY!! LOL!
I loved the movie. Abosutely beautiful. The flower field Howl showed Sophie was gorgeous! And, do i detect a hint of... Clerisness... :cleris:? lol!

And, if you notice Sophie's wearing a pic ribbon in her hair... kinda reminds me of.... :aeris: :aeris: you know who... lol! :lol:

BWUAHAHAHA! GOT THE BOOK! LOVED THE BOOK! XD

I'm really really glad that I saw the movie first, because the book is SO FREAKIN' AWESOME. The first part of the book is represented preeeetty well in the movie, but as soon as you get beyond the first few chapters it becomes and entirely differenet story. The characters of Sophie and Howl are a bit changed, but that was just to make them more like Miyazaki's usual characters.

I really enjoyed the book, so I won't say anymore cuz I think everyone else oughta read it too ^_^

HOLY SCHNAP QUACKLE PAWPZ!!!

What's makin' me so OWH!excited was the coincidence that I have also -- recently -- watched this film with my friend too, and I didn't even hear of it until she told me so! Ever since then (just a couple of weeks ago), I've been HOWL!crazed in such friggin' glory. Awh. :lust: This movie was just... amazing. Beautiful, inspirational, enough-to-make-you-tear-a-bit. I can't describe it enough.

I just saw Howl's Moving Castle recently ('cause no one ever wanted to take me to the theaters when it was out Dx) and I absolutely, poseefriggintively loved it. :lust: It was such a cute movie and it was...Miyazaki. <3 His movies are always teh greatest. And Howl is teh wub. :wub:

When he came running down the stairs with orange hair, the first thing I thought:

'Hey...why's Kyo-kun (Fruits Basket) here?"

:lmao: I'm a loser. :]

And Sophie was hilarious at the cleaning scene and ahhh~~~ I loved everything about this movie. <333

I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING! D:

Yes, I am a TOTAL Howl fangirl!! *in the book, though, its Howell Jenkins xD I believe he shortened it to Howl in the book, as well, though...Something like that. xD*

I still need to read it! Its a nice fat book. :heart:

Of course, anime Howl is eeeeee!!! xD *fangirl squeeeeeeeaaaaaaaals*

And..yeah. The movie was so romantic awesomeness. :D And yep, teh flowerfieldness was rather Clerithy. xD

Watched it, loved it. Miyazaki never lets me down!
I'm so glad he finally decided to make a love story. All his other films have squeeable couples(Haku/Chihiro, San/Ashitaka to name a few) but an actual romance was always in the sidelines. So to have it center stage here(and how!) was awesome. I especially love it when they embrace amidst the bombs falling :wub:

We fangirls sound like broken records here but...Howl=Tehsmex! Hotter than his fire demon; lord, that voice! (And voiced by Christian Bale who is tehsmex as well, heheheh )
And now I don't have to worry about being a pedophile for liking Haku(Spirited Away) because Howl looks like an older version of him!
Don'tcha just wanna squish him whenever he gets a good idea and his eyes go all manic and excited? :fangirl: Oh and him throwing that little boy tantrum was the funniest thing ever: he goes from literally sweeping a girl off her feet to wailing about not being purdy anymore :lol:

Now I see everyone means by the Clerisness of the flowerfield scene! It's his sanctuary, to shut the rest of the world out...and only she is allowed in it :cleris:

I usually don't like it when movies differ so greatly from books, but Diana Wynne Jones found the film "fantastic" and "out of this world" and is alright with the story deviation, so I guess there's no worries. And now I WANT THAT BOOK! Hey Sefie, is it a love story as well?

One question I'm still asking though is, what the heck was that war all about???
:blink: I have a theory that the King got so mad by his son being enchanted into a turnip, he decided to wage war on witch and wizardkind as a whole.

I loved this movie!!!!

I totally wubbed Howls Voice actor! to be honest i wouldn't mind him doing clouds voice :) :P

He's Christian Bale, aka Bruce Wayne, aka a huge crapload of movie roles, since he started in Hollywood when he was a child :)
Check this out, Howl's voice actor singing! :lol: :wub:

lol,

yea i knew it was him! i just like his voice, i felt he did a good job, i cant say the same thing for his movies! :P lol

LOL he sings!! HAAHHAHAHAHHA! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

:fangirl: I can't believe I haven't posted here before now! Howl's Moving Castle is one of the best anime films out there! *bows to Miyazaki's greatness*

I adore the HowlxSophie coupling. Not only for the :cleris: , but for it's individual merits!

And Howl... :swoon:

I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but I've heard that in the sequel, they -

*SPOILER*

-have a child named Morgan.

*END OF SPOILER*

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure. It's a shame that more of the sequel doesn't focus on them.

Just finished the book! Am with you Sefie, ‘twas freakin’ awesome! But wow…it was dizzying; I felt like Sophie on seven league boots by the time I reached the end. Howl was such an arse…but still so charming :wub: Michael was cute as well(no I’m not being a pedophile, Michael aka Markl is a teenager in the book). Oh, and yin, am not sure if Howl sleeps naked and I wish he did, but he spends about two hours primping in the bathroom :giggle:
Question on the book: why the heck did the Witch of the Waste [spoiler] Mrs. Pentstemmon??? :huh:
I still prefer how the love story was handled in the film. The secret garden, and Sophie not caring if Howl’s a monster… :wub: I also felt more in the film, than in the book, that Howl really loved Sophie.

From what I got out of the book, she was Ms. Petstemmon so that she could keep an eye on Howl's family and have a way to easier get to Howl. Somehow Howl knew this though and was counting on Sophie's jealousy to keep her away and out of the Castle. It does add up though...supposedly she was engaged to Sulliman (a man in the book! WEIRD!).

I loved the book though! Those seven league boots were awesome, the way Sophie couldn't stop going back and forth LOL!!! Funniest part of the entire book if you ask me. I do like the fact that Sophie was a witch herself, only she didnt know it. I also liked the part where she told the stick to hurt Ms. Petstemmon and no one else.

The romance of the book pretty much got all sucked out. Even when Howl decided that Sophie and himself should live happily ever after O.O. Not romantic at ALL!

Am looking forward to the next Studio Ghibli offering. Dragons are cool :D

Book spoilers!
Definitely. In the book, Howl’s ‘happily ever after’ with Sophie was fairy-tale-ish He took one look at her transformed self, and it was like ‘Oh, let’s get married!’. …Ironic, since this book made fun of fairy-tale clichés from the start.
I’d like to think that he did catch glimpses of her real self and gradually fell in love with her…but that really only happened in the anime :shrug:

Amathala, I think you’re talking about Miss Angorian, who was the Witch’s fire demon :P I was referring to Mrs. Pentstemmon, Howl’s teacher whom Sophie visited in the chapter “in which Sophie pretends to be Howl’s old mother”. I was puzzled when the Witch of the Waste suddenly killed Mrs. Pentstemmon; it seemed out of the blue. And I can’t think of what it did to advance/twist the plot. :/

Oh man, I feel so left-out for never reading the book. :lol:

Does it explain at all in the book the purpose of the war? Did it have something to do with the prince?

Actually Kusari, I felt that the book was just as romantic as the movie. It was more a "I love you but I hate you!" thing. Howl knew all along what Sophie was, and I think that he was falling in love with her the entire time. I thought that the love story was TOTALLY squeeworthy, and I squee'd out loud at the end!

[spoilers!]

Yes, in the sequel Howl and Sophie have a little boy named Morgan. And yes, the sequel doesn't focus on them, they come in at the end as more of a cameo. It was awesome though!

[/spoiler]

I just bought the sequel today!!! I cant wait to start reading it...after I get some sleep...not feeling so well today..

Kusari: OMG...you're right.....:tard: I knew there was a reason why I wanted to re-read the book again. Work stress tends to make you forget things...and I bought it only like a week ago! *dies*

BTW...saw the movie, 'The Prestige'....GO SEE IT!!!

I'll try to re-read the book with that in mind...
...but the thought of him falling for her in her old woman form still leaves me squicked! :/ Yup, I KNOW it's supposed to be about falling in love with her inner self...but I still can't help feeling extremely weird about it.

:weeps: My sisters and I were supposed to see it together(Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, and an intriguing plot? Alright) but we never found time, and I don't think it's showing here anymore!

There is a war mentioned, but it's only in passing, just once, I think. It's not a big part of the plot...more like a plot so that the Witch could use Howl, Prince Justin and Suliman to...well, that's a spoiler :P But that answers your question about the Prince!

<spoiler>

Morgan? Wasn't it Abdullah??? :confused:
<spoiler>

Nope, Kusari. Sefie's 100% correct. LOL get the sequel...the way Morgan comes into the story is hilarious...then again I didnt expect things to be the way they were, then the end comes along and I'm all.....OMG....wth?

Sefie: Did you not catch anything until it happened? The Sophie and Morgan thing completely threw me for a loop...


And....Sophie's scared of heights!! LOL then what was she doing kissing Howl up there in the clouds for?!

Sophie: Howl, I'm scared of heights! Kiss me!
Howl: :shifty: *kiss*

XD

From here


From here

The only review I've found so far

Coming out in June 2008. Ahhh, I gotta go find and read Castle in the Air NOWWWW....

A trilogy o_O""""?

Now that's great!