Have I mentioned yet that I'm a huge Ghibli fan?
Well in case I haven't, I'm a huge Ghibli fan.
For those of you that don't know, Studio Ghibli is an animation studio from Japan that is famous for movies like My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Spirited Away. You guys would probably recognize Ponyo and The Secret World of Arrietty, as those were really big in the U.S.
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I own Ni No Kuni (which I'm unfortunately stuck on and I really need to get past this dang boss!)
I also bought a little Totoro plushie at a con, but his eyes fell out because they weren't sewn in for some reason?
I'm looking for little sunglasses for him.
ANYWAY, the movie I thought I'd start out with (as there will most likely be many Ghibli posts) was Howl's Moving Castle.
Plot:
So this movie is based off of a book with the same name ((I read the book and the sequel so don't tell me I'm a bad person for not reading it)).
It's about a woman named Sophie, who works in her father's hat shop. She is the oldest child, which is a bad thing because she's doomed to fail because of it (for some reason).
Probably due to her oldest-ness, one day she accidentally pisses off the Witch of the Waste who then turns her into an old woman.
She then goes off in search of Howl, a wizard who is rumored to kidnap and eat young girls' hearts, to try and get him to help her change back.
Characters:
Sophie Hatter- the protagonist of the story. I sort of explained what happens to her above, so I won't tell it again.
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| Here's a lot of the characters in this neat little gif From: |
Markl: Howl's young apprentice who is learning magic. He's voiced by a young Josh Hutcherson, so I have a headcannon that Peeta was training to be a wizard but had to give it up to help with the family bakery.
Calcifer: A fire demon who has Howl's heart. He powers the castle and is a total sassmaster. He's voiced by Billy Crystal, so I have ANOTHER headcannon that Calcifer is either a childhood Mike Wazowski, or a more evolved Miracle Max.
Turniphead: A cursed scarecrow that turns out to be the kidnapped prince of another kingdom.
Witch of the Waste: A witch who fell in love with Howl and vowed to own his heart. She makes a lot of messes over it.
Differences between the book and the movie:
Markl is actually named Michael
Michael is a much older kid *15 or so), which I guess they changed so they could have little Josh Hutcherson being adorable.
Sophie has two sisters, Martha and Lettie.
Michael and Howl each pursue one of Sophie's sisters, but it gets very complicated because the sisters are in disguise as each other, and then they get in a big fight because they both think that they're dating the same one or something and.....just read the book for this part because it's really complicated.
Howl turns out to be from OUR universe, and was born in Wales. He has a sister there and is known as Uncle Howell to her kids. It's beautiful and really adds to the story.
The Witch of the Waste is the real and complete villian, and is eventually killed by Sophie and Howl.
Sophie actually has magical powers, and can "talk life" into things. It's actually a really cool power cus she can get brooms to do cleaning for her and stuff.
Final Reaction:
I love this movie to death, alright. It was my first Ghibli movie and I just fell in love with the art and the storytelling and the voice acting and the music and the mood and the everything. I love Howl and I want to be Sophie's best friend. I want to babysit (or hang out with, depending on the version) Markl and lovingly tease Calcifer. This movie felt so important and (in a way) real that it makes you feel like you could just step in a magic door into that world (ha, references).
Here is a link to go watch the full movie! It doesn't get past the filter (for everyone that applies to), so use another computer to watch it.
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