182. Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle) - Ani-May 2020 (#134)




The 250 show

Summary: Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney and with special guests Graham Day and Bríd Martin, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released most Saturdays at 6pm GMT. This year, we are proud to continue the tradition of Anime May, a fortnight looking at two of the animated Japanese films on the list. This year, we watched a double feature of Hayao Miyazaki's Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta and Hauru no ugoku shiro. We'll also be covering a bonus on a recent entry on the list next week, Naoko Yamada's Koe no katachi. This week, the second part of the double bill, Hauru no ugoku shiro, Miyazaki's first film after the breakout success of Spirited Away. Chance encounters with both a mysterious young wizard and spiteful old witch find Sophie Hatter cursed. The eighteen-year-old young woman finds herself trapped in the body of a ninety-year-old crone. Never one to be defeated or outwitted, Sophie embarks on an adventure to lift the curse that takes her into the wilderness and to the heart of a majestic ambulatory castle inhabited by a fascinating bunch of misfits. As war simmers on the horizon, Sophie finds herself drawn to the temperamental but sensitive young magician Howl, but can they ever find peace? At time of recording, it was ranked 134th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.