Howl's Moving Castle

"Love Comes First."

2004 1h 59m JA

🙌

8.4

BANGER

★8.4TMDB · 11,546

FantasyAnimationAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.

“Love Comes First.”

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Cast

Chieko Baisho
Sophie (voice)
Takuya Kimura
Howl (voice)
Akihiro Miwa
Witch of the Waste (voice)
Tatsuya Gashuin
Calcifer (voice)
Ryunosuke Kamiki
Markl (voice)
Mitsunori Isaki
Kosho (voice)
Yo Oizumi
Prince Justin / Turnip Head (voice)
Akio Otsuka
King of Ingary (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writers: Hayao Miyazaki
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

237+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, shot by Atsushi Okui. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Joe Hisaishi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Takeshi Seyama shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura and Akihiro Miwa carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Love Comes First.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hayao Miyazaki directs. Atsushi Okui behind the camera. Joe Hisaishi scores. Takeshi Seyama cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.
2Released 22 years ago.
3237+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, shot by Atsushi Okui. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Joe Hisaishi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Takeshi Seyama shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura and Akihiro Miwa carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Love Comes First.".
9IMDB entry: tt0347149 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1011,546 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
11Classified under 20 themes, including "witch", "flying", "rain", "castle".
12Released under 30 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Atsushi Okui
Original score: Joe Hisaishi
Editing: Takeshi Seyama
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $24,000,000
Box office: $236,049,757
Return: 984% of budget
Original language: JA
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Awards

Nebula Award for Best Script

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Hayao Miyazaki

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2013-11-26
★ 9/10
Really good movie staging in a fictional center European country. The drawings are great and the story is as delicate as any other from Miyazaki.
CinemaSerf2023-09-04
★ 8/10
Certainly my favourite Miyazaki film. The animations are a touch angular, but colourfully and stylishly depict this story of a beautiful young girl who is cursed by an evil witch. In despair, she sets off, directionless, from home and comes across "Howl" and his moving castle - and the sprite "Calcifer". She begins a journey of discovery - about herself as much as anything. "Howl" - the ultimate free spirit is also facing down demons of his own that he is struggling to reconcile with. "Calcifer" provides the conduit for them to get to better understand each other and also much of the humour as they seek to break the spells that bind them. This works on many different levels and each time I see it, I seem get something different from it.