Synopsis
Howl's Moving Castle (2004) is a Studio Ghibli fantasy you can watch online on iFILM. Hayao Miyazaki adapted Diana Wynne Jones's novel and turned it into something distinctly his own: an 18-year-old hatmaker named Sophie is cursed into an old woman's body and stumbles her way into a walking castle powered by a fire demon.
The castle belongs to wizard Howl, voiced by pop star Takuya Kimura, and its engine is Calcifer — a sharp-tongued flame bound to Howl by a contract neither can explain. Sophie, voiced by Chieko Baisho, strikes a deal with Calcifer: she'll figure out the contract, he'll break her curse. Meanwhile a war grinds on outside, and Howl keeps getting drafted into it against his will. The film runs 119 minutes and never quite explains everything — which is exactly the point.
Miyazaki expanded the source material's scope to make a film about the cost of conflict and the stubbornness required to care for someone. Released in Japan in November 2004, it grossed over $236 million worldwide and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. Stream Howl's Moving Castle online on iFILM.
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