Shadowing Practice: Howl's Moving Castle | Book Versus Movie - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi guys!

Today we're going to be talking about Howl's Moving Castle, book versus movie.

Okay that title is probably a little bit misleading.

I'm not here to explicitly proclaim that one version is better than the other.

I think both the book and the movie are excellent works of art in their own right.

I just thought it would be fun to kind of talk about my thoughts on them

and what I think each version did well and just the general differences between the two.

First off, inevitably, whenever you adapt a book into a movie, changes are going to be made.

Some things don't work as well visually and we all know this.

I think more faithful adaptations have been really popular recently.

I think filmmakers have sort of learned the hard way

that alienating your built-in audience from the book isn't the best idea for your movie's performance, but things have to be cut for time

and again some things just don't work as well visually

or some things that would work really well visually didn't happen in the books

and it still holds true to the spirit of the source material.

Which all brings me to Howl's Moving Castle.

The book Howl's Moving Castle was first published in 1986 by Diana Wynne Jones.

This is a newer cover from 2006 I think, 2008 maybe?

2008 that sort of borrows stylistically from the film.

The original sort of thought for the castle was like literally a floating castle on a cloud.

Diana Wynne-Jones actually talks about that in an interview in the end of this book, or at least this version of the book, that she initially pictured it like a floating medieval castle.

She never even thought about giving it legs and that

that was one of the changes Miyazaki made

when adapting it for Studio Ghibli that she actually really liked

so I think this version of the castle just has

so much character and I'm really actually glad that they went with that direction in the movie.

In 2004 Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli adapted it into a film.

Obviously first came out in Japan but then later came out in the US.

The setup for both the book and the movie is essentially the same.

We have a young woman named Sophie Hatter who works in a hat shop

and she lives a really simple life

and she kind of like wishes for more but she sort of resigns herself to this simple life that she leads.

In the book especially she's the eldest sister

and eldest siblings aren't destined for anything great so she's learned to sort of settle.

One day her shop is visited by an evil sorceress known

as the Witch of the Waste who for some reason casts a spell on Sophie

and curses her to be an old lady.

Sophie doesn't know why the witch walked into her life

and did this to her but she knows she can't stay in the hat shop

so she sets out on her own to try to find a solution to this mess

that she's sort of wound up in.

She ends up coming across wizard Hal's moving castle in the countryside which is pretty much what it sounds like.

It's literally a moving castle.

Hal himself does not have a great reputation.

He's actually widely feared for eating young women's hearts and being sort of a scary figure,

but where Sophie is an old lady now she figures I'm probably safe from this and sort of invites herself in.

She figures Hal can probably save her or help her with this spell, but part of the curse is she can't even say she has a curse on her,

much less ask for help in ending it.

So yeah, she invites herself in, but before she even comes across Wizard Howell, she meets his assistant Michael and his fire demon Calcifer.

Calcifer recognizes that there is indeed a curse on Sophie and basically strikes up a deal with her.

He's set in a contract with Wizard Howell and he can't get himself out of it, but Sophie could potentially end it.

So if Sophie ends his contract he will help her out of her curse.

Sophie agrees figuring why not and she's comfortable by the fire

and she does not want to leave

so she takes up residence as Hal's new cleaning lady

because his castle is filthy and she needs a cover basically to stay.

This is basically where the similarities between the two really end.

There are obviously other smaller details but these are like the major details that are the same in both.

Perhaps Obviously, the book is quite a deal more complicated than that.

While the central plot still revolves around Sophie and Hal, it also juggles subplots involving Sophie's two sisters,

Hal's playboy ways, his extra-dimensional doorway to his homeland of Wales, Sophie's own magical abilities, a missing prince, and a missing royal wizard.

Now, if you've seen the movie, some of these plot points probably sound at least a little bit familiar.

Sophie does indeed have a sister in movie though just one named Leti

and she only has a single scene with her in the entire movie.

In the book Sophie has two sisters, Leti who's a baker and Martha who is a witch's apprentice,

and there's a really amusing storyline in which the two switch places because they prefer the other's job.

So Martha ends up becoming the baker

and Leti ends up becoming the witch's apprentice

and they even cast a spell that makes them look like the other

and they truly take each other's place

so Martha goes by Leti at the baker's and Leti goes by Martha at the witch's place.

It's a little confusing, not gonna lie.

I see why they simplified it for the movie

but it is a really fun subplot and like really actually adds character to Sophie's sisters.

Like they're not just there, they have their own things and their own desires and hopes and wishes.

And it also leads to a really funny turn of events in which Hal is courting Letty,

like truly Letty, and his assistant Michael is courting who he thinks is Letty but is truly Martha.

And at one point Michael is concerned

that Hal is going to steal basically his girlfriend away but they're not even courting the same sister.

again a little confusing but really fun and charming.

So sort of following that, Hal is also kind of a heartbreaker in the book.

In the movie it's mentioned that he pursued the witch of the waste at one point

because she was beautiful at some point in time

and then he later realized that like she wasn't

and her nature was truly evil so he ran away like he runs away from everything else in his life.

And this is true in the book as well

and it's actually like this central problem that truly plagues Hal throughout the book.

The Wish of the Waste is set up as the actual

antagonist through the entire book where the movie sort of starts off

that way but then they kind of nerf her and she becomes a secondary villain.

In the book Sophie even has like a showdown with her at the climax of the novel

and it's really so fun to see Sophie like truly take charge for herself and try to save Hal on her own.

I also don't love that they sort of neutralized her in the movie

because it felt like after that point they didn't really know what to do with her.

She was sort of just there for 45 minutes until the end.

It just sort of like feels a little distracting from the main action of the movie

so that was a weird choice in my opinion.

But yeah anyways all

that is to say Hal does spend a lot of his time in the book courting women

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and it actually makes Sophie kind of jealous at one point

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because she starts having feelings for Hal

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and she's mad about it he's basically kind of a fuck boy in the books

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and that's where his reputation as a person who or a wizard who eats young girls hearts comes from.

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It's really just that he goes around breaking them and movie hell is so much more noble than that.

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He does mention several times that he is a coward who runs away from things

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but we never see him act as anything other than totally gentlemanly in the book or in the movie.

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His first interaction with Sophie even is to save her from these creepy soldiers who are hitting on her

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and it's such a charming scene.

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There are several points in the movie where I may

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or may not have swooned at things he says

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when he calls Sophie that's my girl or

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when he like goes out of his way to try to make her happy

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or give her gifts or make these just grand gestures for her.

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I'm just like hell and in the book he is not like that at all and it's so funny.

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He's honestly such a brat in the book and I mean that in the best way because it is so hilarious.

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The dynamic and the banter between Sophie and Hal in the book is

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so funny and I would find myself like chuckling out loud

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which is like I never do that with books

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so it was truly amusing and the fact that it could make me laugh out loud is a feat.

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He often throws tantrums, acts super melodramatic, acts like a total baby when he has a cold.

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At one point he tells Sophie that she's dreadfully nosy, horribly bossy, an appallingly clean old woman, and that she's victimizing us all.

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And like can you even imagine movie house saying any of those things?

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You can't because it would be super out of character.

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And in fact the one scene in the movie in which he acts most like his book self, the infamous hair meltdown scene in

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which he goes to do his hair in in the bathroom

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and it comes out ginger because Sophie messed with the potions

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and where they all were and he has this total meltdown in

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which he literally starts turning into slime feels out of place in the movie in my opinion.

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It's unlike anything we see him do in the movie

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and the fact that he threw a tantrum over that

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and saying that he doesn't see the point of living if he can't be beautiful is just like what?

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Because everything else he does again in the movie is so noble and like gentlemanly.

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It's weird to see him freak out over his hair of all things

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and again it's the most like his book self

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that we see him be in the movie

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but it feels out of place because of the way that they chose to adapt his character for the film.

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Also in the book Hal is actually from our world.

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In the movie we see this sort of portal doorway

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that they have

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and whenever you turn the door to a certain color the

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door will then open to one of several places in the kingdom.

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In the movie there's a black door

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that leads to sort of like this other dimension almost it's sort of like this weird black thing space

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and time and Sophie goes through it at one point

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and ends up going into the past and witnessing him first meeting Calcifer but in the book that doorway leads to Wales, like the country of Wales.

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That is where Howl is from and his name is actually Howl Jenkins.

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I think it's such a delightful scene because he brings Sophie

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and Michael with him and they end up meeting both his sister

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and his niece and nephew and I feel like you learn a lot about Howl as a character in this scene.

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I've seen some criticism about this scene saying

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that it sort of takes the magic away from Howl as a character

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but I actually think it explains his psyche a little bit

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like he's constantly just running away from things including his real

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life to go be a wizard in this other dimension like

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if that's not running away from responsibility I don't know what is.

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It also involves Sophie sort of coming across modern things like computers

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and video games and cars and totally not understanding what they are and that is one of my favorite tropes.

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It is so funny how much she freaks out over being in a car.

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I love that and in the movie they do sort of have cars they have like steam engines

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and stuff so like it wouldn't work quite as well in the movie

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and I can see why they cut this

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because again I do think it sort of destroys the illusion

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of of Hal a little bit as this very magical character

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but it is very charming and it fits in very well in the book and I do really enjoy that scene.

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Sophie is also explicitly stated to be magical in the book even before her real adventure starts

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while she's working in the hat shop she's accidentally

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enchanting hats by talking to them and saying like oh you're a real beauty

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or oh you're gonna attract a wealthy man

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and it ends up casting spells on the hats

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that come to life when someone wears them and I think that's

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so charming and fun especially where she doesn't know she's doing it.

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She literally has the ability to speak life into things.

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The movie kind of hints at this.

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There's a part where

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when she comes across turnip head the scarecrow she tells him to go find someplace for her to live

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and he comes back with the moving castle

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and she's like that's not what i meant but fine um but

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that could literally just be turnip head being nice he does

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have a fondness for sophie uh there is also later a scene in

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which she crashes a plane into the moving castle and

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when they're trying to clean up she's pushing it out

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but she can't she tells it to move

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and then suddenly comes to life

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and then yeets out of the hole in the wall

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but again that could just be coincidence it's not really like it doesn't come across as very magical in

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and of itself

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and these abilities are actually why she stays in old lady

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as long as she does at the end of the book Hal reveals

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that he's known about her curse all along

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and even tried to dispel it a couple of times

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while she wasn't looking but the fact that she leaned so hard into being this old lady character

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like manifested it onto herself like she told herself she was an old lady

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so therefore she was an old lady

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because being this old woman sort of helped embolden Sophie to do things

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that she wouldn't have otherwise done or

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that she had been too reserved to do as a young woman

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so i don't know again i think that just adds

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so much to Sophie's character that you don't really quite get in the movie

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and in the movie she does become young again several times

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and she doesn't notice like when she's sleeping she's young

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and Hal sees her so he's obviously aware of her curse

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or when she's expressing for her feelings for Hal she becomes young again

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and and by the end of the movie she is once again young but I don't know it's just not as fun.

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I liked that Sophie in the book kind of had this power

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that wasn't the same as Hal's

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but like made her capable you know she wasn't a damsel in distress

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and Hal in the movie is very protective of her

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and she does show her herself to be like capable

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but I do miss the fact that she is magical in her own right.

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I haven't read any of the sequels for this book but I believe the summary for the third book, House of Many Ways, does describe Sophie as a powerful sorceress

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so I don't know the movie just kind of loses

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that a little bit for me and and I liked the fact that Sophie was magical in the book.

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Also like I mentioned earlier the book involves a missing prince and a missing royal wizard Sullivan in.

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If you've seen the movie you probably remember that there is a missing prince but he's for a neighboring country.

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The fact that he's missing sort of starts the war

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that unfolds later in the film because that country blames their country for him missing.

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And this is a huge plot point in the movie.

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In fact the movie version of Howl's Moving Castle honestly feels like a bit of a commentary on how dumb

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and pointless war is because it just makes both sides suffer.

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Nothing even remotely like this happens in the book.

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There is no war.

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Again the central conflict is sort of between Hal and himself

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but again the Witch of the Waste is sort of the main antagonist of the story.

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Again there there is no war whatsoever.

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This is probably the largest change between the book and the film.

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In fact book Hal is summoned to the castle by the

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king in order to find the missing prince not to participate in a war effort

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but even finding the prince and the royal wizard proves too much for how to handle, he doesn't want anything to do with it, and later has to sort of trick himself into doing it

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because he's cowardly and his first inclination is to run away from things.

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He truly comes across as the coward that the movie says he is, but he never really acts like.

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Sophie mentioned several times in the book

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that Howl is just a big old slitherer outerer of things

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and there's this whole complicated bit where the turnip head scarecrow guy

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and the stray dog that Sophie finds are both parts of the missing prince

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and the missing wizard and by breaking both of their curses they are allowed to become two separate people again.

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It's a little complicated.

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Again I totally understand why they simplified this for the movie.

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It's a bit convoluted even like within the book itself

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but i do think it was handled well

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and it was sort of fun that there were

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that many layers to it i guess it wasn't as straightforward as the movie is in

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that regard i also thought it was interesting

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that wizard sulliman was a woman in the movie that's really

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like one of the only gender differences we see between the film

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and the in the book

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and she was also set up as like the villain kind

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of she's trying to recruit how one for this war and two

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she's trying to break his sort of contract with calcifer which isn't necessarily an evil thing

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but she threatens to strip howl of his powers

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which neither howl nor sophie want ultimately she wants what's best for howl in the end

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but her means of doing it aren't like super kind

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so i wouldn't necessarily call her like a straight up villain

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but she's not very likable

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which is interesting i also want to take a quick second

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to talk about howl turning into a bird monster thing in the movie

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because again that never happens in the book that part creeped me out

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so much as a kid

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and honestly in re-watching it for this video it still creeped

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me out i don't necessarily get why they went this route with it i think it's probably my biggest, not like complaint

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but sort of question mark about the movie ultimately i think

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it was probably a way to more visually represent Hal's heartlessness

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and the cost of his contract with calcifer

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but it was harder for me to buy because he acts

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so much less heartless in the movie than he does in the book

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because everything he does is to protect or save Sophie or to try to stop this war from destroying these two countries.

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So obviously his contract with Calcifer will ruin him in the long run, it's stated both in the movie and in the book.

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And I don't think in the movie they explicitly say that the witch of the waste has a fire demon like Hal, but in the book she does.

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The witch of the waste is supposed to be this example of like what Hal could turn out to be

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if his contract with Calcifer goes on but I don't know just like the bird thing was weird to me.

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It's not out of place for Studio Ghibli film.

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I think stylistically it is very in line with other Studio Ghibli movies.

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It was just weird to me

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because again we we never see Hal act as other than the hair meltdown scene which was mostly for comedic effect.

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We never see him act as anything other than noble really

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and even even in the book Hal enters his contract with Calcifer to save Calcifer's life.

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It's sort of hinted at in the movie

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that how Calcifer is in fact a falling star and

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when stars fall in the book they fizzle out and die

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and Calcifer was scared and he didn't want to die

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and Hal offered to save him and the only way to do

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that was by giving him his heart so that's not an evil

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or heartless thing to do in my opinion

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but that's just me anyways i think Diana Wynne Jones does

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a lovely job kind of juggling all these various plot points

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and just the way they all collide and resolve in the end is

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so satisfying it's hard to even summarize the book's like sort of major plot points

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and differences with the movie because there's just

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so much happening it's a lot of layers so if any of this sounds remotely fun or interesting to you, I definitely recommend picking up the book.

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It is so fun.

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The Studio Ghibli adaptation is a classic for a reason, even though it is super different from the book.

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I don't think it's a great adaptation in that regard, but I think it's still an excellent film.

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Arguably one of the most iconic Ghibli scenes is the scene of Howl

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and Sophie walking through the air over the crowd and that never happens in the book, but like how could you be mad at that.

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It's so cute and charming and the atmosphere is just so beautiful and whimsical and lovely.

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I can't complain about that you know?

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So yeah I think even though the elements later in the movie

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and the film are so drastically different from one another they both still capture the same feeling

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and I think that makes both the book and the movie extremely successful.

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I'm trying to keep this relatively short and sweet

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so I'll stop there even though I could go on talking about both the movie

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and book version of Howl's Moving Castle for probably over an hour, but I don't think any of you want to sit here long enough for that.

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So I'm going to wrap it up here.

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Please let me know in the comments have you seen or read Howl's Moving Castle?

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If so, which was your favorite version?

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Do you have a favorite?

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Do you like both for what they are?

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Do you like the changes that Hayao Miyazaki made in his film?

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Please let me know down in the comments.

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I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Thank you guys so much for watching.

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Please feel free to like, subscribe, follow my socials down below, leave a comment down below just to let me know you're here, and have a great day.

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Bye!

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28 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Howl's Moving Castle”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: movie, sophie, Hal, castle. This video has 312 sentences and 4058 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:10. The speaker talks fast, about 192 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
howl verb	/ˈhaʊ̯l/	To utter a loud, protracted, mournful sound or cry, as dogs and wolves often do.
wizard noun	/ˈwɪzɚd/	Someone, usually male, who uses (or has skill with) magic, mystic items, and magical and mystical practices.
curse noun	/kɝs/	A supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane.
charm noun	/t͡ʃɑɹm/	An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation).
visually adverb	/ˈvɪzju.əli/	By means of sight.
adapt verb	/əˈdæpt/	To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit.
turnip noun	/ˈtɝ.nɪp/	The white root of a yellow-flowered plant, Brassica rapa, grown as a vegetable and as fodder for cattle.
doorway noun	/ˈdɔɹweɪ/	The passage of a door; a door-shaped entrance into a house or a room.
meltdown noun	/ˈmɛltˌdaʊn/	An act or process of melting.
villain noun	/ˈvɪl.ən/	A vile, wicked person.
explicitly adverb		In an explicit manner.
adaptation noun	/ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/	The process of adapting something or becoming adapted to a situation; adjustment, modification.
amuse verb	/əˈmjuːz/	To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.
antagonist noun	/ænˈtæɡənɪst/	An opponent or enemy.
gentlemanly adverb		In the manner or with the behavior of a gentleman; with social grace, politely.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come across verb		To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
run away from verb		To avoid or shirk a problem or consequences; to rush to back away from or disclaim responsibility for something.
come out in verb		to be afflicted by (a visible disruption of the body)
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.
clean up verb		To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
go around verb		To move or spread from person to person.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

I can't complain about that you know?
If so, which was your favorite version?
Do you have a favorite?
Do you like both for what they are?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be made · be cut · aren't destined
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have been · you've seen · I've seen
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	countryside which is · person who or · scene which was

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 62 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, can't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: filthy /ˈfɪlθi/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, faithful /ˈfeɪθ.fl̩/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, dimension /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/, inclination /ˌɪn.klɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, illusion /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/, dimensional /daɪˈmɛn.ʃə.nəl/
Long words — get the stress right: visually /ˈvɪzju.əli/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, antagonist /ænˈtæɡənɪst/, alienate /ˈeɪ.li.ə.neɪt/, appallingly /ʌˈpɑlɪŋli/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like howl, wizard, curse.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Howl's Moving Castle | Book Versus Movie - Learn English Speaking with Video

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