good but not great

Rating: 7/10 (21 March 2006)

My first experience of Miyazaki's work was 'porco rosso / crimson pig' and I still consider that his best movie with Howl's Moving Castle running a some way behind.
Howl's Moving Castle has an opening scene that reminded me of 'porco rosso' (namely the enthusiastic crowds cheering on the military parade). At this stage I was thinking that this would be a collage/mix of his other movies - and indeed most of the characters are drawn in similar style to the 'spirited away' and 'princess mononoke' movies.
The plot is good as always (although primary credit must go to the original author). I find the worth of his movies to be in the plots and sub-plots that he puts into them. His movies seem to impart morality much more convincingly than anyone else (disney are you listening). And I agree totally with another reviewer when they said that Miyazaki can masterly blur lines between an enemy and a friend. This is what Disney should try and be like - kids are more sophisticated than we give them credit for and I think this movie can be appreciated by anyone over the age of 5.
I like his level of animation detail too - I tried looking for flaws in the animation but I don't see them - even when someone slams a door in the background you can see things like dust and such moving - and this is just in the background. It's flawless anime.
Anyone who doesn't like 'spirited away' or 'princess mononoke' movies will want to steer clear of this movie - but I found it to be a really good movie and the least you should do if you're a Miyazaki fan is rent it out and see it for yourself - maybe you'll end up buying it too :)