Many Parallels with Spirited Away

Rating: 9/10 (27 February 2005)

I just saw this movie yesterday and I haven't felt this way about an animated movie since "Spirited Away" (albeit the latter left me much more in awe than the former, since it was the first of its kind).
This movie had many of Hayao Miyazaki's other movies' trademarks. Lush landscape, endearing characters, haunting soundtrack (courtesy of Joe Hisaishi), great attention to details and all the little quirks, which brings a smile to one's (mine, at least) face.
Its been a while after "Spirited Away" was shown, and "The Cat Returns" has been rather disappointing, so I was really looking forward to it. And I am glad to say that although I felt that there weren't any breakthroughs in "Howl's Moving Castle" (HMC), it was on par with "Spirited Away" (SA) and "Princess Mononoke" and it was most certainly satisfying.
Spoilers!!!! However, there seemed to be many parallels (coincidence??) between HMC and SA, which seemed kind of bizarre since SA was an original story while HMC was adapted from a book by Diana Wynn Jones (I most certainly will be paying my neigbourhood bookstore for it!).
In HMC, Howl made a deal with Calcifer and it was up to Sophie to find out and help break the enchantment that held them both since they can't tell anyone what it is. On the other hand, Sophie herself was cursed to look like YuBaba (from SA) by the Witch of the Wastes and only Howl could help her, but she could not mention it to anyone else. In the process, she fell in love with Howl. What was revealed to us in the end was that Sophie actually witnessed the event where Howl and Calcifer met and signed the contract with each other, and told Howl to wait for her to help them break the enchantment.
In HMC, there were also many interesting characters, most notable was the Scarecrow named Turnip and the dog (can't remember what its name is).
In SA, Haku made a pact with YuBaba to become her disciple, in the process losing his true name and ended up being her henchman and doing all her dirty job. Chihiro stumbled into the enchanted world and had to become a servant in the land to save her parents through Haku's help. Haku helped her remember her real name. Along the way, Chihiro helped Haku remember his true name and he reveals to her that he once saved her when she was a child drowning in a river. They too fall in love.
In SA, there was the child of YuBaba when he got turned into a fat rat (which has since spawned many soft toys) as well as the crows and the workers which helped Kamaji with the coal.
Similarities aside, I enjoyed both movies. I've been a sucker for stuff like that since I was a child. I thoroughly enjoyed Neil Gaiman's "Stardust", which I think Hayao Miyazaki would make a fine adaption as well.
Furthermore, in HMC, Miyazaki explored the idea of war (the 2 countries of the world were involved in a war), making HMC a tad darker than SA, showing the destruction and mayhem brought about by the fighting.
All in all, this movie is the best full-length animated feature I have since in 4 years (since SA). It definitely has more heart and soul than any of the Disney and Pixar features. Whilst it is true that "The Incredibles" can dazzle one with the CGI and their American-centric wit while Shrek 2 entertained the masses with (by now dated) popular wisecracks, it is the eternal message of hope and love that will transcend time and technology, making HMC and SA timeless milestones.