Another masterfully crafted adventure from the mind of Miyazaki

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 2005)

The thing with a Miyazaki film is you don't simply watch the film, you step both feet first into his world, invest your heart and soul into the story unravelling in front of you piece by beautifully animated piece. you develop feelings for every one of his detailed, vibrant characters from the films swashbuckling hero to the tiniest of creatures and revel in the quaint and often logically challenging events that these characters go through . 'howl's moving castle' is no different to any other Miyazaki outing.
One major difference the film has compared to both 'spirited away' and 'princess mononoke' is its slightly westernised setting, this is clear from the very first few shots central characters home town. The film focuses around a rather dreary, old before her time hat maker named Sophie, the eldest of what appears to be a rather large family of daughters she feels the heavy burden of being the eldest and carrying on the family business of making hats. Its not until a brief encounter with the mysterious and handsome sorcerer howl that you really begin to see the Miyazaki magic beginning to weave its web and my oh my what a web, shortly after her meeting with the enchanting, romanticized magician she comes into contact with another magically inclined being whose traits couldn't be further from howl's, she is the legendarily sinister witch of the waste, a rather large, grotesque and somewhat generously proportioned hag ( I mean to say she's rather fat). She is as ugly as she is powerful, as Sophie soon finds out when the insanely jealous witch places a curse on her as a result of her encounter with the elusive howl , Turning Sophie from a frumpily garbed yet captivating beautiful young woman into a time ravaged, grey haired old lady, as if that wasn't enough the witch reveals one final but sinister twist in Sophie's curse " The best part about that spell, is that you can't tell anyone about it" she chortles as she leaves Sophie reeling in despair and its here Miyazaki's tale really takes off, without revealing too much (more that is) Sophie heads off to the wastelands, a place teaming with the magically inclined and stumbles upon howls moving castle as well as a host of other equally endearing friends, including turnip head a rather tatter some scarecrow with a secret , the disgruntled but often hilarious Calcifer the fire demon and the imp like Markl a young apprentice of howl's. The film offers a sentimental, heart warming tale of a band of misfits who were lost within the realms of normality finding a place (and a family) somewhere they least expected to, inside howls moving castle. The film has major helpings of tyranny, war, love, hate and of course the oh so relevant subliminal messages all Miyazaki's lovingly crafted masterpieces contain. Stunning visuals, engrossing storyline and the deliciously dreamy score make howls moving castle a cut above the recent batch in computer generated animations which lack both the character and charm howls moving castle so poetically portrays putting it on par if not above its Miyazaki predecessors.