Yet another Miyazaki anime

Rating: 7/10 (30 October 2005)

Howl's moving castle is a very Miyazaki anime. And like the recent Miyazaki amines, e.g. Spirited Away, this is a slight let-down.
I don't know whether it is intended in the original or whether the adaptation just wasn't good, but the plot of the movie is rather thin. It's set in a warring European state (Germany? Austria?) and there's this sorcerer, Howl, who wants to use his power to stop this war. Impressive, but not quite there. The fact that this subplot seems so weighty but weakly developed makes it ultimately look superfluous. So is Howl's obsession with beauty and the involvement of the Queen of the Dump.
There's a lot of dazzle in the movie (walking and flying in the air, exploring Howl's past, Califer's powering the moving castle) like Spirited Away, but like Spirited Away, the film floats on too thin a plot to make it memorable like Miyazaki's previous works. And in fact, Spirited Away and Howl's moving Castle share a lot of common elements (a monster/animal/what-do-you-call-it turned human, which or who can fly, an ingenuous girl brought to a place full of magic, black-shadow like demons, etc) one constantly reminds the audience of the other.
While still enjoyable on the whole, the lack of freshness of the storyline renders it an anime with a Miyazaki plot built on a different set.