Not Miyazaki's best

Rating: 8/10 (17 April 2005)

I am not an expert on Japanese anime or on the director by any stretch of imagination. That said, Howl is the 3rd animation I have seen from Miyazaki. I think it is generally a respectable work, immensely enjoyable from start to late into the film, but somehow the last 20 minutes or so seems less polished in terms of story and character transition, resulting in a *slightly* disappointing ending. One aspect I really like from Miyazaki's works is that the characters are almost never one dimensional--for example our master Howl who first seems like the perfect leader may have surprised us when his semi-metrosexual attitude is revealed. In this manner, Howl's Moving Castle, like the other films I have seen by Miyazaki, blends reality (imperfect human traits) and rich imagination (excellent visual) in its magical universe.