It was definitely brilliant, flawed but brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (11 March 2006)

I'd have to say I really enjoyed this movie. Just as much as I enjoyed Spirited away. Graphically it was stunning. Storywise it was pretty good. its the kind of brilliance you've come to expect from a Miyazaki film.
Its definitely easier to count the ways it IS like the Howl's Moving Castle novel by Diana Jones than the ways that it isn't, because aside from the characters- and the two subplots where Sophie is turned old by the witch of waste, and the way Calcifer is bound to Howl, the movie and the book are very different story wise, and other character wise. Even character personality wise.
At first I thought that would be a bad thing, but now, its not. Now the two can stand alone without being compared to one another. I kind of like that idea. Saves the heated debates you see with the Harry Potter movies for example. lol.
The casting was very good. Especially in Japanese. The English cast was pretty good, but I could not grow to like the English voice for Sophie. The voice for young Sophie seemed way too old for her, it sounded like a thirty year old voice in an 18 year old body kind of thing. the voice was too loud, too deep, the British accent, while I believe the actress is British, it sounded almost fake it was so over enunciated. it didn't grow on me. but other than that, it was great casting.
Its a very good movie as long as you don't expect to be seeing Diana Jone's book come to life. the two are pretty different. but in a good way. Its a stunning artistic work from Miyazaki and its got a little bit of everything. Romance, action, comedy, drama and while the two are very different, there are little nods to the novel that inspired the film. there are some confusing "How did, when did and why did that happen" moments in the movie, but I noticed that in Spirited Away and Only Yesterday. So it must be a Miyazaki thing. ^_^ 9 out of 10.