A wonderfully original story. Had it not been for the sappy ending, I would rate it a perfect ten! (spoilers)

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2005)

'Howls Moving Castle' is one of my favorite animated feature films. I wasn't as impressed with Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away and have yet to see any of his other feature films. But this one, however, has great characters, a sense of humor, a unique plot, and would have been perfect in my book had it not been for a the sappy ending in which everything is easily and predictability resolved Walt Disney style. This being the same unfortunate state that marred another one of my favorites, Garden State.
'Howl's Moving Castle' refers to just that, a floating contraption which looks like an island conglomeration of houses and trees which move around on robotic legs and emit plenty of pollution. Our main character is not actually Howl, but a young girl who befriends Howl, but through a curse, is turned into an old woman. Trying to figure out how to restore herself, she finds work in the Moving Castle as a maid where she befriends it's few residents--a young boy, a ball of fire (or rather, the igniting soul of a fire, and the mysterious Howl. In the meantime, she likewise becomes involved with Howl's participation in an ongoing war. The plot by this point becomes slightly complicated to explain without giving too much away only because several other characters enter the story, imposing a few more subplots.
The beauty of this film is, unlike other animated features, not wonderful by any means for the animated style. For the most part, if you've seen one Japanimated cartoon these days, you've seen them all in their inglorious, standardized form. And perhaps, this is where Hayao Miyazaki and his film-making team should experiment with new styles and approaches. Instead, the beauty of the film, at least for me, is largely due to such a unique and engaging story. I am normally not a fan of this genre, but I really enjoyed this particular one.