Although certainly miles ahead of the average cartoon around these days, this is not the best Miyazaki.

Rating: 7/10 (19 September 2005)

One thing that will always be evident in any Miyazaki film is the director's imagination. The worlds he creates are incredibly characteristic. However, up until Princes Mononoke, these worlds were also accompanied by a solid story, which allowed the director to express himself and at the same time made sure the audience was not confused and the theme of the movies was delivered withing their time frame.
Howl's Moving Castle and in my opinion Spirited Away move on a basic story thread and theme, but the individual actions of the characters are sometimes unexplainable and impolitic. In Princess Mononoke, in every action we could see the motive. This is not always the case here.
Besides that, this movies reminds us a lot of Miyazaki's previous works, like Laputa. As a result, this world does not seem as impressive as the ones we've been used to so far.
What gave me the worst impression was the ending. To me it was so over the top that it made one forget the rest of the movie and the other themes just to focus on the relationship between Howl and Sophie.
In the end, how bad can a Miyazaki movie get? At worst, it will be simply quite good and that's what Howl's Moving Castle is. I could not use a negative word for a Miyazaki film, so let's not say that it is his worst, but it is definitely the least good.