Odd and wonderful

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2018)

After shy and demure hatmaker Sophie is transformed into an old woman by a vindictive witch, she ends up lodging in the mobile home of mystical shapechanging birdman Howl and his strange household, as warfare threatens to engulf the country.
A fantasy tale by a Welsh author is set in an area based on provincial France by a Japanese animation studio, and the peculiar fusion of mismatched elements works perfectly. Visually, it delights constantly. Narratively, it has you always on the wrong foot as Sophie gamely accepts her curse and strives to do the best for others and, in so doing, finds a strength within herself which she never believed she had.
This film is beautiful, joyous, emotional, and hugely satisfying.