Taken Back to being a 'tween' again

Rating: 9/10 (27 August 2006)

For foreign films, I find that watching a film first in its original language is more insightful than seeing it first in an English language dubbed version. I saw both versions of Hauru no ugoku shiro/Howl's Moving Castle and loved this lovely piece of animation.
I've always been a fan of pacific rim animation and was exposed to it at an early age, at its early age. Some of the best characters and stories as a child and pre-teen came from many of these artists, so I am always interested in looking at recent animations and animes. If I were 6 again, I would love the heck out of Howl's Moving castle as I did those pieces of animation and anime. Even now that I am older, I think this is just a wonderful whimsy piece of animation.
The images/the animation in this film are remarkable especially: Howl's Moving Castle. You cannot deny how much work was placed into just this piece. Every time it came on screen, it catches your attention. Just wonderful. The story was whimsical and as with many pieces of animation and anime of this kind, you have to suspend your belief and just be taken away by the entertainment. The story is simple: a very shy unconfident girl (Sophie) gets cursed by a vengeful witch who turns her into a 90 year old. She hides in Howl's moving castle until she can find a solution to her problem - hoping that elusive Howl can also find a solution to her problem.
Once in Howl's very strange castle, you do keep hearing: "How can you help me when you can't solve your own problem?" Even when Sophie finds the witch who cast the spell on her the witch relies, "I can only cast spells, I cannot take them back." How odd! But that tells you much about this film as well.
And then there is Howl. Why is he elusive? What is he trying to do? Is he good or bad, or just trying to escape both to find out exactly who he is? You actually watch Howl's transformations as he himself battles this out. It's quite interesting to see.
As in much animation and anime of this kind, nothing is tied up nicely-neatly and there are a few things that make you think about it afterward. But this is a story of sorcery, of change, of strength, of war, of peace and finding enough love within yourself to love others.