Review of Howl's Moving Castle (2004) by Amoviecritic — 08 Jul 2007

Yet another classic from Miyazaki. His animation is so much more dazzling (to me) than any computer animated movie, and I really hope he continues to make animated movies even as he enters "old age.

" It's hard to really explain why this movie is so great. A girl is transformed into an old woman by a witch and boards a moving castle, (controlled by a kind-hearted wizard and his awesome fire sidekick named Calcifer, dubbed by Billy Crystal)with doorways that open into different places.

It's pretty incredible stuff. Japanese animation just has creativity and inventiveness that American animation just doesn't have (with the possible exception of Pixar.) It seems almost like it's from another world.

Really cool movie and I actually liked it better than Miyazaki's (good, but overrated) Spirited Away. Some problems with Japanese anime in general are present here. It's too long by about a half hour and it starts to make less and less sense as it nears its conclusion.

Also, the actions of a particular character towards the end of the movie become frustrating. Still, it doesn't take much away from what can best be described as (yeah, I know it's corny as hell,) "movie magic.