Review of Howl's Moving Castle (2004) by Ariseandbe — 07 Aug 2015

Howl's Moving Castle narrowly beats Spirited Away as my favourite Ghibli film.

I might be a tad biased because it's also the first one I watched and is really what got me into Japanese film in general but even after watching it a dozen times years later I can honestly say that it's the best. Sophie and Howl both dramatically develop as characters throughout the plot, with Sophie coming out of her shell and Howl essentially growing from a moody teenager into a man who, instead of running from responsibility chooses to stay and confront them head on.

There's plenty of humor with the Witch of the Waste and Calcifer being absolutely hilarious. The plot sometimes gets a tad bit muddled but that's easily forgivable because it never collapses and instead travels on a different path, turning from a fantasy film into a love story.

Miyazaki really outdid himself with the visuals of this movie from the steampunk like moving castle to the scenes where all we're doing is staring at the sea and yet are completely mesmerized.

Everything about this movie really makes it my favourite and I recommend it to everyone.