Customer Reviews
Enchanting - By: Rae, 03 Jul 2008 
Howl's Moving Castle is one of those rare gems which seem to have everything & suit everyone. There is a beautiful romance, magic, action, humour, vivid & detailed artwork...
It is a film which can be viewed on many levels - the storyline could be understood without difficulty by a child, yet someone older will find a huge amount to question and, through coming to conclusions themselves, the film's overalll message is not dictated to the viewer, making it mean something slightly different to everyone. The strong anti-war message which runs throughout the film is made alll the more powerful by the fact there seems to be no clear aim to the fighting- a theme which links to the reality of some of today's warfare.
However, this film is not, as the above paragraph may make it appear, highbrow or depressing. It is heart warming & uplifting, a wonderful fairy tale of the power of love, inner beauty & self esteem in a magical land, with a castle which can be in four places at once, a young girl transformed into an old woman by an evil witch, an extremely handsome but very vain wizard & many more bizarre & imaginative, yet beneath the outer layer, very human characters. The voices in English are brilliant, yet the Japanese subtitles are equallly enjoyable, being different to the dubbed English. Howl is slightly old-fashioned in his speech which goes perfectly with his flamboyant attire & his romantic disposition & (for those of us who don't speak Japanese) not being able to understand the characters' speech adds to the magic of the story being set in another world.
No, the film is not loyal to the book- Miyazaki seems to have taken inspiration from the novel, not copied it, which adds the extra bonus of being able to read the book & enjoy it as an (almost) totallly new story.
Reallly, there is very little to fault about this film, so buy & enjoy it; many times over!
Animation Genius - By: Solstice Of Light, 18 May 2008 Myazaki's often touted as a master of anime, but whenever I've thought of buying one of his works, I've always been put off by what I've thought are pretty lame story-lines.
However, when my brother bought this, I had to see it, & I'm glad I did. The animation is far beyond any I've seen to date. None of this "repeat" animation, where the wind blows through your hair in exactly the same way. You can tell you're in safe hands with the animation, & the colouring is just as comfortable as the movement.
As for the story itself, it's not action-packed, but it does keep moving. There's a story to tell, & it doesn't just dwell on unimportant bits; in fact, it doesn't dwell at alll, yet it's never rushed either.
If you like a calm, touching film, & you want to get into anime, this is the best place to start.
If you're into anime & can sit back & just relax, you've got to buy this.
If you're into action packed anime, this might not be for you, but you should rent it just so you can say that you've watched the creation of a masterpeice from the best artist in anime.
Magical - By: Onewithall, 03 May 2008 See some of the other reviews if you want more detail, but I'm just going to say this film is brilliant. You'll be wishing life was as cosy as this! It just fills you with a warmth from beginning to end. It's definitely on a par with my other favourite animated film, the zany Spirited Away which you must also watch. I viewed it in English, which some say is taboo, but either way you're going to love it. When you buy this it will truly be an unregrettable DVD purchase. Actuallly, stop reading these reviews & buy it now!
Magic of The Movies - By: J. J. O'neill, 01 Apr 2008 This Anime-style adaption of the great book of the same name by British children's author Dianna Wynne Jones is a worthy version of that story & a work of art in its own right.
The art, particularly the Monty Python style Moving Castle, is brilliantly realised. The characters are well established, even the bad guys are given time to develop, & the plot races along without crashing once. Humour & pyrotechnical battle scenes enliven the story without seeming out of place or gratuitous.
The book, inevitably, has more space to develop the crucial relationship of Howl & Sophie, & sadly many of the pleasingly bizarre episodes in the original: e.g.the mighty wizard Howl's brief return to his Welsh roots, are not translated to the screen. Overalll, the humanist tone of Dianna Wynne Jones' work is well captured in this film.
Some readers may find rather too much emphasis placed on violent conflict in this cartoon, particularly in its latter stages, but equallly,fantasy film fans may be pleased at this level of exciting action, not present in the book.
In alll, a very interesting & enjoyable film that will hopefully gain DWJ some more fans too.
Excellent - By: D. I. Smith, 23 Mar 2008 This is perhaps the most accessible of the Studio Ghibli productions for the UK audience ( closely followed by Kiki's Delivery Service )
Unlike "Spirited Away" ( with it's Japanese bath houses & radish spirits ) this has a more british edwardian or european feel for the first half before the bombing sequences
Yes there are gaps in the back story & it does vary from the original book but on its own merits this is a masterpiece
