Howl's Moving Castle Reviews

Surprisingly Good

I don't normally like the Japanese style cartoons, but this is very good. Having the voices of Christian Bale, Billy Crystal and other english speaking actors and actresses made it more appealing.

The story was strange yet enjoyable, basically a young girl is turned into a old woman by a witch and goes to work as a cleaner onboard a wizards moving castle! Sounds stupid but it makes a change from everything else.

A rare and splendid triumph

Hayao Miyazaki's new venture into his wondrous world of myth and magic is quite simply amazing.

I was always adamant that his 1986 feature 'Laputa: The Flying Island', recently re-released as 'Castle In The Sky' was the most superior animated movie of all time and would never be beaten. I have been proved wrong.

Howl's Moving Castle is a visual feast, combining a fantastic story by Diana Wynne Jones and Miyazaki's superb imagination. His portrayal of a world in style to the harshness of Industrial Revolution is overcome by the courage and love of its characters. There is so much to enjoy here, it’s a fun filled fantasy journey of excitement and adventure for all ages. Who says animation is only for children? Hop on to the moving castle with Sophie, Howl, Markl, Calcifer and Turnip Head for a truly remarkable cinematic experience.

Brilliant!!!

Me and my 7 year old daughter loved this film. We both loved Spirited Away and this has the same surreal feeling. Maybe not quite as good as Spirited Away but still worth watching. But be prepared it's nearly 2 hours long.

Unnerving and quietly profound.

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is the latest anime offering from Japanese master film-maker, Hayao Miyazaki. While many are saying this doesn't reach the level of his previous release, 'Spirited Away' I think they are doing a great disservice to Miyazaki. Indeed it teaches lessons about greed and nature and the difference between good and bad, in the same way as in previous films, however in “Howl’s Moving Castle”, the lessons are more evident and that may make it harder for children to take in. But aside from the moral aspects of the film, the animation is again top class, the characters larger than life and the story, while slow at times, delivers what in my opinon, is a great piece of anime. As a long time fan of Miyazaki's work, and animation in general I will indeed be sad if this turns out to be his last film. This is a good film, maybe not for very young children, and so is 'Spirited Away', but do yourself a favour and watch it in Japanese with English Subtitles, as this is how it was meant to be seen, the dubbed verson just does not convey the feeling and mood that is so important in Miyazaki's films.

When will it make sense?

I do love japanese animation - and 'Howls Moving Castle' is great nearly as good as 'Spirited Away'.

Miyazaki needs to be taken aside and told to knock 30 minutes of all his future films. This gets very tiring towards the end and none of it seemed to make sense. He just doesn't seem to know when to finish a film.

Great design, great ideas, amazing animation.

Close to perfection

Not quite as stunning and captivating as 'Spirited Away' and 'Princess Mononoke', two of director/writer Miyazaki's previous films, but still an epic masterpiece.

To fully appreciate the brilliance of these films you should watch them with the original Japanese soundtrack and read the english subtitles. I noticed that the Hollywood actors tend to paraphrase, improvise and generally simplify a lot of their lines - which in my opinon detracts from the magic of the film. Also the out of sinc dubbing is more distracting than subtitles. The animation was drawn after the Japanese vocals were laid down, so there is a more organic and naturalistic effect when watching in the intended language.

Also Billy Crystal grates somewhat as Calcifer, Tatsuya Gashuin does a much better job of the fire demon. That said Chrstian Bale, Jean Simmons and Lauren Bacall all turn in typically excellent performances as Howl, Grandma Sophie and The Witch of the Waste.

This is a timeless film for all ages it has a feel of 'The Return to Oz' especially with the mute character of Turnip Head, a beautifully animated scarecrow - who despite never saying anthing has a wonderfully loveable and magical quality.

I highly recommend this to anyone with a penchant for Fantasy, Roamnce, Adventure and Comedy - it incorporates all of these genres and more besides.

Watch this!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Your stereotypical Japanese animation.

I've not seen many of these Japanese animation films really, but I have to be honest what I have seen, I'm not that keen on. This was no exception. Initially, I was only really interested because I discovered Christian Bale and Billy Crystal were voicing two of the characters in it - which I totally didn't expect. Yes the animation is great - often superb. And there's so many imaginative ideas and creativity to it, really the only thing that kept me watching. But like all of these Japanese animations, it's really obscure, sometimes a bit naff and on a whole never seems to make any sense. There isn't nearly enough explained to the audience of what the hell the story is about, and new characters just seem to pop up all the time without any real idea of who on earth they are. It's as though the creators just make it all up as they go. I do sort of understand why so many people love these movies, they are unlike anything else I've ever seen, the characters and onscreen visuals are certainly unusual and therefore quite interesting and entertaining to watch, but I think it's certainly an aquired taste and I for one am not impressed. Instead, I find them pretty boring, there's really nothing to keep you keenly watching. And I couldn't really get close to any of the characters either. I expect this will be the last one I will bother with for some time.

Loose Ends

This film has had some of the highest reviews on this site. I thought that this meant that I had missed a gem. True, there are some nice moments in the film. As with many of this genre it is pretty 'out there' and the artwork is rather beautiful. I watched halfway through and then had to go out, I was dying to get back and watch the rest, see how it all pans out. This is my main gripe with this film. Visually stunning but has little depth and the plot goes out the window (a bit like 'Akira', cult film but nonsensical). What annoyed me the most were the sort of rule changes to the 'curse' of the main character and no explanation as to quite why things occur. It is different and beautifully gentle in it's pace and sweet at times but if I am to follow a film I want the plot to make sense rather than go off on a tangent.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Simply Brilliant.

Great animation with this entertaining tale. For myself you cannot beat the original Japanese sountrack, but for a more child friendly approach the English dub has more humour in the lines, especially Billy Crystal's ad libs.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Wonderful

Its nice to see they can still make animation classics like this. This is in every way as good as any Disney treasure and im proud to have watched it. I may be in my forties now, but who cares when you can feel like a kid, like an adult, transported to another world of wonderful fantasy and most of all highly appreciative of all those involved in bringing this delightful animation to the big screen. A pure delight to watch and it will stay in my mind for many years to come.