Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle (Saturday, June 11, 2005)

Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Rating: PG
Release Date: June 10, 2005
When seen: Opening Night
Venue: Cineplex Odeon Shirlington 7
Arlington, VA
Review: Another Miyazaki Masterpiece

Hayao Miyazaki has produced yet another masterpiece. In Howl's Moving Castle, a young lady, Sophie, is magically transformed into an elderly woman and falls in with a dashing (okay, he's freakin' gorgeous) wizard named Howl, who has a bizarre relationship with a fire demon and lives in a house... on legs. The setting looks like an early 20th century Europe in places that hadn't quite caught up to the new time period yet. The scenery is very pretty, the characters are very cool. Surprisingly, the movie was in Japanese with English subtitles, but I'm hoping for an English language dub before it is released on DVD. There is a lot going on in the movie and characters are trying to accomplish certain goals and do certain things... but I had some trouble following it... still, it was cool, even if you aren't quite sure what's going on. Like most Miyazaki films, Joe Hisaishi did the score and the music during the closing credits is wonderful. I was somewhat disappointed that his music didn't come out more during the rest of the film, however, and there were a couple of scenes that might have reduced me to tears if Hisaishi's work had been brought out a little bit more. So while it doesn't beat out Spirited Away or Laputa, it is still wonderful and highly recommended!

—Brian (06/11/2005 8:32 PM)