Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle is the latest masterwork from Japanese animation master Hayo Myazaki (spell?). The plot is anything but simple, as we follow the adventures of Sophie, an ordinary girl who runs a hat shop, who gets swept into the life of a nuerotic sorceror named Howl, after she gets turned into an elderly lady by the curse of a jealous Witch. Along the path of Sophie's bizarre trip, we meet a variety of bizarre characters including a strange little dog, a mouthy fire demon, and an unfortunate scarecrow nicknamed "TurnipHead". Plus, let's not forget that Howl moves around in a massive "Castle" with chicken legs that has doorways that enter all over the world, and that Howl himself can turn into a strange bird monster. Oh, and there's a massive war going on between two countries. Like I said, complex.

Which of course, is half of the unrelenting joy that is this film. The other half is just the skill with which Miyazaki unleashes the film upon us. The beautiful, flawless animation, the mind blowingly serrene scenery, the complex machinery designs, the variety of character designs (which range from whimsical to nightmarish), all of this is only enhanced by the deft, surehanded characterizations that are a hallmark of any Miyazaki film. The character of Turniphead, who has no speaking lines, is better developed than virtually any character Vin Diesel has ever played (except for Riddick in the original Pitch Black, but that's a rant for another time...).

As far as themes go, we get Miyazaki's all-time favorite themes of A) a coming of age story (present in almost every one of his films (except of course for his Lupin the 3rd movies, cause, y'know Lupin's already come of age and he's horny to boot...)), and B) a character with no magical abilities in a world of magic who only prevails through the strength of her (or in a few of his films, his) heart and determination. In addition, there's a strong anti-war theme present in this film. Whether this is a reaction to the current state of world affairs, or simply a theme Miyazaki just hasn't gotten around to previously is unknown (Note: There is a little bit of an anti-war message in "Princess Monanoki", but even then the fighting is somewhat justified. In this film, war is viewed as being an act of stupidity, further punctuated by the fact that certain wizards turn themselves into monsters in order to serve their country better, and the king of one country is portrayed as a numbnuts buffoon.)

Long story short, "Howl's Moving Castle" is an absolute must watch. If you gotta drive a few hours to watch it somewhere (I had to go to Indiana for goodness sakes!) then do it, it's worth it. Infinately.