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Reviews Counted:144
Fresh:123
Rotten:21
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: Exquisitely illustrated by master animator Miyazaki, Howl's Moving Castle will delight children with its fantastical story and touch the hearts and minds of older viewers as well.
Theatrical Release:23-09-2005
Synopsis: Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away") takes moviegoers on an amazing new animated adventure that celebrates the power of love to transform and the resiliency of the human... [More]
Starring: Emily Mortimer, Christian Bale, Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Miyazaki, now in his mid-60s, has a refreshing and persuasive way of relating youth to old age and callowness to wisdom. Rather than presenting them succeeding each other and fighting for supremacy, he shows them coexisting peacefully.
Meanders so listlessly that its details become less and less charming. Miyazaki's storytelling style resembles that of a breathless young tot who's fearlessly exercising his newfound powers of expression.
Miyazaki continues to astonish with the sheer artistry and breadth of his vision.
Miyazaki may not have achieved the level of Spirited Away, but he's still ahead of the curve.
Speaking of enchantment, that's the ultimate thing missing from Howl's Moving Castle. That and soul.
There is no story, or rather, there's no force to the story, which meanders almost casually this way and that for no apparent reason.
This magical adventure delivers the goods.
Miyazaki is like a soulful cartographer of the soul, mapping our inner landscape, leaving us bedazzled.
A wise and wonderful parable of the passing moments of life, and dealing with both the advantages and burdens that make us individuals.
There's a word for the kind of comic, dramatic, romantic, transporting visions Miyazaki achieves in Howl's: bliss.
Another stunningly beautiful and beguiling work of animation from Japan's Hayao Miyazaki.
Unnerving and quietly profound.
The visuals cast a spell as wondrous as those that the wizards in the movie create, so the film is well worth seeing.
With its bold screen-filling imagery, this is definitely a movie to be relished on the big screen.
Those who appreciate Miyazaki's artistry will find much to savor, even in a work that may not rank among the director's best.
So good that it shames virtually every animated film made since Miyazaki's last film, Spirited Away, graced movie screens in 2002.
Dazzlingly imaginative, carefully observed, and suffused with a rare generosity of spirit.
The film is at its worst when trying to outright engage you and at its best when it doesn't pay the audience much mind.
At its best, Howl's Moving Castle offers a rich fantasy of adolescent escape, of romance in the old and epic sense.
No amount of description can prepare you for the visceral nature of the visual astonishments Miyazaki has created.
August 21, 2008:
Japanese Audiences Flocking to Miyazaki's Latest 
He delighted audiences with Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle -- and now director Hayao Miyazaki is doing it all over again with his latest film, Ponyo on the Cliff by the... More...
March 20, 2007:
Will Miyazaki's Next Film Be His Last?
It's been speculated that legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki will retire after the release of his next film, "Ponyo on a Cliff," but now it looks like we'll have at... More...
October 19, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Flags" Flies High; "The Prestige" Is Magic; "Flicka" Is A Pretty Good Ride; "Marie Antoinette" Spared Critical Guillotine
This week at the movies, we've got a complex tale of heroism (Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," starring Ryan Phillippe), a story of dueling magicians... More...
October 03, 2006:
Miyazaki Prepares Next Animation Classic
Let's face it: When the director of "Spirited Away," "Princess Mononoke," and a whole bunch of other brilliant pieces of animation announces that he's about... More...
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