This is the third Miyazaki film I've seen and I think I liked it even better than Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. It may have something to do with the mythology of the story being a little more accessible to me in its Western-ness. (That's Western as in the opposite of Eastern, not as in cowboys and six-shooters.) Whatever the reason, I really enjoyed this one. Miyazaki has such a great sense of the fable, and is a master of creating a feeling of epic in his films. Something about his movies grabs me on a very visceral level. The only problem is that I tend to leave his films a bit confused. I can never quite put my finger on just what affects me. With Howl's Moving Castle, I got the feeling that there was a lot of background from the novel that was left out. No matter, I'll just have to put the book in my reading queue. My last thought is that I think at some point I'd like to see a subtitled version. A lot of times English-speaking voice actors tend to overdo anime, and this one was no different. Christian Bale, especially was over the top, although Emily Mortimer and Jean Simmons had their moments, and Billy Crystal was surprisingly good.

Viewed: 6/14/2005 | Released: 6/9/2005 | Score: A

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