Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

I’m really getting into Miyazaki, the man creates some of the most original and fascinating fantasy worlds I’ve seen. In this outing the director strays from the Japanese into a fantasy world inspired by World War I era Europe, only here you’ve got cars that sport smokestacks, flying kyacks, wizard run apothecary shops, fire daemons and moving castles. The story concerns a young girl turned into an old women by a disgruntled witch, and the reclusive wizard she falls in love with. One of the things that is so great about these Miyazaki movies is that the characters seldom fall into easy ‘good’ and ‘bad’ categories, they are typically flawed individuals, each with their own agendas, strengths and weaknesses. In Moving Castle alone you have a jealous witch, once beautiful but now in denial about her age, a fire demon who has a good heart but makes a great show of being put upon, a talented wizard not willing to face up to potently threatening obligations, and his old teacher, somewhat bitter over a sense of abandonment. This is good stuff, well executed, and with something operatic about it. Excellent A list voice cast. 5 out of 5.