I had recently watched My Neighbor Totoro and was not that impressed, so when I watched this I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. This was a beautiful and magical love story with delightful imagination. This is one I would like to own.

Best movie on DVD ive watched so far in 09. i LOVE storytelling that comes from outside our western, judeo-christian, mindset.

This movie changed my life. I’ll never ever ever grow tired of it. Its so beautifully made, and the story is heartfelt. I wish I could put into words how much Miyazaki has contributed to this earth.

I thought this would be just another miyazaki film, but it is an absolute must see. In my opinion it tops Spirited Away (which by the way is one of the top 1000 (or 100?) movies you should watch in your lifetime).

You can really feel this movie, so creative and mysterious but still is able to capture your heart.. haha.. you’ll get it once when watch this!!!

What an absolutely enchanting and beautiful movie.

specifically to erik- you will love this because it deals a lot with the elderly in it and the day-to-day plight of the elderly. i still liked spirited away the best though.

It is Miyazaki, what can you say? Wonderful, fantastic, moving. I love how intuitive it is and I look forward to my kids watching it 2000 times over the next few weeks so I can pick up on the little things I missed on the first few viewings. I love how Sophie’s looks are plastic, changing, depending on what is going on. That is certainly how life feels to me.

And I love the idea of true love.

In just about every Miyazaki film I’ve seen, there are these cute, silent characters. These are my particular favorites (although it’s hard not to love Calcifer in this movie) because they say so much without words. And Miyazaki doesn’t disappoint in Howl’s Moving Castle. To me, characters like Turnip Head are the most unique and interesting in the movie and they really contribute to the overall plot and vision of the movie.

Of course, overall, this film is just good. The story is original and interesting, like all the Miyazaki films I’ve seen so far.

I’m not sure if I like Howl’s Moving Castle or Spirited Away better, but it makes no diffence since they are both wonderful films. There are many likable characters in this, but calcifer and the boy were my favorites.

One thing that I like about both Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away is that they both not only have a touching moral, but also there is no true villian. No matter how awful you think the bad guy is, you find out that they only appear that way because of a personality flaw or something that has happened to them. This seems so much more real and ultimately redeemable than the strict antagonist.

Howl’s Moving Castle centers on themes of love, beauty, war and maturity. I would recommend it to both kids and adults.

I see a lot of people have been confused by the story of Howl’s Moving Castle. I’m not sure why. If you pay attention then it’s very, very easy to follow.

This is a movie with some of the most interesting characters you’ll ever see. My favorites are Calcifer, Turnip Head, Sophie, Howl, the Witch of the Waste…Well, all of them are excellent.

The voice casting is great, too. Billy Crystal, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall and Jean Simmons (not the one from Kiss!) all do an excellent job.

This is a fantasy film, and with that comes a lot of mythology. I’m sure the book explains a lot of it in depth, but you only have 2 hours in a movie, so some of it is going to come at you rather quick. Mizayaki is such an incredible storyteller that you won’t question any of it. This, more than anything, is a story about relationships and growing up, anyway (as most Miyazaki films are).

If you’ve never seen any of Miyazaki’s films then it will blow you away. I think it’s his best, though most would say that Spirited Away was. I just feel like this is much more original.

um, yeah

this movie is pretty much my heart

or my calcifer, i suppose, to those in-the-know

and the book’s pretty sweet too. :]

Great animation but the cheesy story and dialogue made me lose interest.

Howl steals my heart. ♥

Like Michiel siad, I like/buy anything out of Studio Ghibli. However, I have to say this wasn’t their best one.

It’s okay (the animation is better than I expected), but I really don’t get what the big deal is. It’s confusing, really weird and the ending expects too much of a suspension of disbelief to work.

If I try, I can keep my expectations pretty low.. but man, the majority of this movie made no sense at all.

It was kind of pretty. Except when she was making no sense at all Sophie had her wonderful attitude.

I just didn’t get it. And well – it’s a kids movie, I’d like to think that it’s not because I’m dumb.

This is an awesome work of Miyazaki’s, and i could watch it about a month ago. We had to wait for it a long time (here in Hungary, i mean), but it really worthed it! I hope, i could read the original book – there is no hungarian translation there yet.

Magical and sweet, an instant classic!