No amount of description can prepare you for the visceral nature of the visual astonishments Miyazaki has created.
Comment
06/10/05
Howl's Moving Castle (2005)
85
%
Tomatometer
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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.
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Genre: Childrens
US Box Office: $4,520,887
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
Reviews for Howl's Moving Castle
101 - 120 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
It's magic.
06/10/05
A Miyazaki film couldn’t breathe in a world already populated and established. It exists on its own as a fantasy whose only constraint is that it has to eventually end.
06/10/05
Charming, peculiar, and occasionally ingenious, Howl's Moving Castle tilts between fantastical beauty and philosophical pondering.
06/10/05
It's like a combination of Beauty And The Beast and The Wizard Of Oz with an extra dose of comedy - not a bad mix for an entertaining fairy tale.
06/10/05
This is a film meant for more mature youngsters, teens and adults and is best viewed on the big screen.
06/10/05
Docter's English vocal cast make "Howl" possibly Miyazaki's funniest outing without diluting any of Miyazaki's artistry.
06/10/05
Miyazaki doesn't push children down a familiar path. He takes off the training wheels and dares to ask young viewers to imagine alongside him.
06/10/05
Too abstruse for general American audiences. But if sheer animated beauty is up your alley, Miyazaki’s latest is an inviting daydream, easily worth your time.
06/10/05
Even a lesser Miyazaki effort is superior to 99 percent of its American contemporaries.
06/10/05
Exhibits an Alice in Wonderland puckishness in its characters and their absurd situations, and an underlying spiritual calm [unlike] the usual animated franticness.
06/10/05
Miyazaki's engaging touch for the surreal counterpoints the film's antiwar message nicely.
06/10/05
Decades from now Howl’s Moving Castle will be looked back at as a classic.
06/09/05
Another charming and inventive fairy tale every bit as good as [Miyazaki's] past offerings.
06/09/05
Howl's Moving Castle is a wildly imaginative and artistic adventure, but one that isn't easily understood.
06/09/05
This movie often soars, blending a childlike sense of wonder with sophisticated emotions and motives.
06/09/05
Top CriticMovie magic is only as powerful as the imagination that casts it. Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki's imagination is the most creative in animated filmmaking.
06/09/05
A regression for Miyazaki from his last two films in almost every sense.
06/09/05
even a lesser Miyazaki effort is superior to 99 percent of its American contemporaries
06/09/05
...only the most die-hard fans of director Hayao Miyazaki will find something here worth embracing.
06/09/05
Latest News for Howl's Moving Castle
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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