Howl's Moving Castle has the logic of a dream: behind every door lie multiple realities, one more astonishing than the next.

| Mar 13, 2018

[Miyazaki] may have made better films than Howl's Moving Castle, but it still exhibits his amazing imagination and astonishing detail.

| Dec 8, 2014

Howl's Moving Castle is Japanese and anime, and therefore automatically more artistic than its US counterparts. The right cultural cachet gives you a lot of leeway.

| Dec 8, 2014

A floatingly delightful fairytale with its heart set on repealing the law of gravity.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 8, 2014

Miyazaki's vision is an extraordinary one, and Howl's Moving Castle confirms his fascination for transformations, for dangerous journeys and strange adventures.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 8, 2014

Miyazaki isn't interested in the jolts of surrealism so much as imbuing his audience with the idea that reality can change at any moment, and change back just as quickly.

| Dec 8, 2014

What you get, above all, is some enchanting flashes of classic Miyazaki and the nagging sense that something essential is missing.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 19, 2013

It's the hand-drawn images that carry most of the magical freight... What a moveable feast of delights.

| Nov 19, 2013

A strange delight awash in visual splendor, understated humor and clever body-and-soul transmogrifications among its bonny band of weirdos.

| Nov 19, 2013

A richly inventive and enchanting delight.

| Nov 18, 2013

A stunning example of a pure, disorienting dream logic that cinema provides all too rarely.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2008

Palaces and shimmering lakes, warplanes and fire sprites all come to life at the breath of Miyazaki's graphic genius.

| Sep 7, 2008

The risibly cloying closing scenes are likely to nix any remaining goodwill, blotting out such delicate early touches as a stroll through the air far above a town square.

| Jun 24, 2006

Miyazaki has an appeal that crosses generations. Adult audiences are drawn to the depth and variety of his vision, but so are kids, and for exactly the same reasons.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 17, 2006

There is giggling, belly-laughing, and gasping to be done watching Howl's Moving Castle.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2005

Miyazaki's animated adaptation of Jones' book is a charming and thoroughly absorbing treat.

| Sep 26, 2005

As much of a hand-drawn treat as Spirited Away, chock-full of numinous sunsets, fabulous organic machinery and gratuitously delightful touches.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 24, 2005

Youngsters and Miyazaki fans will coo at the world's depth and rich surreality, but opaque plotting, and a tendency to mope with Sophie whilst Howl is off affecting events let the momentum of the first act vanish into thin air.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 18, 2005

It's not Miyazaki's best work, but it is leagues beyond any traditional 2-D animation out of 3-D-mad Hollywood lately, and more beguiling than anything Disney's done in ages.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 25, 2005

While there's no denying Miyazaki's visual flair and tip-top draughtsmanship, I found myself less than enchanted by the mile-high convolutions of the plot, and frankly bored by the final half-hour.

| Jun 21, 2005