Last week I went to see Myiazaki’s latest, the truly wonderful “Howl’s Moving Castle”. Myiazaki just gets better and better. Many of his lifelong motifs turn up in hits movie: weird aerial machines, magic, human flight, the absence of a true villain, and an a powerful anti-war statement (as Wizard Howl prepares to destroy a flying war machine, Sophie asks him: “Is it one of ours?” and he replies with utter contempt: “What difference does it make?”) Superb!
The story concerns a shy and self effacing hat maker, Sophie Hatter, who lives in a town where war preparations are taking place: Tanks roll the streets, military parades go by under the cheering of the population. The new gossip is that a moving castle has been wandering in the outskirts of the town. The castle belongs to a powerful magician, Howl, who is reputed to kidnap pretty ladies and eat their hearts.
Sophie goes to town to visit her mother who works in a bakery, and while on a side street is harassed by two soldiers. A handsome stranger rescues her, but then they are both pursued by dark creatures. Suddenly the stranger holds her and both fly into space. Sophie is literally swept off her feet. Later, for reasons that will become clear later, she meets the Witch of the Waste who curses her, and transforms her in to a 90 year old woman – part of the curse is that she cannot tell anyone about it. Ashamed of her new appearance, she decides to run away and goes to the Waste to find someone who can break her curse. Eventually she comes across Howl’s moving castle and becomes the house keeper. Howl is of course, the handsome stranger who saved her in the town. She does not reveal to him who she really is and goes about cleaning the castle and cooking.
In the castle, besides Howl lives his apprentice Markl, and a fire demon, calcifer who is responsible for the castle movement, and who is under Howl’s power due to some sort of arrangement he cannot talk about (just as Sophie cannot talk about her curse). Calcifer says to Sophie that he has the power to free her, but in return she must spy on Howl and find out how to break his arrangement with the wizard.
And this is just the first ten minutes! For the next two hours, an excellent script with plenty of twists and thrilling moments kept me at the edge of the seat. The animation needless to say is short of miraculous, to the point where you simply forget you are actually watching a cartoon.
Don’t miss it, arguably Myazaki’s best to date.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.