Howl's Moving Castle

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

An organic, childlike wonder, fabulously unpredictable and seethingly inventive.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

You run across animation this ingenious about as often as a moving castle comes your way.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Perfect for anyone with a youthful heart and a rich imagination.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Parse it any way you like, Miyazaki's gifts as an animator place him in a category of his own. To see his latest film is to be somehow reminded of Italians who could hear Verdi's operas as soon as they were sung or English readers who could experience the novels of Dickens episode by episode.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The movie's dreamlike spaces and characters are sometimes worthy of Lewis Carroll.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Howl's Moving Castle is one animated epic that has it all: poetic intensity, potent storytelling, vivid and surprising characters, and intoxicating powers of visual imagination.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

It's one of the best and strangest films of Miyazaki's career.

Newsweek David Ansen

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

Premiere Glenn Kenny

The plot is pretty convoluted, but Miyazaki has a very good handle on it and lavishes his customary heart, humor, and inventiveness on every situation he depicts.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A picture from an old man working at the top of his game.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Movie magic is only as powerful as the imagination that casts it. Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki's imagination is the most creative in animated filmmaking.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The worldview, the sense of childlike fun shaded with adult melancholy, and the joyful, serene attention to visual oddity and wordless beauty could only be made in Japan. And, specifically, made by Hayao Miyazaki.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Another soulful gem from the peerless Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Sophie, in both her incarnations, joins an impressive sisterhood of Miyazaki heroines, whose version of girl power presents a potent alternative to the mini-machismo that dominates American juvenile entertainment. Not that children are the only viewers likely to be haunted and beguiled by Howl's Moving Castle - all that is needed are open eyes and an open heart.

Time Richard Corliss

The perfect e-ticket for a flight of fancy into a world far more gorgeous than our own. The film doesn't halve itself to appeal to two generations. At its best, it turns all moviegoers into innocent kids, slack-jawed with wonder.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A moveable feast of delights.

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

In the best moments of Howl's Moving Castle and in his extraordinary body of work, Miyazaki teaches his viewers more valuable lessons.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Clever and often enchanting.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

There's a word for the kind of comic, dramatic, romantic, transporting visions Miyazaki achieves in Howl's: bliss.

Variety David Rooney

The tireless volley of ideas and inventions make this a delight that should connect with kids and adults in both dubbed and original-language versions.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

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

TV Guide Ken Fox

You'll gladly surrender to the whole gorgeous muddle.

Slate David Edelstein

Because of its convolutions, Howl's Moving Castle isn't quite as transporting as "Spirited Away." But it's a moving bridge between his lyrical fancies and his outrage. Miyazaki is like a soulful cartographer of the soul, mapping our inner landscape, leaving us bedazzled.

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

A wise and wonderful parable.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

With its bold screen-filling imagery, this is definitely a movie to be relished on the big screen.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The filmmaker's obsessions have got the better of him. That said, I can't recommend the film highly enough, since bad Miyazaki is still leagues better than anyone else.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Miyazaki may not have achieved the level of "Spirited Away," but he's still ahead of the curve.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A richly inventive, slightly eerie animated movie from Japan.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The story, which also involves an asthmatic dog and a scarecrow, is more accessible than "Spirited Away" but less transporting than that Oscar-winning masterpiece.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It is almost inevitable that Miyazaki, often compared to C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, should have found in Diana Wynne Jones a kindred spirit.

The Hollywood Reporter Richard James Havis

Consequently, though it's difficult to work out what's going on, it's never boring.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

While Howl’s Moving Castle is far from perfect, it’s still a very good movie. It’s just not a great one.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The voice acting, from new Batman Bale to the almost unrecognizable Bacall is fine – even Crystal reigns in his usual Borscht Belt bravado – if a little plain.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

While the movie contains delights and inventions without pause and has undeniable charm, while it is always wonderful to watch, while it has the Miyazaki visual wonderment, it's a disappointment, compared to his recent work.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Miyazaki's movies are as stunning as they are confounding.

Empire Staff (Not credited)

Just as Miyazaki seemed on the verge of properly crossing over, he serves up an anime riddle wrapped in an enigma - though with all his usual charm, wit and hand-drawn beauty.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The movie is practically incomprehensible.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The plot of Howl's Moving Castle meanders so listlessly that its details become less and less charming.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie made almost no sense whatever to me. I literally could not follow it, even as I was dazzled by it.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Miyazaki, like an evil sorcerer, has plucked the heart out of Jones's story and left it there to die.