“Summer of Film #7 of 100”:http://www.devanshanu.com/things/2005/06/12/2005-summer-of-film/
There is no way to speak of this film without dealing in superlatives- Howl’s Moving Castle, from Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) is the most imaginative animated fantasy I have ever seen, the best animated film I have seen since Finding Nemo and probably the best film I have seen so far this year.

Most promos and reviews describe the plot as the story of a girl who is the victim of curse that turns her in to a an old lady, but this is not the plot. It is only the event that sets her out on a journey that is part Wizard of Oz, part Sound of Music and part.. well, part its own fantastic world where each seen is populated with fascinating characters and objects, each character has a range of strange quirks and each plot point has the potential to spawn days of idle childhood daydreams. This is the movie that will make a child of you if you are not one; and if you are, then this is the movie you will carry with you your entire life. You will grow up with dreams of the flying wizards, the fire demon and the magic portal door of the most magnificent house/castle ever put on film- i.e. Howl’s Moving Castle. And what a castle it is (Click on the thumbnail for a better view). This humongous, creaking, crawling contraption with gears, levers and pulleys out of every corner is the star of the film.