Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Rated PG for frightening images and brief mild language

 

Runtime: 2 hours and 4 minutes

 

Genre: Animation, Adventure and Drama

 

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

 

Writer: Hayao Miyazaki

 

Actors: Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal and Josh Hutcherson

 

Budget: $24,000,000

 

Box Office: $238,035,537

 

Feedback: Interesting concept, themes and creativity, but the focus does get a little lost. The age change does make sense to Sophie. She is my favorite character when she is younger. I also did like most of the characters including Howl, Calcifer and Markl.

The animation is not bad, but the moving castle, the way it looks computer graphic does get a little distracting. A few backgrounds look cool when the castle teleports in different places and focuses on socioeconomic status and landscape.

 

Overall Verdict:

Story 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (7)

Character/Dialogue 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (7)

Animation/Colors 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (6.5)

Pacing/Timing 0 1 2 3 4 5 (3)

Background/Sets 0 1 2 3 4 5 (3.5)

Music/Audio 0 1 2 3 4 5 (4)

Camera/Editing 0 1 2 3 4 5 (4)

35/50                                           7.0/10