Howl’s Moving Castle

Head on over to AICN, or more precisely, this article, to see something that should absolutely make your week. That’s right, the English language trailer for the brand new movie from Hayao Miyazaki, Howl’s Moving Castle.

The movie is an adaptation of the story by Diana Wynne Jones, and deals with a young girl who is transformed into a 90-year-old woman by a witch’s curse, and who then travels to the titular moving castle of the titular wizard, who has also been cursed by the witch. More info about the movie can be found at Nausicaa.net.

I’ve read a few reviews of the film (it opened in Japan in November of 2004), and all have been pretty positive. Some have said it doesn’t quite rank up there with Miyazaki’s best, which only makes sense I suppose, seeing as how it’s following the one-two punch of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. However, even the least of Miyazaki’s films (which for me would be Porco Rosso) have moments that are sheer magic and well worth sitting through the entire film.

And even if the film is somewhat lacking, it should come as no surprise that the film looks absolutely amazing. The castle, with all of its moving, heaving, and breathing, is fantastic, the set designs (which once again borrow heavily from pre-war Europe) are wonderful, and the character designs as lovely as we’ve come to expect from the master.

Howl’s Moving Castle will be released in the United States on June 10, 2005.