Perfection is the only word that comes to mind when I try to describe this movie, while it itself is relatively old (1998) the years have done nothing to diminish from the luster it presents. Although I have been hearing about it for many years now, I personally only saw it recently and I believe that would be a result of my first impression being that is was somewhat childlike and boring (probably due to seeing the big walking chicken feet castle in the trailer). I finally decided to watch it (had nothing left on my pc I had not seen) and to my pleasant surprise it is now hands down my favorite animated film, replacing Princess Mononoke for the number one spot, both directed by the prominent filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.

The movie is set in a pre World War I setting where magic and sorcery is incorporated in everyday life and revolves around a young 18 year old girl called Sophie who was transformed into a 90 year old lady due to a witches curse. Sophie ventures out in attempt to find someone to undo the curse and encounters a magic scarecrow who leads her to meet Howl, an extraordinarily powerful but infamous wizard who was rumored to eat the hearts of beautiful women, Calcifer, a powerful fire demon who powers the Castle and enables it to move and Markl, the young apprentice of who often creates potions and spells for Howls customers. Sophie begins living in the castle as the cleaning lady and the story moves on with Howl trying to avoid being involved in the war due to his pacifist nature and Sophie slowly but surely falling for him as his weak but good underlying nature becomes more prominent.

While the animation is not the best in the world it suits the story perfectly, giving a fantasy world feel where anything is possible. The music was wonderfully chosen and expertly placed in the appropriate places in the movie. The characters each played their roles flawlessly and there was no discrepancies throughout the film. Overall I give this movie a Perfect 10 and I recommend to everyone, if u haven’t seen it, there’s no better time than now and if you have then it’s always worth another watch. Once again thank you Hayao Miyazaki for another animated masterpiece.

Plot : 10
Music: 10
Pacing: 10
Animation: 8
Conclusion: 10
Overall: 10

ps. if ure wonderin why overall is 10 when i have animation as 8 then…. keep wondering