In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Friday, 13 September 2013

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

A chance encounter with a stranger results in a young girl being burdened with some old problems in this anime loosely based on the fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones. It injects a number of fascinating child-like ideas into the genre, but struggles to make them fit with more clear-cut notions of age, wisdom and inner beauty. The girl's story is fine, but outside of that things aren't well-defined or sturdy enough for the usual kind of Miyazaki magic to take hold often. There are too many random elements that don’t hold up under scrutiny.

3½ black feathers out of 5

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