Howl's Moving Castle

I think Miyazaki is at his best when he is working on a subject that is really important to him personally (e.g. his own childhood or his views on humans' relationship to the environment, generally vis-a-vis technology).

Therefore, I think My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Nausicaa, and Princess Mononoke are among his strongest films. Conversely, I think Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Howl's Moving Castle are among his weakest films, since they are homages or adaptations of things that aren't as resonant with Miyazaki himself. Apparently, Miyazaki changed elements of the story of Howl's Moving Castle to resonate more strongly with his beliefs (according to Wikipedia, he added the war element because of the war in Iraq), but modification pales in comparison to construction.

That said, Howl's Moving Castle impressed me in some ways and disappointed me in others.

I was satisfied with the visual style and animation. I think the CGI was incorporated pretty seamlessly into the film, and there were some fantastic sequences of magic. The moment when Suliman jabbed the ground with her stick, launching Howl and Sophie into a constantly morphing realm, was awe-inspiring. I liked the way Miyazaki explored greater and greater depths of the characters' powers, visually.

I was dissatisfied with the incredibly neat, happy ending. I was fine with Howl and Sophie getting together at the end, but I thought Turnip Head being restored to a prince by Sophie's kiss was too much. I wonder why Miyazaki chose to end the film this way, against his usual style. I think it would have been interesting to leave threads of the film unanswered and unsolved, but pretty much everyone is fine at the end. It's possible that he thought this would be his last film and so went for a happy ending to sum up his directorial career.

Of all of Miyazaki's films, I think this one would be interesting to see in English; it might have more resonance with the English novel (which I haven't read).