My 150 Favorite Movies - #103

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Based on Diana Wynne Jones' novel about a young girl cursed by a witch, and transformed into an old woman, Howl's Moving Castle is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful movies ever. Made by famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, whose films are generally noted for being visually stunning, Howl's...was praised by the critics for it's ability to combine "a childlike sense of wonder with sophisticated emotions and motives." To quote Peter Travers in Rolling Stone: "There's a word for the kind of comic, dramatic, romantic, transporting visions Miyazaki achieves in Howl's: bliss."