Howl's Moving Castle (Steelbook)

Molto originale la storia, bellissimi i disegni, stupendi i fondali ed i colori brillanti. Un’opera che vale la pena possedere e conservare per sempre. Un autentico gioiello d’animazione del grande regista giapponese Hayao Miyazaki.

Miyazaki is part of the top four greatest animators of all time (Walt Disney, Frédéric Back and Norman McLaren being the three others). This movie is another proof of that. While not perfect, the movie is great. It's got great looking animation and art, awesome voice acting and beautiful, inspiring music. The characters are great and the storyline is very good. I would've rated this movie 4.5 stars if it was possible, only because it doesn't reach the level of artistic and technical quality other movies like Spirited Away have achieved, but that is a matter of personal taste. Nevertheless, Howl's Moving Castle is still i my top 20 best animated features of all time. It's story and characters will move you, especially Sophie, a young girl who doesn't have a very high esteem of herself and who learns to be stronger as she's turned into a 90-year old woman by a jealous witch. Get this movie, or at least rent it!

Hayao Miyazaki's 2004 animated film "Howl's Moving Castle" was another wonderful animated film that equals the quality of his past works that include films such as Kiki's Delivery Service , Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away . Not using as strong a Shinto theme as in "Princess Mononoke" or "Spirited Away", the story of "Howl's Moving Castle" is about a young woman named Sofie who works in a hat shop and is placed under a spell that makes her an old woman from the spiteful "Witch of the Waste". With war looming between Sofie's kingdom and a neighboring kingdom, Sofie leaves the city and wanders into the neighboring hills, which isn't easy for an old woman; but she meets a scarecrow who helps her find shelter. The shelter turns out to be a moving castle (a hovel) that is owned by the young wizard named Howl, whom Sofie had previously met. Walking into the castle, Sofie settles down in front of the fireplace and the fire, named Calcipher, begins to speak with her; but the exhausted Sofie falls asleep. The caslte's other resident, a boy named Markl, pretends to be an old man when around other people. Howl's castle doesn't just move on its own on a set of long legs, it also has a magical door that is a portal to several different locations simultaneously depending upon the setting. Sofie settles into the castle as a cleaning lady. Once war breaks out, the kingdom that Sofie & Howl live in attept to induct Howl into its army of other wizards to fight the neighboring kingdom in large, flying airships; but Howl wants no part of it and instead begins to fight the kingdom's forces to avoid being captured. Sofie, in the meantime, is in love with Howl; but will the spell that the Witch of the Waste put on her ever be broken? Will Sofie discover the connection between Calcifer and Howl? Will Howl be captured? Who is the scarecrow? You'll just have to watch this wonderful animated film to find out. With brilliant animation, engaging characters and an amazing story, I rate Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "Howl's Moving Castle" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. Though some amazing actors (such as Billy Crystal, Lauren Bacall and Christian Bale) provided their voices to the English version of the film, I prefer to watch the Japanese version with subtitles. The film was nominated in 2006 for a "Best Animated Film" Oscar, but the Oscar ultimately went to the 2005 animated film "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit".

If you're in the EU and if you do not have a region-free Blueray/DvD player, DO NOT BUY this. It's not coded for EU region and the player will NOT read it. I made the mistake and have to return them as I will not buy a region free player.

Happy to have the tin case. Fortunately, it did not have any damageas far as I can tell. This is a fun movie, not the most faithful adaptation to a book, but it's still a fun adventure to watch