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Howl's Moving Castle

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Credits: Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and starring Josh Hutcherson, Akio Otsuka, Lauren Bacall, Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Emily Mortimer, Blythe Danner, Jena Malone, Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashuin, Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mitsunori Isaki, Yo Oizumi, Daijiro Harada and Haruko Kato.

Details: (PG), 119 mins, Japan, English

Synopsis: Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer), an average teenage girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome-but-mysterious wizard named Howl (voiced by Christian Bale), and is subsequently turned into a 90-year old woman (voiced by Jean Simmons) by the vain and conniving Wicked Witch of the Waste (voiced by Lauren Bacall). Embarking on an incredible odyssey to lift the curse, she finds refuge in Howl's magical moving castle where she becomes acquainted with Markl, Howl's apprentice, and a hot-headed fire demon named Calcifer (voiced by Billy Crystal). Sophie's love and support comes to have a major impact on Howl, who flies in the face of orders from the palace to become a pawn of war and instead risks his life to help bring peace to the kingdom. 

Genres: Animation/3D, Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi

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Spectacular visuals and offers greater depth than the more popular CGI.

Although Miyazaki uses 2-D animation, it seems to have greater depth and feeling than anything I\'ve seen lately through CGI. It\'s much easier to suspend your disbelief. Western audiences might find the traditional Japanese mysticism confusing at first, but if you let yourself go, you\'ll dive head first into a parallel world in which magic and nature work together. Miyazaki trusts that children will pick up on his complex ideas and accept them more readily than an adult audience. I think he brings real wisdom to the art of animation, something that Hollywood doesn\'t have a hope of doing.

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