To note beforehand: I've only read the DWJ book once, and I don't quite remember all the details, so I can't really say how well the movie followed the book.
The animation was so gorgeous! It's set in the sort of vague late nineteenth century Europe that Miyazaki has used before, but this setting is more urban and technological than the more pastoral Laputa and Kiki's Delivery Service. And, oh, I adored it. The cities, the crowds, the fashionable sort of Edwardian looking people, wah! And I loved the giant steampunk castle on its teetering chicken feet, along with the glass conservatory of the palace and the the airships and the beautiful fields of flowers and the rivers and cliffs. Watching a Miyazaki movie is always such a feast for the eyes. There's a little more CGI than I'm used to for a Miyazaki movie, but I suppose he's starting to use more. And oh, the way the castle moved and lumbered and lurched about, the way it creaked and breathed and snorted smoke! And of course Joe Hisaishi's music was wonderful as always. I was so glad that they left the song at the end in the original Japanese instead of dubbing it over. I really want to get it now.
The dub, I wasn't quite so enthusiastic about, but I sort of figured that would happen. But I did like Sophie's voice, so that was good. I think I like the British accents in the film more, possibly because the film looks like it's set in Europe, and so the broad American accents of Christian Bale and Billy Crystal sound incredibly out of place. Either that, or the American accents are too familiar to me, and I expect something slightly more foreign sounding to come out of the people's mouths. I wonder if people in Britain think British accents sound strange in dubs and American ones sound more natural? Or this could just be one of those weird me things. Also, it was very strange hearing Billy Crystal as Calcifer, just because he's so recognizably Billy Crystal. Ditto with Christian Bale as Howl, but then the strangeness was partially because Bale's voice is very masculine for the androgynous-looking Howl, but mostly because I'd just seen Batman Begins on Monday, and man, the conflation of Bruce Wayne and Howl was too much for my brain.
I really liked the character designs as well, particularly the horribly sneezy dog, which had me cracking up pretty much every time he was on screen. Especially when he couldn't figure out how to climb up the palace stairs! I liked the young Witch of the Waste, because she looked creepy without looking stereotypically witchy, and I adored the witch's henchmen, who were really creepy. Sophie looks pretty much like every other Miyazaki heroine, and Howl is flamboyant, but not quite as vain as I remember from the book.
Book comparisons, from the very, very few impressions I have: Howl doesn't seem to be quite as vain and self-centered as I remember from the book, with the exception of his hair dye tragedy ;). He just felt so serious and tortured the entire time, and I don't quite remember the Howl of the book being quite so much like that. Sophie was crochety, but possibly less so from the book. And I enjoyed how they had her age shifting around to sort of represent how much she thought about her looks, how she grew straighter and less wrinkled when she was less self-conscious, and how she reverted from being young Sophie to old Sophie when Howl mentioned how nice she looked. I thought it was a rather subtle way to hint at the fact that Sophie was the one keeping the spell on herself. I seem to remember Sophie being more magic in the book, but am not sure about that. I also seem to remember Calcifer having a scary moment or two, but I'm also not sure about this. I don't remember how the Witch of the Waste was portrayed in the book, or the role Madame Suliman played, but both of them ended up feeling a little too benign for me, even in the movie, and I don't quite remember the book being so concerned with Howl turning into a monster. Actually, I didn't remember that part as well, but I thought it was rather cool to watch in the movie, even if it turned Howl rather more angsty than trickstery.
Overall, I thought the movie ran a little longer than it should have, and I was a bit confused at the end because no one quite explained the point of the spell on Sophie or what the war was about anyway. But man, I loved the animation and all the little details and the entire world. Spirited Away still remains my favorite Miyazaki though. It's hard to beat the sheer strangeness and wonderfulness of the world of Spirited Away, but most of all, I adore Chihiro. I liked Sophie as well, but I felt that Howl's Moving Castle ended up being more Howl's story than Sophie's, so that even though she does seem to grow a bit during the movie, the real journey seems to be Howl's, and it's the mystery of Howl that drives the entire movie, despite Sophie being under a spell as well. I don't quite remember this in the book; I seem to remember the climax revolving around Sophie solving Howl's past, yes, but also finding her own power as a witch and something like that.
Come to think of it, I tend to prefer the Miyazaki movies that end up being about the inner strength of the heroines first and the wonders of the world and etc. second. While I like his male characters, they never seem to grow and develop quite the same way his female characters do when he focuses on them. Lupin was incredibly fun, but not all that deep (but really, really fun!). I liked Princess Mononoke, but San was more a character caught up in the giant events of the world, same with the girl in Laputa. My favorites so far are Spirited Away, Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, because even though some of the others are larger in scope and have gorgeous, gorgeous animation, I just like watching stories about girls growing up, I guess. Heh. Go fig. Anyhow, still have a few more Miyazakis to watch, and am so glad he didn't retire like he was saying after Princess Mononoke. Just... there are so many beautiful things on the screen, and I love that about the animation. I mean, I also love Pixar and some of the Dreamworks things that have been put out, but I'm just glad that there's still someone out there focusing on animating these visual feasts, since there already seem to be quite a few someones out there focusing on humor and good CG and the like (I'm not so much a fan of celebrity voicework, though).
Now I am going to borrow consonantia's copy of DWJ's Howl's Moving Castle and promptly reread it.
ETA: Oh, and I forgot... I was a little put off as to how quickly Howl and Sophie fell in love. I suppose I remembered a more antagonistic relationship and much more yelling between Howl and Sophie as Sophie cleaned the castle and reorganized everything. I mean, I found the newer, more angsty Howl very cute, yes, and I understood why Sophie fell head over heels, but I had sort of wished for something more argue-y. Wai, ok, this half-rememberance of the book is driving me crazy, so I really, really need to reread.
