 Okay, let's just agree that if this was a live-action film, How would definitely be played by Timothy Chalamet. You see it, right? Ooh, that's a hot mug, guys! Hi guys, this is my review for Howl's Moving Castle. Another film that was suggested to me by the same friend who suggested Spirited Away and I get it. I get why everyone loves this movie. There's just so much to like about this film, not just the animation, but the world that it's set in, the story, the narrative, the world building, the fantasy element. And I'm not a big fantasy guy either, but I got ingrained in this world. I got ingrained in Sophie's life. Sophie is such a great character. I enjoyed this character so much. And while her spell going back and forth between the aging thing was a little kinda convoluted at sometimes, the changing in between with the animation style was so well done, I think I didn't care at that point. I had a running stream of consciousness to this friend of mine, and I'll just read some of the texts that I sent her. I'm relating to the old Sophie character far more than I should. Howl looks like a final fantasy character. The food is making me hungry. Howl has earrings that would make George Michael jealous. He also has magnificent hair, like, goddamn. I am sexually confused by Howl. Yeah, Howl, this dude's a good-looking dude. Not gonna deny it. And the fact that he's voiced by Christian Vail is just bizarre to me. Like, there's times where he's in his animal form that it worked, cause I kind of was relating it to Batman, but Birdman, I guess, a little bit. But when he was as normal as could be, the voice and him just, it was a little perplexing at times. That's probably one of the big me I'll have. Again, this is just watching the English version if it was the original Japanese version. Maybe I wouldn't have such an issue, but I find that a little bit odd. However, however, the actresses that voiced Sophie, both Emily Mortiger as young Sophie and Gene Simmons as old Sophie, that is a perfect combination. This is one of those cases of two people voicing the same character at different times, and the matching is bingo. The speech pattern, the tone of voice, down pack, both of these ladies. Fantastic voice casting! Just a great movie to watch from a visual standpoint too, because while we're getting entrenched into this interesting war, this alternate steampunk version of a mixture of World War I and World War II, the bombings are obviously something reminiscent of the bombings of France, Germany to the First and Second World War, and England through the Second World War. The idea of just kings and countries going against each other for reasons that are kind of lost amongst the people, and really more so obviously just for, say, war sake. The fantasy element entwined into that, the witch of the waist, how kind of being this free-roamer, but wanting to still help people, and trying to end the ludicrousness that is the war. But I was talking about the animation. The animation is just so fluid, and it's not just a great visual show like it was whispered away. There's technology that's implemented in this. When House Castle is moving, as well as falling apart, just seamless, seamless. Calcifer, who, lovely voicing by Billy Crystal, by the way, such a cool element to see him moving. I'd love to see how they animated him. Then the world in general. Apparently Miyazaki kind of based the world off of France, a certain area of France, and you can see that with the countryside, the architectural style, the definitely the costume design. It's such a beautiful movie to watch, and such a great movie to enjoy. However, that little note I made at the end of Spirited Away, where Miyazaki kind of felt like he had to cram a shit ton of plot. It was 20 minutes with Spirited Away. This time it's 10 minutes. Turns out the turnip, who by the way, I was actually almost afraid I was going to die. A turnip scarecrow. When Sophie kisses him, he turns into a prince who's been missing apparently this whole time. His spell was apparently broken by True Love's first kiss, but that's instantly not the case because she's in love with Hal. So that part is a little bit like, otherwise though, I actually can full on 100% agree with people who love this movie. I can understand the appreciation for the art style, the music, the voice casting, the full on commitment to this world. I almost want to read the book, but I have a feeling that it might be different. It could be totally dead on, or it's going to be completely toned down from this. Both outcomes are entirely plausible. In the end though, I'm going to give Hal's Moving Castle a 7 out of 7. I never thought I would do this for this kind of movie, but I'm happy it's this one. Anyways guys, I hope you enjoyed this review. If you did leave a like and if you're interested in more, subscribe. Otherwise, stay safe out there, wash your hands. I'll see you guys in the next one. Thanks for watching the video. My name is Knitz and you might remember me from the animated cult classic TV show Undergrads. It's been a while, but I'm happy to say the click is finally getting back together in an all new movie, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. But we are still asking for your support. To see any and all updates about the upcoming Undergrads movie, be sure to check out and like the Bring Back Undergrads Facebook page. And with any luck, we'll see you guys soon.