Review of Howl's Moving Castle

Sophie is a young shy hat maker working for her mother in an alternate-world turn-of-the-century European town. A wizard named Howl rescues her from a couple of lascivious soldiers only to be chased by a horde of waste demons. They escape to her sister Lettie's place. She is later visited by the Witch of the Waste and turned into an old woman. She runs away and encounters scarecrow Turnip-Head. After helping it, it leads her to Howl's Moving Castle. There she encounters the fire demon Calcifer who Howl uses to power the castle. Calcifer offers to break her curse if she could end his servitude. Sophie pretends to be new cleaning lady Grandma Sophie. The Mayor arrives at the Great Wizard Jenkins with a request from the King to fight in the war. Howl's apprentice Markl is able to switch between various exits and with various disguises. Then the other king invites Great Wizard Pendragon to join in the war. Howl is known as both wizards and unwilling to help either side. Madame Suliman threatens to take away his powers before he is lost after losing his heart.

This is an interesting world. The start sets up an easy fantasy with an evil witch and a haunted hero. The twist is the heroine gets turned into an old hag. About midway, the movie takes an odd turn that deviates from that easy formula. The evil witch becomes powerless. There is a new villain but she's not really a villain. This is an anti-war movie but it isn't so straight forward. Even the simple love story gets a last-minute true love detour. While the world is amazing, the story seems to delight in odd diversions from the formula.