Similar to Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle is a sumptuously illustrated fairy tale with a pro-environment and anti-war slant, though unlike those modern classics, the anime titan's latest effort suffers from a narrative confusion that bogs down its initially effervescent spirit.
A gloriously animated fantasia blessed by familiar Miyazaki hallmarks -- vibrant, ethereal artwork; whimsical creatures; a rural world in which mysticism and technology happily coexist -- the film (being released in both subtitled and dubbed versions, the latter of which I saw) has a light aura of juvenile romanticism and a manic, tangible physicality that stands head and shoulders above anything previously crafted by the maestros at Japan's legendary Studio Ghibli (including Katsuhiro Otomo's recent Steamboy).
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; "A honeycomb")