Okay. I have to start by saying that this is ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS IN THE WORLD EVER. Really. It's really wonderful. And this review is going to contain spoilers for BOTH the book and the movie.

So don't go to the long review unless you HAVE ALREADY READ THE BOOK.

I mean it.

But if you haven't read the book, this is a pretty darn good movie. The plot is full of interesting details, the characters are varied, Howl and Sophie are very cool (Old Sophie's voice is Jean Simmons), and the animation is excellent. I thought Spirited Away had better animation, but most of the animation in that movie was non-human creatures; it's harder to animate humans believeably.

And the backgrounds, the town, the cars/planes/trains...and the CASTLE! Wonderful.

Miyazaki fans (of whom I am sort of one, I like his later stuff so far) will really enjoy this, it's very good...if you haven't read the book...