My daughter Brooke is a real Miyazaki fan! If you are not aware of his work, you should give it a look. As an aspiring artist, Brooke really enjoyed the special screening of Howl's Moving Castle at the Walt Disney Studios that was offered to both of us by our marketing team. They were interested on what kind of feedback the film would receive from kids like her.

She loved it. Creatively speaking, Brooke really fed off this incredible movie. We even took some of her friends to see it at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. Brooke's favorite characters were Calcifer, the dog and of course Howl himself.

She was particularly drawn to the character design, the landscape art, as well as the adventure storyline. Brooke seems to prefer traditional animation (cel) to the computer-generated approach.

I noticed that Brooke also liked how the characters transformed into something else. Especially how the moody Howl's demeanor changed when his hair would transform and he turned to "goo."

Oh, by the way, when we got the DVD we watched it a few hundred times more (just kidding)! Hayao Miyazaki has created a journey that goes beyond imagination, and it certainly captivated my daughter's.

Brooke and I whole-heartedly recommend Howl's Moving Castle as an inventive, humorous, and beautifully animated addition to your DVD collection — it will put a spell on you!

— Ron Regalado