On the weekend that his latest film, Howl's Moving Castle, opened in limited release Japanese anime creator Hayao Miyazaki was profiled in the lead article in the 'Arts & Leisure' section of the Sunday New York Times.  Writer A.O. Scott called Miyazaki the 'world's greatest living animated-filmmaker' and noted that viewers attending the Miyazaki retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art may find 'your perception of your own world refreshed, as it might be by a similarly intensive immersion in the oeuvre of Ansel Adams, J.M. W. Turner or Monet.' 

High praise indeed, but even these accolades fade when compared with those showered on Miyazaki in a review of Howl's Moving Castle by veteran L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan.  'To see his latest film is to be somehow reminded of Italians who could hear Verdi's operas as soon as they were sung or English readers who could experience the novels of Dickens episode by episode,' he said.  'Like those fortunate folk, we can have the excitement of joy of seeing new work by one of the greatest animators who ever lived just as soon as he creates it. Future generations will envy us our luck.'

Although Howl's Moving Castle opened quite well in limited release (see 'Smiths Hammer Box Office') and has an 87% positive rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Website, not all reviews have been positive.  Roger Ebert, who has championed other Miyazaki films such as Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro, found the storyline of Howl's Moving Castle capricious and 'murky.' 

Ultimately viewers will make up their own minds about Howl's Moving Castle, but the high profile attention should result in a strong run in the arthouses and a solid performance on DVD.  Miyazaki's Nausicca, which was released in February, is the best-selling anime DVD in 2005 so far and his films, most of which are available on DVD now, can only benefit from the attention created by his Museum of Modern Art retrospective (see 'Howl's Moving Castle Debuts at MOMA') and the debut of his latest film.