On comes... Howl's Moving Castle. Its a Studio Ghibli movie for those of you who haven't seen it... and then of course shame on you for not watching. But I forgot how much I liked this movie. 1 part love store, 1 part adventure and 1 part magic and wonder...
The story takes place in a world where wizards and witches exist and most of the vehicles seem steam powered. Our main character Sofie is a young girl working in a hat shop owned by her mom... you hear in the opening minutes about how wizards like to steal the hearts of young beautiful girls. Sofie doesn't believe shes pretty... A short time after, shes cursed by the Witch of the Waste and becomes and old woman. Afraid to face her mom she leaves home as an old woman only to run into the moving castle in the wastes. And so her time in Howl's castle begins. Along the way she falls in love with Howl, befriends a young boy names Marco and the fire demon running the castle, Calcifer.
This is such a great story about War, love, self discovery and finding one's own way. I may have to watch a few more of these classic movies like Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away.