I thought it was great, and I am a fan of both other Miyazaki films and the DWJ book. It's non-linear and complicated (but not as much as the book!) and the ending cops out in wrapping the war up very quickly and for once Miyazaki giving a resolutely happy ending, but it's still a superb bit of story-telling.
It's very much about how things change shape according to the intentions and knowledge of their heart, and that their integrity slips and can collapse when the heart is removed - but this is not easily discerned under the story-telling. It's the house and Howl and Sophie and the Witch of the Waste and even the Scarecrow.
What the scarecrow does perhaps is stand for that 'one good man(person)' whose restoration can alter the whole course of the war. He is a figure who has been lost (and therefore a primary cause of the war) but this is only fleetingly mentioned in an aside early on in the film.
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It's very much about how things change shape according to the intentions and knowledge of their heart, and that their integrity slips and can collapse when the heart is removed - but this is not easily discerned under the story-telling. It's the house and Howl and Sophie and the Witch of the Waste and even the Scarecrow.
What the scarecrow does perhaps is stand for that 'one good man(person)' whose restoration can alter the whole course of the war. He is a figure who has been lost (and therefore a primary cause of the war) but this is only fleetingly mentioned in an aside early on in the film.