In theaters

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Pete Docter and Rick Dempsey, written by Miyazaki, based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, 118 minutes, rated PG.

If it weren’t for the stellar, 2005 appearance of “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle” would be your winner for this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Picture.

The movie is a richly conceived, vivid fantasy pic, and while the more structured, crowd-pleasing “Gromit” will take the award, it’s the risk-taking “Castle” that’s fueled by the more daring, complex imagination.

It is, in fact, a movie liberated by its imagination, which somehow wasn’t constrained by a studio’s bottom line. How it escaped being tweaked to serve the largest possible audience is anyone’s guess, particularly given Miyazaki’s considerable distribution deal with Disney. Still, one has to assume it’s because of the respect reserved for Miyazaki, the great Japanese anime artist whose “Princess Monoke,” “Castle in the Sky” and the Academy Award-winning “Spirited Away” are all forces in the medium.

Revoiced by English-speaking actors and adapted into English by Pete Docter and Rick Dempsey, the film uses traditional 2-D animation layered over more technically advanced 3-D animation. The result is a movie that looks exactly as it should – a mix of old and new, which is fitting since the film is set in a bizarre universe of high-tech space- ships roaring through an otherwise Edwardian society.

The film focuses on Sophie (voice of Emily Mortimer), an 18-year-old milliner unprepared for what it about to befall her when into her life storms the wicked Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall). With an avalanche of doughy fat suffocating her thick neck, this large, lumbering glob of a woman sails into Sophie’s shop with barbed insults at the ready: “What tacky hats,” she says. “And what a tacky girl in a tacky shop.”

Before Sophie can tack this Waste woman to the pavement, the witch robs her of her youth and turns her into a 90-year-old woman for reasons that won’t be revealed here.

Now bent and wrinkled with age, Sophie, now speaking with a voice provided by Jean Simmons, finds herself on a spellbinding path of self-discovery. Circumstances lead her to Howl (Christian Bale), the mysterious young wizard who lives in the film’s most stunning creation – a giant, nuts-and-bolts castle that smacks of Monty Python by way of a junkyard. There, Sophie finds work as a cleaning lady while all around her corruption breeds as the war Howl is secretly fighting begins to ignite along an unseen periphery.

It can become confusing, but as any fan of Miyazaki knows, entering into one of his worlds isn’t without its share of risks. You go into his movies expecting anything but a linear plot, and he doesn’t disappoint in not offering one here.

Describing what follows is pointless; on paper, it wouldn’t make sense. Toward the end of the film, logic also struggles to hold up onscreen. Still, if you give yourself over to “Castle” as Miyazaki hopes you will, it can be an indescribably moving experience.

Quirky characters are the mainstay here – there’s the fire demon, Calcifer (Billy Crystal), a grinning scarecrow with a surprise, an old dog who becomes Sophie’s friend, a bitter witch (Blyth Danner) with an ax to grind, and a young chap (Josh Hutcherson) who apparently can grow hair at will. They all bolster the ethereal, anything-goes mood, which is just right since what “Howl’s Moving Castle” amounts to is anyone’s guess.

Grade: A-

On video and DVD

ZATHURA, directed by Jon Favreau, written by David Koepp and John Kamps, 113 minutes, rated PG.

Jon Favreau’s “Zathura” hails from the beautifully illustrated book by Chris Van Allsburg, whose companion book, “Jumanji,” was turned into the inferior (yet popular) 1995 movie with Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt.

Mirroring “Zathura,” “Jumanji” featured a board game that wreaked havoc on the family that played it; the only way out of the chaos was to end the game – no easy feat when elephants and rhinos are bulldozing through your living room.

With the similarities so apparent, audiences stayed away from “Zathura” when it appeared last summer, which is a shame since the movie is a rousing sci-fi tale that never panders, with a plot that takes unexpected directions into harrowing rooms.

The film has real gusto, delivering the sci-fi goods with an intelligent script and direction that are backed by swell special effects.

The core of the story is steeped in something real – the bickering sibling rivalry between 6-year-old Danny (Jonah Bobo) and his 10-year-old brother, Walter (Josh Hutcherson), who refuse to get along; the divorce that split their family apart; the distraction of an absent father (Tim Robbins) trying to do his best; and a teenage sister (Kristen Stewart) who is at that age when little brothers shouldn’t exist.

These elements ground the movie in something identifiable, which is key since the moment Danny finds the antique Zathura board game in the basement and pushes the bold red button on its side, the family house zips into outer space. There, hovering along the cusp of the galaxy, deadly meteor showers begin to pelt the roof, deep freezes have their way with certain siblings, and Zorgon alien attacks aren’t just the order of the day – they might end it.

In all, a fine, often genuinely exciting movie that trumps “Jumanji” and especially that other film based on an Allsburg book, the creepy Christmas horror movie with the Nazi undertones, “The Polar Express.”

Grade: A-

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

THE VIDEO-DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Archie Bunker’s Place: First Season – B

Batman Begins – A

Broken Flowers – A-

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – A-

Cinderella Man – A

The Constant Gardener – A-

Cry Wolf – D

Diff’rent Strokes: Second Season – C

The 40-Year-Old Virgin – A

The Gospel – C+

Growing Pains: First Season – C-

Guess Who – C+

Happy Endings – C+

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – B-

In Her Shoes – A-

The Interpreter – B+

Into the Blue – C-

Kung Fu Hustle – A

The Legend of Zorro – C+

Lord of War – C

March of the Penguins – A

Millions – A-

Must Love Dogs – C+

North Country – B+

Oliver Twist – B+

Poltergeist: The Legacy-First Season – B

Red Eye – B+

Rent – C-

The Skeleton Key – B

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – B+

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride – B+

Transporter 2 – B-

Undiscovered – D-

Upside of Anger – B

Valiant – C-

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – A

War of the Worlds – B+

The Wedding Crashers: Uncorked – B-

The Wedding Date – B

Zathura – A-