Anyone else not convinced by Howl's Moving Castle?

To preface, I am a MASSIVE Ghibli fan, but I'm not active in the fandom so I have no idea if this is a common or bad take but I'm purely interested.

I haven't watched the film in years (even though 'Merry-Go-Round of Life' is my most listened to Ghibli song) and I kind of feel... meh? I think most of my 'meh' lies in the character of Howl - I like to think I have pretty good media literacy but I just wasn't convinced by his character, it felt sort of contrived, and at some points a little boring. The plot was kind of muddled and unnecessarily complex where other Ghibli films are simple (maybe due to the fact it's an adaptation?), and the characters (apart from Calcifer and Heen my glorious kings) just fee uninteresting and like a placeholder for someone or something more developed. I love the atmosphere setting and soundtrack don't get me wrong, and the VA's are amazing, but it just didn't click for me. I understand some films just don't click for people but I'm really surprised this didn't.

Also, I haven't read the book so I'd love some comments or explanations to do with that - where did the missing plot endings go?

Thank you!