Current Events > Just watched howl's moving castle. Wtf did I just watch. Spoilers

(+) Yeah! (+)

This movie is so nonsensical I didn't understand anything that was going on. Why does howl have his own castle. Did Sophie break the curse she still had gray hair. And she was weirdly cool with the witch turning her old and hideous. And then the dog of the other witch joins their party? Its such a strange movie.

Howl himself seemed like an ass, an unlikable one, he was no merlin or Gandalf from sword in the stone

Oh good I read some other topics and other people agreed the movie had a nonsensical plot

The reason Sophie probably didn't care much about being cursed is because she didn't really seem to value her youth much to begin with. Her sister basically says as much to her, and she wasn't really living life, spending her time away from other people and doing an activity (sewing) that's commonly associated with older women. Something i've noticed while rewatching the movie several times is that she always looks younger again whenever she has a moment of strong passion, and so the takeaway you're supposed to have may be "you're only as old as you feel". Her embracing her love for Howl restored her to the youth she was supposed to have, but her hair remained gray as a reminder.

The dog was supposed to be spying on Howl for his master, but he took a liking to everybody and decided not to do it. He only ever "reports" to her at the end of the movie, after Howl's curse is broken.

Turnip head >

GrandConjuraton posted...

The reason Sophie probably didn't care much about being cursed is because she didn't really seem to value her youth much to begin with. Her sister basically says as much to her, and she wasn't really living life, spending her time away from other people and doing an activity (sewing) that's commonly associated with older women. Something i've noticed while rewatching the movie several times is that she always looks younger again whenever she has a moment of strong passion, and so the takeaway you're supposed to have may be "you're only as old as you feel". Her embracing her love for Howl restored her to the youth she was supposed to have, but her hair remained gray as a reminder.

The dog was supposed to be spying on Howl for his master, but he took a liking to everybody and decided not to do it. He only ever "reports" to her at the end of the movie, after Howl's curse is broken.

Thanks I really liked that assessment! I also had a similar thought for Sophie. At first I was feeling dumb and actually thinking wait did they make a mistake with her animation but then her voice changed to be young again so I started thinking that maybe it has to do with love like maybe love breaks the spell since whenever she's happy or excited she changes back to being young.

Noumas posted...

Thanks I really liked that assessment! I also had a similar thought for Sophie. At first I was feeling dumb and actually thinking wait did they make a mistake with her animation but then her voice changed to be young again so I started thinking that maybe it has to do with love like maybe love breaks the spell since whenever she's happy or excited she changes back to being young.

You're welcome, :)

I really like Howl's Moving Castle, so it's something i've thought about a lot myself. It's actually a pretty clever way of injecting a moral into the story without actually beating you to death with it, >.< . It's a little more subtle than many stories with a moral, and that's something I give it points for.

I love Howl's Moving Castle