Howl's Moving Castle (2005)
Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Good idea lost in the noise
Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess
Its a brilliant movie...i really did enjoyed watching it..all the charactrs are just wow..but it still confuses me how sophie randomly turns from the old lady to her oldself
A magic spell turns a young girl into a ninety-year-old lady. However, this spell in fact becomes a form of freedom that encourages her to be herself and gives her courage to take risks, so she takes the journey of challenge to go into the magic world full of witches and wizards.The protagonist, Sophie's youth has offered her few opportunities, while being old frees Sophie's determination to reach her goal, to assert her presence and her will. After the arrival of the castle, Sophie takes up the role of a responsible housekeeper, putting the household in order. In turn, the magic castle and its residents give her new experiences, where she has learnt to deal with the problems and confusions from both human nature and magical situations. In the process, her dynamic energy necessary for change and renewal brings transformation to the castle into a warm family. Also, she has grown up with strong will, braveness to express love and protect her beloved ones, which marks her distinguished characteristics. Domestic peace has also been brought by her and Howl as a happy ending of the film.This film well represents Miyazaki's ability to illustrate hope for future, with positive energy enabling audiences to cope with realistic challenges, for which it always remains my favorite.
All ways end up watching this movie when I find it on it strange and fun.
Sophie is a young shy hat maker working for her mother in an alternate-world turn-of-the-century European town. A wizard named Howl rescues her from a couple of lascivious soldiers only to be chased by a horde of waste demons. They escape to her sister Lettie's place. She is later visited by the Witch of the Waste and turned into an old woman. She runs away and encounters scarecrow Turnip-Head. After helping it, it leads her to Howl's Moving Castle. There she encounters the fire demon Calcifer who Howl uses to power the castle. Calcifer offers to break her curse if she could end his servitude. Sophie pretends to be new cleaning lady Grandma Sophie. The Mayor arrives at the Great Wizard Jenkins with a request from the King to fight in the war. Howl's apprentice Markl is able to switch between various exits and with various disguises. Then the other king invites Great Wizard Pendragon to join in the war. Howl is known as both wizards and unwilling to help either side. Madame Suliman threatens to take away his powers before he is lost after losing his heart.This is an interesting world. The start sets up an easy fantasy with an evil witch and a haunted hero. The twist is the heroine gets turned into an old hag. About midway, the movie takes an odd turn that deviates from that easy formula. The evil witch becomes powerless. There is a new villain but she's not really a villain. This is an anti-war movie but it isn't so straight forward. Even the simple love story gets a last-minute true love detour. While the world is amazing, the story seems to delight in odd diversions from the formula.